Million Dollar Listing NY - General Discussion

[NYCFree]

52 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

I don’t know how rich Tyler’s clients were but they seemed like the most normal family. I don’t know what I was expecting. I’m so used to everything being so OTT that I’m shocked when I see normal. The staging looked good but I’m not sure what the $500,000 went towards. I could go to HomeGoods and get an oversized painting like that staging warehouse had. LOL!!!!

I think the staging at Tyler’s property was $30,000.

[ByaNose]

10 hours ago, NYCFree said:

I think the staging at Tyler’s property was $30,000.

Thanks. I meant to say $50,000 but didn’t realize I added that extra zero. Yes, $30,000 isn’t horrible in the scheme (rich people) of things. 

[Chit Chat]

14 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

I think Ryan's wife is head over heels in love with his bank account.

To be fair, they met when Ryan wasn't at the top of his game.  She seemed to be the one who made him see what a jerk he was being to Fredrik in the beginning, and kind of helped them make peace.  At least that's how I remember it!  She's definitely been good for him.  

[Starlight925]

3 hours ago, ChitChat said:

To be fair, they met when Ryan wasn't at the top of his game.  She seemed to be the one who made him see what a jerk he was being to Fredrik in the beginning, and kind of helped them make peace.  At least that's how I remember it!  She's definitely been good for him.  

Agreed.  I remember watching the show back then.

Emilia was a practicing attorney, and they actually met at one of his showings, as I believe her friend brought her to it randomly.

I can't stand to look at all the plastic work she's done to her face.  She's a beautiful girl, and those flashbacks they showed (on their Renovation show) were so gorgeous.  I froze the screen (unlike her frozen face lol!) just to remember how pretty she was.

She does seem to be super loving and a great mom.

I don't love her banter with him, as it seems to be more demanding and controlling, but he seems to adore her, so who am I to say what works between couples?  His body language is always leaning towards her, holding her hand, whole body towards her.

He was on WWHL recently and said they are definitely planning on having more kids.

As to any feud he has/had with Frederik, I think that's long over, or it was for show.  Frederik and Derek asked Emilia for her eggs, when they were trying to have a baby.  She and Ryan declined, but it was the sweetest ask, and the sweetest decline, and obviously now Frederik and Derek have those beautiful kids, although I wish they'd stop showing them so much on IG (I know, I could unfollow, but I love them so much).  Just scares me, the dangers of it all.

[Chit Chat]

4 hours ago, Starlight925 said:

I don't love her banter with him, as it seems to be more demanding and controlling, but he seems to adore her, so who am I to say what works between couples?  His body language is always leaning towards her, holding her hand, whole body towards her.

She seems to have a dry sense of humor - at least in front of the cameras.  She mentioned how she likes her art work "dark and moody," so that might be a hint into her kind of personality.  I just know that Ryan is head over heels in love with her,  so he sees a different side to her than we do.   We've seen Emilia comfort Ryan whenever he was super stressed out, so I think she truly has his best interests at heart - even when she changed items he picked out for the renovation without telling him!  FWIW, the black tiles on the bathroom floor with the white subway tiles on the wall just aren't my thing.  I'm glad they like it, but if I had the kind of money they do, I'd go with something besides white & black.  I don't mean to offend anybody who has those colors.  I'll admit that I'm a very boring, tan kind of person, so some would look at my choices and think the same thing.  :)   

[Grrarrggh]

8 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

 FWIW, the black tiles on the bathroom floor with the white subway tiles on the wall just aren't my thing.  I'm glad they like it, but if I had the kind of money they do, I'd go with something besides white & black.  I don't mean to offend anybody who has those colors.  I'll admit that I'm a very boring, tan kind of person, so some would look at my choices and think the same thing.  :)   

I'm amazed at people who spend millions for a look they can get in a $200k house. 

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

I'm amazed at people who spend millions for a look they can get in a $200k house. 

If I read it correctly, the cost for all of the paint was $78,000.  I'm wondering if I saw an extra zero in there, because I can't imagine that it would take that much money for paint!  I splurge and buy better brands myself, but I wait until they're having a 40% off sale, so it's actually reasonable, but even so, it wouldn't cost that kind of money to paint their townhouse.  

7 hours ago, Starlight925 said:

She and Ryan declined, but it was the sweetest ask, and the sweetest decline, and obviously now Frederik and Derek have those beautiful kids, although I wish they'd stop showing them so much on IG (I know, I could unfollow, but I love them so much).

I remember seeing where Fredrik and Derek had the Mom of their children stay with them for the last month or so of her pregnancy.  I thought that was really nice of them to do that.  Although we know that Emelia wasn't the Mom, her little Zena looks kind of like Fredrik's little girl (at least when they were small.)  All of the kids are cuties!!

[Grrarrggh]

2 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

If I read it correctly, the cost for all of the paint was $78,000.  I'm wondering if I saw an extra zero in there, because I can't imagine that it would take that much money for paint!  I splurge and buy better brands myself, but I wait until they're having a 40% off sale, so it's actually reasonable, but even so, it wouldn't cost that kind of money to paint their townhouse.  

I wasn't just talking about paint, but about all of it. Kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, etc. Too many of the multi-million dollar houses or renovations look exactly like a new build $200k house. I get that location and size makes a difference, but I don't get why they spend so much to look so cheap. 

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, Grrarrggh said:

I wasn't just talking about paint, but about all of it. Kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, etc. Too many of the multi-million dollar houses or renovations look exactly like a new build $200k house.

I was trying to pay attention as each of the costs were listed.  Some of them were just plain staggering for the work that was done for said items.  

[TazDevil]

1 hour ago, ChitChat said:

If I read it correctly, the cost for all of the paint was $78,000.  I'm wondering if I saw an extra zero in there, because I can't imagine that it would take that much money for paint! 

I assume that includes the labor, and is not just the cost of supplies.  Large crew to paint a large house, inside and outside, scaffolding, etc.

Edited June 27, 2021 by TazDevil

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm sure the $78,000 for painting included a lot of labor, and scaffolding for a lot of the walls.  

Since the walls were all new, that means at least one primer coat, and then probably two coats over that.     Plus all of the trim.   

Edited June 27, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Lovecat]

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I was trying to pay attention as each of the costs were listed.  Some of them were just plain staggering for the work that was done for said items.  

They spent more on custom closets than I did for my whole house.  That’s just obscene.

[Darian]

On 6/25/2021 at 6:55 PM, heatherchandler said:

Outside??  People were wearing masks outside?  I am in Chicago suburb and if I saw someone wearing a mask outside I would have laughed at them, even when everyone was wearing them inside, no one was wearing them outside.

I gotta tell ya, as someone with such a weak immune system and so many medical issues that my medical team recommended people like me wear masks even outside (and inside our cars), since it would take such a miniscule viral load to infect us and we would almost certainly have severe cases if not die, the whole thing's been so much more fun thanks to people giving us shit about masks and all the other stuff we've had to do that people luckier than us haven't. Thanks for that!

By the way, I'm in one of the populations that isn't consistently getting any protection from the vaccine, so the mocking and harassment's only increased. Maybe help let people know we're out there still not able to avoid masks and distancing, so they leave us alone instead of joining in the shit-giving. Sincere thanks if you'll do that. I have a lot of dead friends (in my long-time childhood lymphoma survivor and disability community who did everything they could to survive this, all the while getting made fun of of and yelled at in public for just trying to be safe. I hope more of you start being part of the solution not the problem.  It's still life and death for us. 

Ok, to the show: my husband's been interested in the Ryan's renovation part of the show, so I half listen and last episode, wow. When we bought our first house, it was a major fixer-upper. We did most of the work ourselves, often late into the night, and weekends, and even with what we money spent, we sold it for twice what we had paid seven years later. We hardly patted ourselves on the back for it, just felt we were lucky and had had fun, so I wasn't prepared for almost 30 minutes of Ryan and Emilia patting themselves on the back soooooo much for writing a bunch of checks to people and making decor choices. They should be proud and and feel good about what they accomplished but their self-congratulation was pretty extreme. 

[Starlight925]

I was actually pretty excited to "walk" through the front door, and see this multi-million dollar reno, and I was like.....meh.

The house itself is so chopped up, that even with the walls that they did remove, each room feels really small.

6 floors?  Spread that out to 2 floors, max, and call it a day.  What an absolute pain to have to run up and down 6 flights.

I have 3 floors, and I hate it.  Nothing worse than getting to the 1st floor in a rush to get out the door, realizing you left something on the 3rd.  Ugh.

And yeah, I get it, they can do it via elevator, but....

Not impressed with the elevator.  A friend put one of those in, spent all the $, and just uses it for sending up groceries and heavy pieces of furniture, as she's afraid of getting stuck in her own elevator.  That actually happened when on vacation with a group, we rented a huge home with an elevator, and 2 people got stuck in it.

Also, all the design choices....meh.  I hated that 2" black & white tile.  Looked like an old subway station bathroom.  

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, Starlight925 said:

6 floors?  Spread that out to 2 floors, max, and call it a day.  What an absolute pain to have to run up and down 6 flights.

My main concern is for their child (and future children) with that staircase.  Even with the security gates, I would not sleep well at night worrying about my child possibly getting around/over/between the railing.  My fear of heights kicks in just thinking about it!  

13 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I'm sure the $78,000 for painting included a lot of labor, and scaffolding for a lot of the walls.  

Good point!  I didn't think about all the extra stuff included, but $78,000 still seems a bit high.  I would charge a lot too though if I had to be up high on the scaffolding, especially painting a ceiling.  I painted our ceiling in the den and kitchen one time and it was literally a pain in my neck!  I won't do that again!  Walls, yes.  Ceilings, nope!  

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, Darian said:

We hardly patted ourselves on the back for it, just felt we were lucky and had had fun, so I wasn't prepared for almost 30 minutes of Ryan and Emilia patting themselves on the back soooooo much for writing a bunch of checks to people and making decor choices.

It would be a nice problem to have, wouldn't it!  I mean, she's got built-in child care; Ryan's out kicking ass with his career; and she had the time and money to pick out everything she wanted.  At least they showed some of the people helping them with their selections, and the design team - the true heroes with all of their grunt work.   Just hanging up all of that artwork would've been a pain in the ass.  

I liked the dining room table they chose, and some of the light fixtures.  The 'cloud' one (I called it the "balls" one upon first glance, and the one over the dining room table were nice.  I wasn't too crazy about the one in their bedroom though.  I might like it better if I saw it in person.   It takes me a while to get used to the more modern type of fixtures and furniture.  I'll come around eventually!!

[sugarbaker design]

18 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I remember seeing where Fredrik and Derek had the Mom of their children stay with them for the last month or so of her pregnancy.  I thought that was really nice of them to do that.  

Just to be clear, that woman wasn't the baby's mom, it was the surrogate.  F&D combined eggs from a donor with their sperm, produced an embryo, which was subsequently implanted in the surrogate.  The surrogate has no physical connection with the baby, she is definitely not the mom.

[Chit Chat]

4 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Just to be clear, that woman wasn't the baby's mom, it was the surrogate. 

Sorry!  I didn't think that through very well! Thanks for the correction.  :)  

[ByaNose]

8 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Just to be clear, that woman wasn't the baby's mom, it was the surrogate.  F&D combined eggs from a donor with their sperm, produced an embryo, which was subsequently implanted in the surrogate.  The surrogate has no physical connection with the baby, she is definitely not the mom.

Carrying a baby for 9 months isn’t a physical connection? I guess I just assumed it was. Of course, I don’t have kids so what do I know. 

[Grrarrggh]

7 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

Carrying a baby for 9 months isn’t a physical connection? I guess I just assumed it was. Of course, I don’t have kids so what do I know. 

I get what Sugarbaker is saying. The birth mother has no biological connection to the child. She was just a hired womb, to be blunt.

[aghst]

I really wonder if this is how high-end NY real estate works, you hold these open house parties for brokers and you go for all kinds of publicity stunts like the exercise session that Kirsten did or the psychic/life coach sessions.

Do buyers brokers really need to be inspired or bribed with such gimmicks?  Isn't the prospect of earning 5 or 6-figure commissions enough motivation?

Or do they script these parties just for the show?

Kirsten said she's thinking outside the box and you have to do it in covid times but the show has ALWAYS had these stunts, perfect for Frederick and Ryan to ham it up for the cameras.

If she said I had to pay x dollars for the exercise woman to hold a session and all the catering they had to do, how all that fit into the marketing budget, how that was split between the seller and broker, it would be boring details but it would be more credible.

Instead you suspect the ideas and the money for these parties, which are certainly more interesting to film on TV than boring standard showings, are coming out of the show production budget.

 

As for Ryan's renovation show, they have so much space they can dedicate a music room to listen to record, not play music, then a floor for the toddler.

All the excesses of the 1% on display.  Most rich people are discreet but not the Serhants!  Nothing they won't sell off to Bravo, though this show probably isn't representative of their daily life.

Does the kid spend more time with the nannies or the parents?  Emilia doesn't work so she should be able to spend most of the day with her daughter but she has to be able to go spend money.

 

[aghst]

I like Tyler's bubbly personality in general but in this episode it grated.

So much "you're the best!  LOVE YOU!"

So TIRING!

His enthusiasm probably gets him some listings but that uplifting personality like anything else has to be taken in doses.

[sugarbaker design]

8 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Carrying a baby for 9 months isn’t a physical connection? I guess I just assumed it was. Of course, I don’t have kids so what do I know. 

 

8 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

I get what Sugarbaker is saying. The birth mother has no biological connection to the child. She was just a hired womb, to be blunt.

Yes, physical was not an accurate adjective.  Like Grrarrggh suggested, I should've said biological or genetic.  The upshot being the surrogate has no legal claim on the baby.

[TV Diva Queen]

On 6/25/2021 at 5:55 PM, heatherchandler said:

 

 

Outside??  People were wearing masks outside?  I am in Chicago suburb and if I saw someone wearing a mask outside I would have laughed at them, even when everyone was wearing them inside, no one was wearing them outside.

 

 

 

then you must have laughed at me because IN CHICAGO, we were wearing masks outside.  

[heatherchandler]

 

On 6/27/2021 at 8:17 AM, Darian said:

I gotta tell ya, as someone with such a weak immune system and so many medical issues that my medical team recommended people like me wear masks even outside (and inside our cars), since it would take such a miniscule viral load to infect us and we would almost certainly have severe cases if not die, the whole thing's been so much more fun thanks to people giving us shit about masks and all the other stuff we've had to do that people luckier than us haven't. Thanks for that!

 

 

20 minutes ago, TV Diva Queen said:

then you must have laughed at me because IN CHICAGO, we were wearing masks outside.  

But WHY???  I am not trying to be rude but that makes no sense.  In your car there is no one to infect you.  

Outside, unless you were gathering in groups of people outside your home, there wouldn't be any droplets, right?  

I was in Chicago and didn't see that, but... I wish I could take this to small talk, but there is not a small talk for this.

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by heatherchandler

[Grrarrggh]

I wore my mask in the car for a while just as a reminder. I found that if I took it off I'd too often forget to put it back on quickly enough. 

[SimonSeymour]

15 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

then you must have laughed at me because IN CHICAGO, we were wearing masks outside.  

Yep! I live in Chicago and pretty much everyone in my neighborhood wore masks outside until very recently. Even while walking our dogs alone. 

[Jess14]

I live in Atlanta, and I saw people wearing masks outside all of the time during the covid peak. I wouldn’t say it was the majority of people, but it was hardly an unusual sight.

I’m glad Kirsten sold that apartment. However, the more I saw it, the more I disliked it. The bedrooms were just awful, and while the outdoor space was nice, it wasn’t enough to compensate for the flights of stairs and poor layout. During the cold months, most of that outdoor space would not even be usable (at least for me, as I hate being cold), so I don’t see the benefit in it having more square footage than the actual apartment. 

Steve’s house in upstate NY doesn’t really interest me. It’s different, but I mainly watch the show for the NYC real estate porn, not to see a big country estate. I basically don’t remember anything that happened with him during the episode.

[Chit Chat]

11 hours ago, Jess14 said:

I’m glad Kirsten sold that apartment. However, the more I saw it, the more I disliked it. The bedrooms were just awful, and while the outdoor space was nice, it wasn’t enough to compensate for the flights of stairs and poor layout.

Seems like there are many NYC apartments that are chopped up in their layout.  Maybe it was owners trying to make smaller apartments so they squeezed in as much space as they could.   I've seen some weird angles for rooms in some of these places!!  

[Dehumidifier]

14 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Seems like there are many NYC apartments that are chopped up in their layout.  Maybe it was owners trying to make smaller apartments so they squeezed in as much space as they could.   I've seen some weird angles for rooms in some of these places!!  

Not NYC --- Manhattan. There are people who will do anything to live there, in the right areas anyway. I haven't seen one recently but the NY Times used to frequently feature profiles of families like, -- a doctor, a professor, 3 kids, parents sleeping in the living room and the kids sharing the bedroom. Meanwhile in the outer boroughs people live in normal sized homes with decent kitchens and even go to the supermarket weekly and cook dinner most nights too!

[tinderbox]

If you know, this the last episode of the season?  Thank you.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I checked an online schedule, and they say that next Thursday, 8 July there's a new episode, from 7 - 8 central.    (I check Titan TV, because my cable guide only goes out to the 6th right now). 

I think the Ryan's reno series ended.   

Edited July 1, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[theartandsound]

The reno show is over. No new episode this week, next is July 8th as noted above. There is at least one more episode after that, which brings it to 10 episodes. MDLNY usually has 12 (although last season had 14). So hopefully there is more.

[tinderbox]

Thank you, both.

[Book Junkie]

I was wondering something about Kirsten's apartment that had more outdoor space than indoor: could you add on to the indoor space, thereby making the apartment larger? Would that be allowed? Or, would it be dependent upon the co-op board? I was thinking that could maybe be a selling point if you could add on to the bedrooms and living room.

[dleighg]

12 minutes ago, Book Junkie said:

could you add on to the indoor space, thereby making the apartment larger?

somehow I doubt that. That would add a lot of weight (walls and ceilings, not to mention more furniture) that would be a serious stress on the building below. I imagine whatever they did was strictly limited.

[Grrarrggh]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

somehow I doubt that. That would add a lot of weight (walls and ceilings, not to mention more furniture) that would be a serious stress on the building below. I imagine whatever they did was strictly limited.

Though then again with enough money..... 

[SunnyBeBe]

I’m trying to recall Amelia in early days....I don’t really care for her but it may just be the way the show portrays her as a whiner and controlling.  Ryan is crazy over her, so, that’s what matters.  He and Fredrik were ok, but recently when he opened his own agency, he seemed to imply that Fredrik was the only close colleague who hadn’t congratulated him.  Likely contrived for the show.  

Edited July 3, 2021 by SunnyBeBe

[Starlight925]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I’m trying to recall Amelia in early days....I don’t really care for her but it may just be the way the show portrays her as a whiner and controlling.  Ryan is crazy over her, so, that’s what matters.  He and Fredrik were ok, but recently when he opened his own agency, he seemed to imply that Fredrik was the only close colleague who hadn’t congratulated him.  Likely contrived for the show.  

In the early days, Emelia was a practicing attorney who Ryan met at an opening.

When they started dating, Ryan was this "guy about town" who never held roots with one girl.  But Amelia wanted marriage & family, and made that very clear to him, that if it wasn't in the cards for them, she'd need to move on (100% understand & agree!).  Ryan weighed his options & looked at his future, and decided that Emelia was "it" for him.

I'm not sure when, or actually why, she stopped working, as his success in real estate would not preclude her from continuing practicing law, but she did.  They had their big wedding in Greece, so it could be that due to travel and planning, it was a good time for her to quit.  Then she got pregnant, and here we are.

I recall her being a bit of a strong, independent woman personality, but nothing like the controlling whiner I see now.  She also had this adorable, beautiful natural face that she's quite simply, IMHO, ruined.  She is no longer even attractive to me.

Frederik and Derek adored her so much that they asked her for her egg, as they viewed her as one of the absolute best women they knew.  She politely declined, but I do recall that the conversation with Ryan & Emilia, and F & D, was congenial and on a very friendly basis.  Let's face it, you do not ask your enemy for their egg, lol.

I bet the lack of Frederik calling Ryan is contrived for the show, and we'll see a congratulatory message in time to come.  I follow Frederik on IG, and he posts so much about his children, his husband, and their beautiful life.  It's really wonderful to see, and I wish F & D and their kids the best.  In other words, I think Frederik is so  wrapped up in his joy for his kids & his husband, and 2 coast-travel, that it may have just slipped his mind to send Ryan a text.

[NYCFree]

On 6/27/2021 at 11:41 AM, ChitChat said:

My main concern is for their child (and future children) with that staircase.  Even with the security gates, I would not sleep well at night worrying about my child possibly getting around/over/between the railing.  My fear of heights kicks in just thinking about it!  

When I was four years old my parents combined two apartments in a brownstone to create a duplex. The only staircase that worked (due to the 18 feet ceilings) was a metal spiral staircase. My brother and I would have given you a heart attack with the number of ways we went up and down that death trap! My favorite was to have my feet on the banister and my hands on the inner pole and spiral my way up without touching the stair treads. 
In our country house the main part was built in 1812 and the house was repeatedly added on to over the next two hundred years, in ways that didn’t always make sense. My brother’s bedroom opened directly onto the staircase. That became my son’s room decades later.

[Chit Chat]

On 7/3/2021 at 10:14 AM, Starlight925 said:

I'm not sure when, or actually why, she stopped working, as his success in real estate would not preclude her from continuing practicing law, but she did.

IIRC, after she quit the job she had when she met Ryan, she went to work in his real estate office putting her law degree to use in doing something with property titles.   

 

 

[aghst]

She'd have made a good salary at a Manhattan firm, maybe in time she could become partner and be making millions.

But Ryan was already making millions, if not tens of millions, so her salary dwarfed in comparison and she'd have to put in a few years of 80 hours or more a week.

How quickly did they have the child after they met or after they got married?

She must have gotten a good prenuptial agreement, if she left Ryan after x years, she'd still have more money than by working.  Or she gets half of this big brownstone or at least some of the properties they've acquired since marriage.

Not that she's planning to leave, because it looks like she's got him pretty wrapped.

Edited July 5, 2021 by aghst

[Chit Chat]

8 hours ago, aghst said:

How quickly did they have the child after they met or after they got married?

I  think it took a few years.  She had some fertility issues.  Seems to me that she was doing work for maritime law.  I can't remember in what capacity though.  I remember her and Ryan talking about it.  

8 hours ago, aghst said:

Not that she's planning to leave, because it looks like she's got him pretty wrapped.

I think Ryan would be more afraid of what Emelia's Dad would do to him if he ever hurt her!  He's pretty intimidating!  As I've mentioned before, Emelia was a big reason that Ryan quit being such a jerk to Fredrik.  She helped to smooth that relationship out.  Fredrik wasn't an angel either!  

[CrazyInAlabama]

Emilia was also offered a job in Geneva with her law firm, and decided to stay in NYC with Ryan instead.  

[ByaNose]

I’m just glad there is a new episode this week. I missed not seeing it last week. It’s a hot summer and I need my real estate porn weekly.

[Chit Chat]

We saw some beautiful properties with the latest episode!  The one in Upstate NY was really nice.  It's odd though when a homeowner balks at the idea of taking down their family photos.  It's only temporary!  It wasn't like she was asking him to pack them away forever!  I'm glad that he listened to Kirsten on that one.   

I thought the kitchen countertops were pretty, but green isn't a color that most people are going to want so much of.  Maybe the owners thought they'd never sell the house, but often times circumstances change and sometimes it's best to go a bit more neutral on such things in case you're faced with selling your house.  Some buyers are so picky though that they're going to change out stuff no matter how neutral one tries to make it!  FWIW, I thought the dark green was pretty, especially next to the white cabinetry.  

For those of you who live in NYC, do you think some of these sellers should've hung onto their apartments to see if the market bounced back, or do you agree that they were correct in cutting their losses and moving on?  The double whammy of the pandemic and a presidential election made it a tricky time.  The markets in general are usually up and down in an election year anyway.

It was nice seeing Fredrik & Derek's kids.  I hope that Fredrik doesn't push Derek too much about having more kids.  I know, who am I to advise them on such things, but back when Fredrik wanted a little girl so much, Derek was really hesitant about it, but finally agreed to it.  IIRC, Derek was concerned about his own career and wanted to still be able to do his artwork, and not be a full-time nanny since Fredrik was always out taking care of his real estate business.  I can understand Derek not wanting to complicate things any further.  He has another son (I think he lives in England(?) with his 2 Moms), and he gets to come and visit Derek and Fredrik from time to time (Fredrik posts pictures of him on FB & IG). He's the spitting image of Derek too!   Hopefully they can both agree to what's best for them.  

[Medicine Crow]

2 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

We saw some beautiful properties with the latest episode!  The one in Upstate NY was really nice.  It's odd though when a homeowner balks at the idea of taking down their family photos.  It's only temporary!  It wasn't like she was asking him to pack them away forever!  I'm glad that he listened to Kirsten on that one.   

I thought the kitchen countertops were pretty, but green isn't a color that most people are going to want so much of.  Maybe the owners thought they'd never sell the house, but often times circumstances change and sometimes it's best to go a bit more neutral on such things in case you're faced with selling your house.  Some buyers are so picky though that they're going to change out stuff no matter how neutral one tries to make it!  FWIW, I thought the dark green was pretty, especially next to the white cabinetry.  

For those of you who live in NYC, do you think some of these sellers should've hung onto their apartments to see if the market bounced back, or do you agree that they were correct in cutting their losses and moving on?  The double whammy of the pandemic and a presidential election made it a tricky time.  The markets in general are usually up and down in an election year anyway.

It was nice seeing Fredrik & Derek's kids.  I hope that Fredrik doesn't push Derek too much about having more kids.  I know, who am I to advise them on such things, but back when Fredrik wanted a little girl so much, Derek was really hesitant about it, but finally agreed to it.  IIRC, Derek was concerned about his own career and wanted to still be able to do his artwork, and not be a full-time nanny since Fredrik was always out taking care of his real estate business.  I can understand Derek not wanting to complicate things any further.  He has another son (I think he lives in England(?) with his 2 Moms), and he gets to come and visit Derek and Fredrik from time to time (Fredrik posts pictures of him on FB & IG). He's the spitting image of Derek too!   Hopefully they can both agree to what's best for them.  

Those are the colours in my kitchen & the reason I bought it twenty years ago.  The tiles around the counters compliment the green & white & are very interesting.  (No intention of changing anything!!!)

[Grrarrggh]

I couldn't believe KJ brought up Architectural Digest as a research option when she said buyers want white counters. No one who reads and loves that publication would follow trends like that. 

I did love her story about sneaking out, and I would have used that secret door for the same thing as a teen. 

[ByaNose]

When I see that green on real estate shows and on YouTube I think the 90’s. It’s never been my taste. Even in the 90’s. It does add a different take on the all white kitchen trend but it always reminds me of bathroom countertops, flooring and showers. I really like KJ. She’s a go getter without being super bitchy. I still don’t like Fredrick and I’m glad he’s in LA. I did miss seeing Steve but I think he’s on next week. I went online and saw the listing that KJ was selling. It really did look nice and the homeowners made the changes that were requested and didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I could have even afforded the changes. A little decluttering (well, just removing some pictures) and painting that dinky desk.  I don’t know a thing about Rye, NY but it looks like a nice area.

[Chit Chat]

11 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I went online and saw the listing that KJ was selling. It really did look nice and the homeowners made the changes that were requested and didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I

It was nice to see a property that didn't need $75,000 worth of staging!  If anything, it looked a little sparse in some rooms, but I like that better than seeing things cluttered and over-decorated.  

14 hours ago, Medicine Crow said:

Those are the colours in my kitchen & the reason I bought it twenty years ago.  The tiles around the counters compliment the green & white & are very interesting. 

I didn't mean any offense in my post!  I thought the kitchen looked nice.  I didn't agree with Tyler that the house looked "dated."   I loved Kirsten's TH comment of "Tyler, we're on the same team!"   The Realtor needs to play up certain features if he/she thinks their client is on the fence about it.  The couple he brought in seemed to like everything, so he needed to stay quiet! 

Edited July 9, 2021 by ChitChat
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