Q: To expand on that, Jonathan Normolle quickly emerged as the so-called villain of the season. From a show perspective, the drama and tension that someone like him brings is appealing. But you, as a boss, decided to fire him. Tell me about the push and pull of keeping the show entertaining and thinking about your company.

A: There's reality, and it's what we do all day — the work, the people, the management, the payroll, the business, the opening of new markets every day— and then there's perception, which sits on top of reality. What I did with "Million Dollar Listing" was I said, "OK, I have reality of my business. 'Million Dollar Listing' is going to be the perception, and it's going to sit, not on top of reality, but above it. And that's going to push me to consistently bring reality up to the perception." Because we would take a year to film "Million Dollar Listing" and it would come out the next year. Whoever I act as, however I talk, the properties I show, that's who the world is gonna see next year. That's where a lot of the stress intention lay. Obviously, I want to do the TV show because I've only ever done TV shows. I don't know selling real estate without a television show. I said [to my executive team], "If we're gonna do this as a company, we have to go all in." I don't want anyone watching the show and saying to themselves, "What didn't they show?" That was the push and pull: Do you really want to show the warts of your business to 270 million people? Or do I look at it not as warts but as I'm young, building my own business and be vulnerable with the world, and you're going to come on this journey with me.

Q: Have you had any run-ins with Jonathan since?

A: I give Jonathan a lot of credit. I saw something in him that I also saw in me. I'm not tattooed on my head, but a little bit of a fish out of water. I had a dream in my head: "Dude, here's what you should do — people are gonna look at you and they're gonna judge a book by its cover. You have seconds to change people's minds. You sell something big, you show them you're a great, great person who's also fun and awesome and cool and the face of the next generation, you are gonna have the biggest career ever. Or you could blow it all up." And so it was probably my biggest disappointment. But I give him credit for being his authentic self.

Q: There are some headline-making deals on "Owning Manhattan." Tell me about these listings and the struggle of getting high-profile clients to be on camera or not. Bad Bunny winds up renting the Jardim property featured on the show for a record $150,000 per month. The season ends with you nabbing a listing for a condo that was used in "Succession" as Roman Roy's home.

A: How random was that ending? Props to our production team for taking the weirdest idea I think I've had. I'm like, "You know what we're going to do? We're going to end the show in a way where people are gonna be like, 'What the f— just happened?'" All I think about is: How do I get someone to look up from their damn phone? Anyway, I guess I've been used to it now for a long time. But that's why you see buyers' representatives, family members or lawyers kind of stepping in for clients here and there. In our show, we see a lot of the real people, a lot of the real developers. The penthouse at Central Park Tower — that's a long-lead listing. There's only so many people in the world who can afford it and, so [we say], "We're gonna put it on a Netflix show. First person who buys it, gets it. Just trust me."

Harlan [Berger], the seller of the Jardim, where we rented it to Bad Bunny — we sold it, by the way. It just traded after we were done filming for, I think, $15 million. That's a classic example. The seller agreed [to be on camera], but the tenant [Bad Bunny] did not agree to go on camera. We didn't mention anyone's names. It got put into the press, so now it's part of the public domain; but the press, because that's a huge rental amount, then helped bring in the buyer. You don't buy an Hermès bag because it can be your purse. The brand sends a message. Real estate is the same way.

Q: It's a complicated time to display some of New York's most exclusive real estate on a global stage. The cost of living, especially in big cities, is insane. What have you gleaned about why viewers enjoy getting this inside look into the upper echelons?

A: Because we're all voyeurs. Everyone wants what they can't have. Everyone fantasizes. It's what keeps us going. It's like brain liquidity, it's dream liquidity. I watch "Drive to Survive." I'll never be behind a wheel in one of those cars, but it's fun to watch their lives unfold on the racetrack and be like, "Man, they're taking this seriously."

Q: How are you feeling about the housing market right now? How much of the sales you are doing these days are with buyers overseas?

A: The most interesting stat for me is that pre-COVID, I was doing 35% of all our transactions in cash. Today, it's like 75%. The market right now is educated — it's not exuberant, and it's not devastated, it's educated. International purchasers, we're doing a lot with. I just sold a house — we sold it to a Croatian over FaceTime. Before that, I sold a house for $57 million over FaceTime to someone in South Africa.

[International sales are] a big part of our business and a big part of me also signing up with Netflix. I called five of my clients who are overseas, and I was like, "OK: Netflix, Amazon, Peacock, Hulu. Which one do you have?" And the common denominator across all of them was Netflix. I was like, "OK, for business, this is a mutually beneficial relationship, so we'll pick the biggest network."

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.