Million Dollar Listing–Consistent Quality

Million Dollar Listing–Consistent Quality by Roxanne McDonald

Subsequent episodes of Million Dollar Listing continue to be even more engaging, more fascinating than the first.

In the second episode, for example, we meet Lydia, the most successful real estate agent in Malibu, and the husband and wife team, Ray and Dia.

Dia and Ray are working with Antoinette, an overwhelmed recently divorced woman who doesn’t want but needs to sell her house. During a brokers’ open house, Ray tells us, typically only brokers come, but these days the public also comes. One young couple do so, for example, equipped with camera and many questions. The young woman notes how the master bath is small, but Ray (the good cop of the team) gently corrects her, saying that they are not IN the master bath. Clearly not celebrities, the interested couple must be in technology, or of old money? Otherwise, what in God’s name are they doing looking at this 2.4 mil house? Okay, I’m just jealous.

On the other side of moneytown

Lydia is showing a house to Ron and Amy for her good friends. Holiday House is a high end property, she says, on the water and with private beach access. (The fact subtext appears at that moment, noting how private beach access is the most desired commodity in Malibu.) Lydia is working the potential buyers, telling them that for under 3 mill they can get a house on the beach. The husband is intrigued by the notion of having Charlie Sheen as a neighbor, and Lydia says it is either Charlie or Martin but that regardless it is not all that impressive.

What she does emphasize, by repeating, is that they should “throw” an offer at the owner.

Ray is back in his office saying that a lot of offers are flying in by fax for Antoinette’s place. He calls her and leaves a message when he gets one offer 35k above asking price (1,328.000), and continues to call every few minutes, expressing how urgent his call is as the buyers want an answer in twenty-four hours.

Meanwhile, Antoinette is going through the cycles of depression, anxiety, and other pains of her recent divorce and of having to give up the house she has been in for somewhere near a decade. When Ray’s umpteen-millionth call comes in, she is in the kitchen pouring champagne into a huge to-go cup, and says to the incoming voice, “Later,” and leaves the house for a hypnotherapy session.

She leaves the hypnotist’s place, parks badly by jamming her SUV up on a curb, goes to an outdoor café to kick back, then finally breezes into Ray and Dia’s real estate office, where she agrees to sign the acceptance of bid papers.

In the meantime, Lydia is preparing for her upcoming wedding, confirming details of the wedding. At the same time, she gets reports – or complaints – of mold in the Malibu Bay Club property, which she deems ridiculous. She meets with yet another inspector, telling us that the mold thing is quite a racket. (As we may have heard, the saying is, “Mold is Gold.”) The inspector confirms what she knows and what she has told the others, that the smell is just closed-up house smell.

As Antoinette is signing the acceptance papers for the offwer on her home, Ray notes that just because the offer is accepted does not mean it’s done. “It aint over til the fat lady sings,” he says, for the final inspection will be the validation of whether the potentials want to go ahead with their offer.

There are, of course,

problems with Antoinette’s house.

When she returns to his office late, apologetic, and needing a hug, Ray breaks the news that the problems with the house have incited the buyers to ask for a 34k credit (of course), and that they don’t really care about having anything fixed, they care about the money. Antoinette goes into eternal self-pitying drama, crying about having to be alone, make decisions alone, etc., etc., as Ray at first attentively listens but eventually just shuts down, checks his watch, and says, “Now that we’ve got that over with….” He prompts Antoinette to forget the 34k and give them 17.

Lydia relays the offer of her couple’s 2.4, and Chet declines, saying he wants to wait it out. She suggests he take the 2.4 … or 2.699, and Chet utters a definitive “No.” He wants the full price. Next on the deal front is her wedding, which she invites the buyers to. They don’t “want to bother” her on her wedding day, but need to know what’s up. As she reports that Chet has declined their low offer, her groom comes to retrieve her and tells them, “Uh, we’ve got a wedding to finish.”

Antoinettes tells us how walking out of the door for the last time is going to be really difficult, emotionally, and Ray tells the cameras the deal is done – and they (he and Dia) are 35,000 dollars richer!

It’s all about the cash, even at one’s wedding and even in spite of the heartache of closure and goodbyes. And, evidently, will be about the money again next week, when Ray – who seems to be the agent who has to deal with the toughest, or most recalcitrant sellers – will have to deal with a sloppy homeowner who makes making the house saleable nearly impossible.

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