Real estate agents who look like supermodels sashaying down spectacular glass staircases overlooking glistening infinity pools. Asking prices with so many zeros on, you don’t even know how to say them out loud. Colleagues who spend more time flirting, fighting and eating in moodily lit small-plate restaurants than they do actually working.
It’s fair to say the world of TV real estate shows is far from a reality for your average broker who has to, you know, sell houses for a living. Instead, shows like Netflix’s Selling Sunset are all about the glamorous, often ridiculous cast of characters and their personal lives; it just so happens that they conduct them against a backdrop of glamorous, even more ridiculous properties. (According to a source, Netflix cast members like Emma Hernan, Chrishell Stause and Chelsea Lazkani are paid between $10,000 and $40,000 per episode. When it comes to their clothes, an insider says they are often loaned pieces to wear.)
While we do hear numbers being thrown around and deals being done, these shows are way more about drama than detail. It begs the question, are these agents even making money from real estate, or are they just TV stars now?
According to research and on-the-record insights from many insiders in the new issue of Us Weekly, some of the most prominent stars haven’t made as much as you’d think from real estate lately. Sure, it’s a tough market globally, but the truth is, many of them are too busy enjoying life in the spotlight to work the demanding hours that being a successful real estate agent demands.
Mary Bonnet, for her part, is keen to emphasize that a lot of what really goes on in the office is kept private, either because clients demand it or simply because the deals in question aren’t big enough for Netflix. “I would say probably 80 to 90 percent of my sales have never been shown,” she tells Us. “I do a lot of real estate deals that are like two to four million and, if they’re closer to two, most of the time they don’t get shown. They want to show the glitz and glamour.”
Understandably, Jason Oppenheim is particularly defensive about any suggestion that his team aren’t proper realtors. When Chrissy Teigen tweeted that she had never come across any of the agents on the L.A. market before, he fired back: “The insinuation that the agents on our show are not experienced, successful or licensed evidences a complete disregard for the facts. Even a superficial investigation would identify previous team photos, hundreds of millions in transacted sales and more than 50 years of combined licensed real estate experience from these agents.”
We got our hands on figures for what these folks have sold from May 2023 to May 2024 through public information. Sure, several of these agents may have sold houses off-market that haven’t been made public — but these numbers are surprising.
