Late last month, real estate pros came out in force to support brokers Michele Kleier, Samantha Kleier Forbes and Sabrina Kleier Morgenstern as they signed copies of their first novel, “Hot Property.”
In the penthouse suite at the London Hotel NYC, the Kleier women — brokers at family business Gumley Haft Kleier and stars of the HGTV reality show “Selling New York”– chatted with industry big shots like Halstead Property president Diane Ramirez.
As waitstaff passed out Gordon Ramsay-catered appetizers, it wasn’t difficult to picture the glitzy world described in the book, released last month by Harper Collins. The story of fictional real estate broker Elizabeth Chase and her daughters, Kate and Isabel, “Hot Property” is largely based on the Kleiers’ real-life adventures as top brokers for the Manhattan elite.
Real estate is “the ultimate status symbol,” the Kleiers write. “Everyone in Manhattan wants to know what people are spending for their homes and where. In a crisis, people will sooner sell family diamonds, art or furniture than give up their ‘address.’”
For the Kleiers, writing has been a longtime goal.
“Samantha and I were both English majors at [the University of Pennsylvania],” Sabrina told The Real Deal. “We’d always dreamed about writing a book.”
While the primary characters in the book are based closely on the Kleier family, the quirky clients are composites of lots of different people, Michele said.
In the book, one client demands sexual favors from his broker. Another has a severe allergy to avocados, and wears a blue surgical mask to view apartments.
“I have clients that are actually a lot worse than the ones in the book,” Michele said. “I have people coming up to me and saying, ‘I hope I can do something outrageous enough to make it into the next book.’”
So will there be a next book? While there isn’t one in the works yet, the Kleiers said they wouldn’t rule it out. Meanwhile, rumors abound that the family is in talks to make “Hot Property” into a TV show.
“We really can’t discuss it yet,” Michele said, “but it is possible.”
Unlike “Selling New York,” this show would be scripted, with actors playing the characters, she said, adding: “It would be like ‘Sex and the City,’ without the sex!”