Selling Sunset and similar reality shows

[PurplePansy05]

I watched SS and Selling the OC, I think the dramas are ridiculous tbh, but I'm enjoying the interiors, views (and the outfits).

Can someone explain one thing though - the agents clearly spend huge sums on themselves, going out etc. and yet they don't appear to be home owners. When there are references to their house purchases (like Mary from SS or Austin from SOC) they seem to look at cheap/small properties considering how much they surely must be earning?

Why would this be the case? Do they not save? Is there something about the US market I am missing (very probably??)?

I'm just curious from a property perspective.

Christine from season 1 has since admitted that she was maxing out her credit cards to buy clothes for the show and returning stuff.

I think they spend a lot of money maintaining an image and therefore have less money to save/spend on housing etc

Interesting. That's so shortsighted, I can't get over they'd spend all this instead of hiring a wardrobe for the show and investing in their own property or multiple. It's crazy. It really surprised me that Mary in her 40s doesn't own a house and Austin and his wife have two kids and they were looking at a really not great 2 bed without a proper garden!

I haven’t seen Selling Sunset but have seen Dubai Bling which I think is similar but with Brits, and the amounts of money they make always seem to be given in dirhams not pounds - and you get a lot of dirhams to the pound! I think there is very much an illusion that the estate agents are making megabucks when they’re not really

If you look at the first season of Selling Sunset they are in normal clothes. Nobody dresses like they do IRL and they have said they dress for the show not the viewings. I assumed it was the producers getting them the clothes for show credit. But apparently they buy their own clothes. If I realtor showed up dressed like they do I'd laugh them out of my house!
And I'm not sure they earn much - they don't earn much for the show.
By the way Christine is divorcing now after her husband was arrested for domestic abuse (he filed).

Yes, I agree 100% @mondaytosunday, I'd never expect a serious estate agent to look like they do, especially the women. I too thought at first that the clothes were provided by the producers, but it doesn't look like they are. I also thought they all earn megabucks through their work, the show and associated advertising, but maybe that's not the case!

Imagine looking like they do whilst also having a job and kids to manage, it's a complete joke!

I have been thinking the same! When you look at the commission they make on each house sale, that is multiple times what most people earn in a year!

When I was watching selling the OC last night and Austin was looking at that 2 bed and his wife looked so unimpressed! But it was over 2 million!

Maybe in America they need a larger deposit than here? Or it is harder getting a mortgage on a commission based job?

The outfits are mostly utterly ridiculous!

Apparently the commission is split between the agents of the seller and the buyer, so they only get all the commission if they represent both buyer and seller.

Then the Oppenheim Group obviously takes a cut, around 30%.

It still sounds like a lot of money but only if they sell quite a lot.

This why I love l'agence about a Paris estate agents. It's a bit bling but much more down to earth. Need subtitles but gcse French memories of learning rooms of the house and numbers means I can just about follow.

There's a buying London property show coming to Netflix which I'm looking forward to

There was an episode where they went to rent clothes shoes and bags

The houses they buy to live in are normal lovely houses

Bingeing Selling OC new season, as crazy as ever

I wondered if they are actually agents or is the whole thing a set up? But I very much enjoyed the interiors and the view, I’d love to go to LA for a holiday!

I don't think the houses they are looking at are awful, but when I was thinking how much they must be earning and how they carry themselves, these houses look surprisingly poor. The one Austin was looking at was way too small for his family as well. His wife definitely wasn't impressed, I agree!

That's why I was wondering, do they splash on silly things or are they not as rich as they look. Or, is it very expensive to buy a property in the US, I was always under the impression that you get far more for your money there than in the UK and that most people can afford to buy a property easier and quicker than in the UK. So on their sort of money and with their knowledge of the property market they surely should be owning some gems in no time 🤷🏼‍♀️

Had anyone started Selling London, we watched a couple last night. Same weird outfits, although not as bad as selling sunset, same drama and some amazing houses

Sorry its Buying London not Selling

@Monkeybutt1

I have thought about giving it a go. Is it just as binge worthy?

I binged it, yes it's good if you like looking at posh houses.

I love selling sunset. I saw an interview with one of the ladies and she said that the show takes up so much of their time that they were losing money by not selling. If you look at how many houses they sell, I'd be surprised if they sold more than a few houses a year. Yes the commission is high, but so is COL in Beverley hills.

I think property taxes are high in certain parts if America and I've also heard that in some gated communities they have to pay home owner association fees too which probably all need to be factored in when buying a house. I also assume they want to keep their disposable income high to afford their lifestyle, holidays, clothes, luxury cars etc.

Chrishell has a nice house, think it was a fair few million to buy but assume she had a divorce settlement to help.

Chrishelle's house is lovely.
It's more homey and relaxed than some of the ones they sell.

Mary is the most experienced agent but still seems to live quite modestly.

I guess they dress to stand out in the series. They must believe they can make more money on Instagram than selling houses?

I didn't know that about Christine!!
Off to Google!

I'm curious about the same thing.
I mean they regularly get US250k commission. The Oppenheim Group take a cut and I guess they pay tax on what remains? Surely a few of those a year for 3-5 years should buy you a 'modest' LA house for approx US2m - possibly without a mortgage?
Maybe it's a 'living to the limit of your means' situation for them all, all the time.

In the US the agent employs a whole team of people and they all get paid. The commission is split with the realtor who brings the buyers, the agency takes a cut, they pay their assistants, their house styler, for the advertising etc. So if they only sell a couple of houses a year, they maybe actually take home $100,000. And they live in a very expensive part of the country.

That would explain a bit more, thanks - that's the sort of information I was trying to gauge as I have no idea about the realities of their work.

I agree Chrishell's house was nice, but let's not forget both Chrishell and Justin Hartley were/are actors and they've had fair bit of money together pre-divorce.

Anyone read The Guardian's review of the London show? I don't agree with most of their reviews, but it's the first time I saw they gave a TV show zero stars and deemed it 'unwatchable' which tickled me 😄