Real(ity) Estate
By Ryan Serhant
In April of 2010 I received a call from a casting director in LA about a new show she was working on called "Million Dollar Listing New York." She explained that Bravo was having so much success with the LA version of Million Dollar Listing, that they conceived a New York based show. The call ended in her asking if I would be interested in auditioning.
At that time, I was the sales director of 99 John Street, a condo conversion project of 442 units in the Financial District developed by TF Cornerstone. I had also found myself in the press for being one of the youngest sales directors in New York, as well as for selling some pretty large listings at or near asking. I'm told this is what apparently caught Bravo’s eye.
The casting director said they were combing through all 11,000 licensed real estate agents in the city with the goal of narrowing the field to 24 to film audition tapes with, ultimately netting a cast of 3 or 4. Figuring I had no chance in the world (New York has some very high profile brokers) I took the casting director on a ride and threw caution to the wind. I had her and her film crew meet me at my boxing gym at 5:30 in the morning. Following that, I dragged them all over the city, showing a gorgeous penthouse in Gramercy that I was negotiating a deal with, to my favorite lunch spot, and the rest of the ups and downs, ins and outs, phone calls, emails on the fly, and the rest of a typical day.
A month later I got a call that of the 24, I had been chosen to be on the show if I still wanted to do it. Filming would begin in the Fall, and last anywhere from 6 to 8 months. Not only would my professional life be broadcast to the world, my personal life would be too. They would be following me on dates, at the gym, in my apartment, and who knows where else! I told them I had to think about it.
In the meantime, it had even occurred to me that Bravo had the wrong guy! Yes, I was doing well, but there are many other brokers in New York who blow me out of the water. I had seen the LA version of Million Dollar Listing, and did not relate at all to the young and fast talking brokers onthat show, and I did not want to be a joke to my colleagues, clients, and the brokerage community of New York.
The opportunity was simultaneously amazing and terrifying. A year and a half at this business, building a solid, consistent business, and I had to make a judgment call between maintaining my career on its current trajectory or doing it with a camera in my face for the whole world to see. What's more, I didn’t think I could do both. Would clients take me seriously if I was a "reality star"? Would any of my clients want to continue working with me if they knew how I acted on dates? Would this help or hurt my career? How would the show edit me?
I spoke to everyone I knew about it. The show would be great publicity no matter what, but would it be beneficial in the long run? New York is a surprisingly small town, and everyone knows your business even if it is not televised weekly. Then a close friend reminded me that in the world of sales, all publicity is good publicity. The more people who know what you do and how well you do it, the better. The exposure could not hurt. If I’m filmed looking like an idiot, it’s probably because I was being one.
I then took stock of all of the new forms of media real estate brokers were using to sell property. You can actually sell an apartment in New York through Twitter right now. Did you know that? And more people use YouTube when searching for properties than Google. I saw that social and video media was the future of a successful real estate agents tool kit. 98% of all home searches start on-line, and on the Internet, exposure is everything. So I said yes, and began filming in December of 2010.
Million Dollar Listing is now set to air on March 7th, at 10 PM. We filmed with everyone who I could get to agree to film with me! From listings on the UWS to the Financial District, I sprinted around Manhattan for 8 months showing the cameras what I do for a living. I have not seen a full episode yet, but I can tell from the previews that it will be entertaining, as it was meant to be. The show has made me love my job even more, and I hope you will love it too. If you haven’t yet, click the link in this e-mail and watch the trailer. Enjoy!
Wow...terrific...good for you for jumping forward into this opportunity, too. And thanks for the tip about Twitter...I think this is very misunderstood, and is so valuable.