If you’ve logged onto Netflix at all recently, you’ve probably seen at least a few real estate shows pop up on your recommended list, with titles evoking the glamor and fame that one presumably achieves with a clientele predominated by plastic surgeons. From Paris to Tampa to Beverly Hills, these glossy reality series bring the best of unscripted television tropes to the world of luxury home sales, with agents whose egos are even bigger than their properties’ primary suites. Between the OG that started it all, Selling Sunset , and new additions like Owning Manhattan , we’re slowly witnessing the growth of a thrilling new subgenre I’ll tentatively brand “Real(i)ty TV.
” While the glitz and glam of the houses on display are essential to the shows’ appeal, that’s not what these programs are really about. If it’s pure real estate porn you’re after, you can head to ol’ reliable HGTV and stuff yourself with episodes of House Hunters and its exponential offspring. Netflix’s beloved real(i)ty shows, on the other hand, are for those of us who want drama —who thrive off the chaos of ambitious, plasticky people crying in Teslas and boasting about commission rates in home movie theaters.
There’s a lot of TV out there. We want to help: Every week, we’ll tell you the best and most urgent shows to stream so you can stay on top of the ever-expanding heap of Peak TV. Thus, it feels only right to analyze these shows (for brevity’s sake, only the tip of a steadily growing iceberg) by ranking their dramatic value.
Never mind the properties’ cost, square footage, or resale value; the more important criteria here are things that numbers cannot express, such as vanity, envy, horniness, and hot tub make-outs. Let us dive into the world of real(i)ty TV not with housing at the forefront, but with all the shady stuff that goes down when listing agents are at play. 5.
Buying London Meet Daniel Daggers: a bespectacled British man who, first and foremost, earnestly calls himself “Mr. Super Prime” and, secondly, heads the luxury London property group DDRE Global. Daggers considers himself the great disruptor of London’s real estate market, mainly because he’s shaped his team of international agents into savvy lifestyle influencers and he spends his free time ramming into desks around his office as he tours homes via a VR headset.
While Buying London ranks undeniably high on the Posh British Accent-ometer and features a truly smashing soundtrack of generic British girl pop, it is unfortunately lacking in the juicy drama we’ve come to expect from other British reality hits like Love Island. There’s no shortage of charming moments: Agent Oli Hamilton (who looks like a yassified version of Severus Snape) flexes his unmatched pinstripe suit collection, and the team embarks on a group meditation session followed by gourmet smoothies. But the show simply doesn’t have enough petty plotlines to fill its seven-episode season, which means that, instead, we get a montage of Oli receiving a “total style makeover” (wearing a beanie) and scenes of Daniel’s parents insisting he find a wife before they die.
I agree with Daniel’s mother that “it’s a pity” he isn’t pursuing love—not because I necessarily care about whether he finds a Mrs. Super Prime, but because watching men with big egos and deeply unbuttoned shirts bumble through dates is one of life’s great pleasures. The one semi-dramatic plotline on Buying London is Oli’s flirtationship with DDRE’s Swedish interior designer, Juliana Ardenius (who just happens to be a former model and Miss Teen Universe contestant).
Their chemistry is ...
not exactly electric but, nevertheless, palpable enough to arouse the suspicions of Oli’s non-model/non–Miss Teen Universe wife, Avia, who later confronts Juliana over drinks. But even this minor tiff ends up resolved at a later company party, when Juliana tells Avia she “would never go for Oli in a million years,” and they toast to “a fresh start.” (Pour one out for Oli, who definitely got a self-confidence boost from being the kingpin of a half-baked love triangle.
) 4. Owning Manhattan Ryan Serhant , founder of the self-titled real estate brokerage SERHANT., claims to have done over $8 billion in property sales.
He also wrote a book called Big Money Energy , and—as he refuses to let anyone forget—is a cool 6-foot-3. (His favorite pastime is standing in property photos to demonstrate a condo’s very high ceilings.) Ryan’s all-star team of agents sells properties across Manhattan and some of the bougier areas of Brooklyn, giving us viewers a much-needed reminder that Williamsburg hasn’t been “gritty” for a good 20 years.
The show is ripe with other endearing (annoying) New York-y things, such as agent Chloe Tucker Caine being a former Broadway star (and, thus, the person who assesses the vocal acoustics of newly listed penthouses) and agents patiently explaining to old-school Manhattanites what influencers are. There’s nothing too juicy going down at SERHANT., with the lack of workplace romance proving especially upsetting considering everyone looks like a grown-up Gossip Girl character.
As with any good New York story, we see the agents hustle for power and status, with a refreshingly innocent subplot following Southern belle agent Savannah Gowarty’s transition to life in “the big city.” Meanwhile, the firm’s Brooklyn expert, Tricia Lee, must fight to have her voice heard among the big bad Manhattan agents, including Nile Lundgren (whose bald head–singular hoop earring combo tells us everything we need to know about him). The real standout of Owning Manhattan , however, is Jonathan Normolle, a Danish nightlife junkie who believes that having neck tattoos makes him “the next generation” of real estate.
He’s like a Jersey Shore cast member who overstayed his welcome in Europe and now raves about leather parties and pickled herring, so, naturally, he becomes the series’ sole villain and tragic Icarus figure. (In trying to achieve podcast stardom, Jonathan, alas, flies too close to the sun.) Though watching Jonathan’s rise and fall—from real estate wunderkind and model to .
.. just model—is plenty satisfying, there’s nothing that leaves us grasping for more by the end of the season.
Sure, we find Ryan scrambling to save face after losing out on a major deal, but that’s the boring business stuff (a.k.a.
what HGTV is for). This is Netflix , baby, so bring on the gossip, backstabbing, and betrayals! 3. Buying Beverly Hills Now in its second season, Buying Beverly Hills focuses on Mauricio Umansky, founder and CEO of the Agency, a global real estate brokerage based out of L.
A. As the husband (spoiler: now ex- husband ) of Real Housewives star Kyle Richards, Mauricio was predestined for reality show success, and it also doesn’t hurt that his top agents are his three oldest daughters, all of whom are as business savvy as they are skilled at applying bronzer. Ladies and gentlemen: King Lear.
The show delivers on its family drama. In the latest season’s subplots, middle daughter Alexia feels slighted by her other sisters’ newfound closeness, Mauricio and Kyle casually discuss the latter’s cheating allegations while preparing an Italian salad, and Alexia partners on a deal with Joey Ben-Zvi, her smarmy ex-boyfriend turned colleague, who—it must be noted—wears sunglasses indoors and sweaters as over-the-shoulder accessories. There’s also eldest daughter Farrah’s separation from her fiancé, Alex, which leaves her emotionally distraught enough to take over a barely defined director of operations role and even sport leisure wear on camera.
The true pièce de résistance of this season is the introduction of a new villain: Michelle Schwartz, a managing partner at the Agency who—for reasons apparent only to her—believes herself to be Mauricio’s obvious successor (never mind that they’re basically the same age). Joey’s early-season observation that “when you fuck with one Umansky, you fuck with all the Umanskys” proves quite prophetic when Michelle promises to mentor the Umansky girls only to later talk shit about them (calling them, among other things, “business suicide”). Thus comes an epic showdown (rooftop poolside spat) between the Umansky sisters and the Wicked Witch of the Westside, and, truly, there’s never been more damning jabs thrown with margaritas in hand.
But really, Michelle’s comeuppance is just the cherry on top of a season jam-packed with big life changes, major power swings, and—get this!—men opening up about their emotions. 2. Selling Sunset Where does one begin with a show that’s led by twin brothers who are 5-foot-6 and bald but nevertheless radiate machismo? Perhaps, to properly express the many, many dramatic arcs of the show’s latest season, we’re better off starting with its final episode, which (naturally) included the Oppenheim Group agents exploring their allegiances and darkest secrets via polygraph test moderated by .
.. Tan France? Things at the Oppenheim Group have never been messier.
Agents repeatedly hurl deeply personal insults at each other; newcomers are received with trepidation, if not outright hostility; and Bre Tiesi dishes on sleeping with Michael B. Jordan and co-parenting a son with Nick Cannon. There’s also endless use of the phrase “social climber,” which is apparently the equivalent of “whore” in the luxury real estate world, where being self-made is everything.
Take a shot every time Nicole Young calls Chrishell Stause this if you want to get completely sloshed in under an hour. Oh, and Jason Oppenheim and his young, German model girlfriend, Marie-Lou, break up—but you already saw that coming. (Thank you to client/guest star Nikki Glaser for the acute observation that “for someone who doesn’t want kids, it’s weird that you’re dating one.
”) Dating someone 20 years your junior is, it turns out, not always the surest path to true love, even if Marie-Lou did—as Jason never fails to mention—study economics at university. Way to go, Jason; you fumbled a relationship with the next Adam Smith. Meanwhile, Chrishell and her Australian musician partner, G Flip, go from the honeymoon stage of dating to literally honeymooning in a matter of months.
They also reveal plans to have a wedding ceremony every year on their anniversary: an ambitious, not-at-all-annoying goal seemingly designed to give Jason, Chrishell’s ex, an annual reminder of what could’ve been. We don’t see much of G Flip this season, but, when we do, they always look fresh out of a Matrix movie or Hot Topic ad, so we’re led to believe that Chrishell made the right call based on vibes alone. 1.
Selling the OC I’m prepared to get flack for ranking a Selling Sunset spinoff higher than Selling Sunset itself, but, truly, nothing can top the flawless dramatic structure of the OC ’s latest season, which checks all the boxes of the best telenovelas. To start, we get an unprecedented (and objectively baller) power move from agent Gio Helou when he sends a speedboat to carry attendees from his colleague Kayla Cardona’s open house to the one that he’s hosting just across the Bay. From here, things only get more chaotic at the Oppenheims’ OC office.
A large chunk of the latest season consists of arguments about whether Austin Victoria did indeed ask fellow agent Sean Palmieri to join him and his wife for a threesome. (A question also arises of whether there would have been weed available at this threesome, which—to be fair— would have made for a more alluring proposition.) Like many of the great issues of our time, the truth of this alleged threesome proposal is left murky, which makes the whole ordeal all the more captivating.
Among many other profound quotes, Austin remarks that the office is turning into a brothel and then tells Sean, “You’re not hot, bro...
You’re making up rumors that my wife and I want to fuck you?!” The best subplot of Selling the OC is equally messy but far more romantic, following the will-they-won’t-they relationship of agents Tyler Stanaland and Alex Hall. The back-and-forth of it all is enough to put Pam and Jim and Ross and Rachel to shame: Alex even considers forgoing her trip to Italy with a new love interest after Tyler pleads with her to stay. (Never mind that he completely ignored her in the preceding weeks.
) While the fact that (spoiler alert) they don’t work out is definitely for the best, it’s pretty great to watch them try and convince themselves otherwise. Real estate agents ..
. they’re just as delusional as the rest of us! Holyn Thigpen is an arts and culture writer based in Brooklyn. She holds an MA in English from Trinity College Dublin and spends her free time googling Nicolas Cage.
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