It's Season 2 of Million Dollar Listing New York, where three amazing brokers, Fredrik Eklund, Luis Ortiz, and Ryan Serhant, show the world what it takes to sell high-priced New York City apartments. Check in each week for recaps by Eater New York's fearless nightlife editor Scott Solish. Episode air date: 5/8/2013.
Crisis 1: When Your Word Is Your Word
When we last left Luis, he was just about to close an off-market deal for 16 Minetta Lane for architect Adam Kushner, but the seller was trying to wrangle some extra cash out of the deal at the last minute. They split the difference and wind up at $3.75 million, making Luis out to be a hero. Or, as Luis says:
Anyone else get that? Oh well. Good for the new guy.
Up next for Luis is a possible listing in 15 Broad, which will turn out to be quite popular this episode. Luis loves the FiDi, and really wants to break into a building that he says has a ton of listings. This one is just a one-bedroom without a lot of glitz, but Luis manages to muster up some excitement for it nonetheless. And when the owner asks him if he wants a drink, Luis orders up a vodka on the rocks. How about a water, rookie?
The seller is looking to recoup the work he put into the unit, but Luis tells him that his expectations are not in line with the comps. Oh, the comps. But Luis must have some vodka courage working for him because he gets the listing at his recommended price of $1.695 million. Will it sell? Stay tuned for Crisis 3.
Crisis 2: Selling The White Whale
When we last left Fredrik, he was working his tail off to try and unload the Marble House in 30 days. After the big open house at which Ryan dived into the pool, Fredrik still doesn't have any leads, so he decides to reach out to some other brokers who are keyed in overseas to look for Russian or Chinese millionaires who might want to buy a house and never live in it. Fredrik wants to know how best to get these clients. Advertise in the local periodicals, of course. But which ones?
Oh. Okay. Fredrik now has a plan to attack both of the Far Eastern powers. But will he win the war? He only has nine days left and still no fish. He cracks the whip on his team to get out those mailers and find a buyer. Failure is not an option, but his team is at a loss as to how to solve the problem. Just when all hope is lost, another broker calls with an interested buyer. Can Freddie pull it off again?
Crisis 3: Stealing Time
Ryan lives in the FiDi. Ryan knows the FiDi. And now he is listing a two-bedroom at 15 Broad Street that is slightly less glamorous than some of the other listings we are used to on this show. It does have these unobstructed views:
That's the Empire State Building back there. Oh yeah! Ryan turns on the charm and tells the seller that he can get her almost $200 more per square foot than the average sales price in the building, and she falls for it. And as a bonus, they also need to buy, and if he succeeds, he can have that business, too. And maybe some more. WINK!
Ryan knows about the listings competition in the building, so he brings his street team to pass out fliers on Wall Street and try and find some buyers.
Seriously? Ryan hopes the street team will drum up some traffic to his open house, but when the hour arrives, it turns out to be the same time Luis has chosen for his open house. Uh oh!
Luis gets the last laugh when he tells the doorman, already a friend of his, to send the buyers to his listing and not Ryan's. Take that! While Ryan waits for his marketing campaign to bring the buyers, Luis sets up a full Latin party in his apartment and quickly fills the place. With the upstairs open house empty, Ryan has no choice but to go downstairs and try to steal Luis's clients. And because this is reality TV, Luis, of course, calls him on it:
But when Ryan heads back upstairs after the tussle, the clients start showing up. Could this all work out in Sir Hant's favor after all?
We won't know now, because Hurricane Sandy hit in the middle of the episode and we take a long pause to see how our heroes fared. Hint: the same as every other person who lived in Lower Manhattan and a hell of a lot better than the folks in Red Hook, the Rockaways, and Staten Island. Mostly what the storm forces our stars to confront are their own personality, umm, traits.
About a week after the storm and with just one day left on his listing agreement, Fredrik is at the Marble House for his big private showing. There is no flood damage, but the space, which already skewed a bit toward cold and empty, is very dark and without power. He lights some candles and is on his way, but hold the phone, there is no client. Just the broker, because her client can't get into the city after the storm. Fredrik is determined to convince her to convince them to buy, but the next day, he learns that they no longer want to live downtown. Perfectionist Fredrik is not happy.
He is, in fact, really bummed. But good news: his dad is in town and has some words of encouragement for him.
Awwww. Luis seemed to make it through the storm just fine, but as for Ryan, well, he is just a wee bit shaken up by the whole experience.
Could this lead to a newer, more gentile, less chauvinistic man? Tune in next week to find out.
· Official site: Million Dollar Listing [Bravo]
· Million Dollar Listing New York coverage [Curbed NY]
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