Stan39

Basically, they both were up for a listing and the owner told Fredrick he wanted them to co-list. According to Fredrick, he decided it wasn’t worth his time so he took himself out of the race and told the owner to go with Tracy (because she’s great and wonderful, yada yada). He then sent Tracy a text saying something along the lines of “I’m taking myself out so that you can have the listing. Enjoy”. Something to that effect. Agreed it could be condescending but I learned in my 20s not to microdissect text messages. No misogynist undertones. It felt like Tracy wanted Fredrick to apologize and when he decided to stand his ground she claimed sexism and started crying (she then immediately stopped crying and seemed to be acting the whole time). As to Flagg’s client, I was sure after the tour of his property she was just going to buy his lot and build her dream house there. Honestly, Flagg’s description wasn’t really an indictment of building you’re own home. It seemed like the biggest thing slowing down Flagg’s house is that Flagg keeps deciding to tear down what he’s built just to build something bigger. He’d probably be done by now if he just did the reno he originally planned/wanted.

I watched it. Seems fake. After a pretty decent documentary it’s sad to see Paris go back to completely staged and generic reality TV. It’s like she’s trying to catch up to her protege Kim Kardashian. Don’t buy her engagement at all. Zero chemistry. They don’t seem at all comfortable around each other. He’s always got this giant disturbed grin on his face and they both talk in generic love metaphors without ever saying anything real. For all the “love” they supposedly have for one another they barely ever touch one another. And the fact she’s using her baby voice (which she admits is fake and part of a persona she created) leads me to think it’s all fake.

I couldn’t figure out that house. The living area wasn’t great enough to justify the price and the working space didn’t seem big enough to support the mortgage. A dentist paying $16-18M so he could put in a couple of dental chairs? A plastic surgeon paying that for an office space that has no rooms for patients? Even as an incubator there wasn’t enough space for more than a few startups. I thought Tracy was really manipulative turning Fredrik’s text into something sexist. 100% Fredrik would send a similar text to Flagg, Altman, James, whomever. Because something happens to Tracy, and Tracy is a woman, doesn’t mean everything happens because she’s a woman.

Completely underwhelmed and disappointed this is how the series ends. I’m not sure what happened, but I think COVID and a change in showrunner drastically changed the arc of the show, and not for the better. S2 finale and the trailer for S3 teased an all out cartel war, which I think is what most wanted and expected. Instead, roughly a third of the story was devoted to a fictional murder case that had very little to do with Narcos. I understand some people liked that story, it just didn’t fit with Narcos and took up valuable time that could/should have been given to the DEA fighting the cartels as the cartels fought one another (which is what every other season of Narcos was about). That brings us to the second big problem, the reporter. It felt like someone at Netflix decided the show needed a strong, female protagonist so they created this pure and perfect young reporter who would figure everything out and never compromise in her pursuit of the truth. Again, every other season of Narcos was portrayed from the perspective of the DEA, who had no allusions about the geopolitical overpininnings of the situation. Instead, we get truly awful narration from a character who has minimal interaction with any of the main players involved in the drug wars. Then there is Walt as the DEA representative. Again, every other season of Narcos was about DEA agents pushing to take down the drug trade while pushing their own morality and boundaries of what they’re willing to do. This season became about a really personal battle within Walt about a brother we don’t care about and some rich kid we don’t care about. I (and many others) would have preferred a focus on Amado (every other season of Narcos went into great detail about the structure cartel leaders went to to set up their systems, but Amado’s system was basically yada-yada’d to get back to other storylines), el Chapo (admittedly, he was in jail during the time frame but if this is the last season of the show people want to see more of a foreshadowing of what will come), and Mayra (agree with you that they touched on an interesting point with her leading the family and could have emphasized her if they wanted to showcase a woman but they basically abandoned that idea by the end of the show). It is what it is, just too bad they won’t be able to make a do over season. Considering the airport episode was filmed almost exactly like the scene from El Chapo, perhaps I’ll just go from S2 of Mexico and continue watching El Chapo as the true continuation of Narcos.

Anyone else surprised when Tracy said living by the school devalued the house? I always thought that would be a selling point, assuming houses are being sold mainly to young families. My parents bought our house across from a private Catholic school and it was a benefit because that block had a park, tennis courts, basketball courts, community pool, and public elementary school.

Ding ding ding. I bet you’re right. It would be hilarious if it came out the former owners watched this episode and were like, “Wth? Is this really what was going on while we were in Europe?”

Didn’t Altman say they also have a nanny? And that they’re renting a place in Newport Beach? I guess they were planning to rent to own, but it still seems odd they’d rent a place in addition to owning a house. But you’re right, every story line on this show has already been worked out and resolved by the time they shoot it for the show. Just like on those HGTV shows where they make couples decide what house to pick, even though they’ve already bought and moved in to one.

Eh, this all seemed staged to me. And most of the storylines just involved the realtors buying properties. I want more random buyers and sellers. Tracy’s storyline seemed particularly fake in that it sounded like she wanted the house for a long time, knew everything about it, but was waiting for filming to start before getting Josh to show it and work with her. It just seems odd that this season’s main storylines have included Bobby wanting to buy a house, Tracy wanting to buy a house, and now Altman wanting to buy a house. Not exactly the point of the show. And when do James and David work together vs work alone? I started to think maybe David didn’t want to be a part of the show anymore (James always seemed like he was more into fame) but the season preview suggests David comes back. With all the hype about the hot real estate market they’re still making lowball offers, so I guess we’re not going to see the really crazy market we had this summer (multiple all cash bids over ask with no contingencies or inspections, close within a day of listing).

I guess I shouldn’t complain. There have been seasons where it felt like the only people buying and selling properties on this show were developers or rich oligarchs who were never going to live in the houses. At least this season there are real human beings looking for a home to make their own.

I should have been more clear in my original comment. I agree, I think the young couple could afford the house on their own (though I get the feeling he has the money and he’s just supporting her music career as a hobby. She didn’t sound all that impressive a singer from what we heard). I was just struck that James said millennials were buying most of the properties in the neighborhood, so it was more about the off-camera families that are driving up prices for everyone. But I also think California is an oddity in that a lot of people will put all of their money into a home deposit and not have much liquid assets left.

Every time I think I’m doing ok I remind myself there are people out there buying multimillion dollar houses for OTHER people. Lol.

Not a big fan of the houses this episode, except for the second home James’ clients looked at. It’s amazing how little you can get for millions of dollars in LA. I’d also like to know more about these supposed millennials buying up those houses. I see the same thing here in Texas. I read about millennials not being able to afford ramen noodles, then see 25-year-olds with basic jobs somehow buying multi-million dollar properties.

I know Tracy and some other parents mean well bringing their kids on tv, just something fun for them, but it rarely makes them look good. There’s something unseemly about watching children nitpick a luxury lifestyle that most adults working their entire lives will never be able to afford.

They definitely don’t want for anything. I just look at the houses the realtors live in and buy and it seems like most of them live in very nice single family homes which I’m guessing are around $5M. I think several years ago Altman and Heather were looking to buy something in the $2-3M range and they’ve since upgraded. Fredrik probably has an $8-10M house, but he’s also a bigger realtor than the others. They’ve made comments that Altman has a bigger team than Tracy and does more deals than she does. Yet, I think Tracy sold her house for $25-30M. She may have downsized, but being a middle-of-the-road realtor for this cast but having a house 4-5X more than everyone else (and her “interior designer” sister also having a $20M house) suggests daddy set them up. How much were Josh and Bobby looking to spend on the Palm Springs house? Like $3M? I feel like Tracy could buy that for her boy-toy boyfriend without even thinking about it, let alone fight about the investment potential of it. But I also wonder how much these people work anymore. I’m sure they’re all still in real estate, but I doubt they’re really the top realtors in Southern California. Isn’t there a guy named Aaron with a show on CNBC claiming to be the top realtor? Real estate in LA just seems to have so many layers and networks. Kind of like they say about the REALLY rich people, who don’t go on reality TV or show off in public. I’d be curious to know what other realtors think of reality TV agents, if they think they’re great or just average for the area who are lucky to be on TV?

One of the smartest things Flagg ever admitted on the show, the house is a depreciating asset, the land is what has value. It really is just location, location, location. After all the tours and Oohs and awes, the realtor sits down and basically says, “You’re next door neighbor just sold for this price per sq ft, so we’ll just multiple that by your sq footage for our list price.” You may be right. But Tracy and her sister live much more extravagantly than Flagg does (each sold houses at around $20M) and their dad is a legit billionaire developer. Granted, they also have careers and rich ex husbands, but I don’t get the sense Flagg could buy a $25M house outright (unless he was planning to flip it after a few years).

Altman had Mikey drive a luxury van up the Hills. I think he also got lost or had trouble turning in traffic to “cause drama”.

To me, that was just more “fake drama” for the TV. Seems like that’s what they’re going for this season, again. They’re even recycling old bits (Ryan did the cheesy tour bus thing in NY years ago). I guess this time it’s different because (gasp) Fredrik causes a traffic jam 😱 Oh no! But how will he ever get out of this jam!?! Something tells me he does, and something tells me he gets an offer from one of the agents (thus justifying the tour bus). And I see they’re still pushing the, “We’re developers who built this spec house on spec, and have a bigger house on spec with more debt! We’re over leveraged and our bills are due in 30 days so we have to sell this house to keep the shell game moving! But we’ll pretend to have leverage over the only lowball offer we have on this property, even though we’re not in a position to reject anything!” Developer narrative. Another fun fact. Years ago I read the a book that talked about realtors selling houses (might have been one of Friedman’s books.) In it, he calculates the cost to the realtor to keep a house listed for awhile vs the extra commission he gets by waiting for a higher offer to come through. Basically, the book points out that while it can sometimes be in the homeowner’s best interest to wait for more offers to come in, the fraction of that commission that filters down to the agent is so insignificant that they may be disincentived to suggest the seller hold off. I always think about that on this show because all these agents (no matter how successful and seemingly confident they appear) look so meek and desperate whenever they get an offer to present to their clients. They’re like little children trying to convince their parents, “No no no! THIS is the best offer you’re ever going to get. These are serious buyers. You’re never going to get another bid after this!”

Fredrik’s listing is so gaudy and over the top. The neighbors must hate having that thing block all their views and take up every inch of green space. But the developers are right, for a fraction more in cost you can turn a 5,000 sq ft house into double, triple, or quadruple the size. I’m not sure how it would work, but I think it would make sense in some areas to generate price based on lot size rather than house sq footage. You’d disincentive a lot of these giant spec houses if developers couldn’t ask for higher sales prices (hell, you may even eliminate some of the bs real estate investment going on driving up housing prices for actual families if you slowed all the spec development). Is it just me, or were the girls from Altman’s listing wearing halter tops/lingerie in last week’s episode?!?! Eww. How their mom thinks it’s appropriate to let them on tv like that.

Ugh. I’ll binge every episode but I’d be more excited if they teased “less drama” ☹️

I have no idea who she is, but something like that sounds right. Her “international travels” may just be family vacations, too. Can’t really blame her though. If my parents bought me a $10M house like it was no big deal I’d have no work ethic or motivation. Hell, my retirement goal is just to buy a house in the middle of nowhere and adopt a lot of dogs. This house is halfway there. Odd thing was that the mom didn’t seem too awful or pretentious like you’d expect her to be.

Instagram model

I think she’s been trying to sell that house for over a decade. There’s something else going on besides her just wanting to move on. If she really wanted to move she’d find a new place, move, then stage and sell the house. Maybe she just uses the house to keep getting on TV shows or there’s some psychological issue where she doesn’t really want to sell. We’ll see.

The fake story with the kids was awful. At this point in the show’s run you’d think they could at least try a little harder to make a compelling fake story. Also thought it was insane that the mom was looking to buy her “model” daughter a $10M house. Yeah, what can go wrong giving a child her own mansion in Encino? Glad Tracy could sell her rich daddy’s (erm, sister’s) house for well below asking price. As to Tracy’s style, I think it’s mostly a mix of bad LA fashion trends and Tracy not willing to age gracefully. She could easily wear more conservative clothes and look great, but I think she wants to look “hot”. As awful as the co-lister was, she had a point with the one agent who only saw flaws in the house. If you don’t think your clients would like the house then just leave and don’t waste anyone’s time. I’m not sure what her angle was (other than be on TV.) She wasn’t asking the seller to change it or ask if the price could be reduced. She just didn’t like the house. That being said, Yanteel is awful. I hate people who interrupt. James and David would be better off just working on their own for half commission than co-listing. Anyone catch Flagg mention Suzanne Somers house was once listed over $30M?!?!? And they’ve done so much to it that it’s not one cohesive house. I don’t know Palm Springs, but I’d be asking all sorts of questions about the electricity, water, AC, etc. I imagine the whole system is a rats nest at this point. Tear it all down and build something with a common aesthetic.

As above, “I didn’t grow up like you” has a lot of meanings. Josh’s family was exorbitantly wealthy and connected in LA, so Bobby’s parents could still have been rich but not “Flagg rich.” I saw the same things you did in that conversation. Couples often have pacts to discuss major purchases, regardless of whether they could easily afford them. Bobby could be doing well enough to just buy it outright, but still want to discuss the house with Josh. We’ve been around Josh to know his style, but I think he could have handled the situation better. He could have better explained that he’s only offering his opinion and trying to support Bobby to make the best decision, but it did come across as “I know more than you and we can’t buy this house unless there’s value to it.” I don’t exactly know their finances, but it wasn’t too long ago that people bought their houses purely because they wanted to live there and didn’t consider them investments. It’s not completely unreasonable for Bobby to want to buy a house purely to vacation there and not care about the value (assuming they can afford it). People didn’t use to look at their houses, cars, boats as ways to earn more money but rather achievements as you made money.

You could be right. I’m not suggesting that Josh and his brother were given a lot of money, necessarily, but there are other types of privilege. Mauricio could have picked up Josh and his brother with no experience and just realized they had hustle. In business, your network is often more valuable than your skills or net worth, and in real estate if you have a lot of connections to people buying and selling houses then obviously you have a leg up on other applicants. But I don’t know if Josh and his brother had any network prior to starting. I’m just naturally suspicious of everyone on reality TV lol.