On this week’s episode of “Million Dollar Listing New York,” Fredrik’s decision to bend the rules at 5 Beekman puts his job at the project in jeopardy. Ryan masters the art of delegation, while Steve dips his toe in the dating pool.
Here’s where we left off.
Bend it till it breaks
Fredrik is back at 5 Beekman, where last season he convinced the project’s developer, Eric Bass, to build a super lavish and super expensive sales gallery to help spark the imaginations of deep-pocketed buyers. The investment paid off (Fredrik made a killing on opening night), though a third of the building’s 68 units remain unsold. Now that the hotel portion has opened, Fredrik is looking to capitalize on a new wave of buyer interest. He uses the launch party to push the model unit, a two-bedroom apartment designed by Thomas Juul Hansen on the building’s 41st floor. Only all the buyers and brokers want to see is the unfinished penthouse. The developer is set on not showing the unit in its current state, even though Fredrik is itching for the opportunity to break the rules.
“New York buyers are hilarious lately,” Fredrik says. “They always seem to want what they can’t have.”
Or can they?
Temptation gets the best of Fredrik, who brings Brent, the designer of a prospective buyer, up to the 51st-floor penthouse. It’s quite impressive that Brent can even make out what the apartment looks like, considering he’s viewing it in the dark while wearing sunglasses, but apparently he likes what he does (or doesn’t) see. A few days later, Brent’s client makes a $10 million offer, which sounds great, but also happens to be about $2 million below ask. Fredrik is legally obligated to communicate this offer with his developer, who is reasonably pissed. The penthouse was toured despite his wishes and he’s convinced Fredrik didn’t get a full-ask offer because it’s basically a construction site right now. Eric won’t bother making a counter, and begins to reconsider their business relationship.
For the first time in “MDLNY” history, Fredrik is speechless.
The dating game
Steve’s feeling a bit burned by his bro fight with Sam, who basically kicked him out of his apartment and canceled an open house because he was tired. A few days after his tantrum, Sam calls Steve to apologize for his behavior, and just like that, the bromance is back on! Steve puts his broker duties on the backburner for one night so he can wine and dine the lovely Taylor. It’s obvious that the chemistry is lacking between these two (Steve is looking for something “meaningful”), but Taylor’s refreshing honesty about her passion for handbags and shoes, as well as her complete distaste for work, makes observing this date completely worthwhile.
“Taylor — she’s very pretty, but maybe a little too… done, if you know what I mean,” Steve says.
After he compares his date to a cooked piece of steak, he turns his attention back to Sam’s apartment. He steers clear of the open house route, and instead invites every broker who’s liked the apartment on Instagram to a private showing. This results in a whopping two brokers who want to see it in person — one of which is only there because he’s trying to win a listing on one of the building’s lower floors. The other broker makes it count though, and brings Steve an offer of $1.15 million. Sam, who initially wanted to list it for $900,000, is somehow insulted the buyer doesn’t fork over $1.25 million on the spot. Steve gets him to accept a $1.2 million offer — without having to give up his furniture — and the two hug it out like a pair good bros would.
Now Steve can get back to being Sam’s friend, and Sam can get back to bed.
Here’s my listing, so call me maybe
Ryan’s team has grown so much that soon they’ll need their very own Bravo show. He’ll need all the manpower he can get at his latest listing, a 40-foot-wide townhouse in Tribeca. The seller, a former bank executive named Alan, wants to list it for $25 million, which is a bit more realistic than the $100.6 million he initially throws at Ryan. He employs the help of Serhant Team member Danny Nassi, who’s really, really touchy-feely and often talks to Ryan like he’s a good dog. His personality seems perfect for this larger-than-life listing though, so he gathers 700 of his closest friends and throws a big bash to introduce it to the market. Though that very creepy ice sculpture of Ryan meets an untimely end, the open house appears to be a hit.
“I guess part of delegation is letting things happen in their own way,” Ryan says.
How very zen!
The person who won’t “let things happen in their own way” is Alan, who’s sick and tired of having his calls deferred to Danny. Though he’s ringing both day and night, he wants Ryan to be the one who fields his endless calls. Nor will he accept that Ryan is too busy to take the lead on selling the townhouse, which has been on the market for less than month.
“If I was answering all of Alan’s calls, I’d have no time to actually get Alan’s house sold,” Ryan says.
Ultimately, they decide to take Danny off the listing. It looks like it’s really going to be just Ryan, always, in all ways.