Million Dollar Listing L.A. began its fifth season and the real estate agents are as busy as ever, catering to the needs of the rich and famous in and around Los Angeles.

When you watch Million Dollar Listing you realize that the rich are different from the rest of us. They are looking at two-bedroom condos with 1,700 sq. feet of space that list for $2 million.

The Bravo TV cameras take viewers inside the homes listed for sale, the furnishings and features are not only overwhelming, they are state of the art and sometimes so unique as to be odd.

Balcony as a dog run. Josh Flagg was retained by a neighbor Glenn in his condo building that sits in Century City, close to Beverly Hills. The wealthy, older bachelor wants a three-bedroom place as his primary residence to accommodate guests who he can’t put in the second bedroom he has made into an office.

The listing was easy for Flagg to get and the unit got a quick offer at close to the asking price. When faced with a sale earlier in the process than he expected, Glenn got overwhelmed with having little time to find a new home for himself.

But, in the course of following Josh through the tours for prospective buyers we learned a couple of things.

1) Glenn has a toilet in his master bath that uses a remote control to flip the seat up, but that’s not all. The flush system incorporates a catalytic converter so that along with the water, the air is flushed taking any possible odor that might linger in the room.

2) Another owner in the building was interested in Glenn’s unit and when asked why, she pointed to the balcony with a spectacular view of the city. It’s not for her to enjoy however, it is for her pet. Having to accommodate her dog’s needs up to five times a day has become tiresome and the balcony looks like a great place for her pet to relieve itself.

As Josh says to the Bravo cameras out of the presence of the interested party, “Only in Beverly Hills do you find somebody who will move down the hall just so their dog can take a @%#!.”

Creativity closes a deal. Just up the coast highway in his Malibu, California office Madison Hildebrand is doing what a dutiful son does — helping his parents sell their second vacation home in Park City, Utah. He will get a referral fee when an agent registered in the state sells the property, but at $18,000 it doesn’t come close to what he might be missing if he attended to other business clients in California.

Nonetheless, Madison flies up and back when necessary since his father expects the same kind of service as any other client. He chooses an agent who will accommodate his referral fee request and work with him without any hassle.

Client-sellers that get attached to a specific bottom-line price are not rare but when they become adamant it makes negotiations uncomfortable. When they are family it gets tricky and Madison told his assistant that his father Phil is a “nutcracker.”

The Park City property was listed at $2.4 million which Madison agreed was a fair price. When a buyer became interested Phil had other things to attend to and Madison accompanied his mother Wendy to Utah for a face-to-face meeting with the buyer’s agent.

We learned that Phil will reject any and all offers below $2.25 million and he’s not kidding. When the buyer’s agent says her client is ready to pay cash and close escrow in a few weeks, Madison is hopeful he can close the deal despite the offer coming in at $2.1

Madison is told that the prospective buyer is making his best and final offer at that price and has two properties he likes. His interest in this home was heightened because of the furnishings. “When it looks like a deal is falling apart you have to get creative,” says Madison and “…that is where I excel.”

An offer to include all the furnishings in the home saves the day and the offer meets the $2.25 million demanded. Madison’s mother was wiling to walk away from everything in the house, despite it being a place the family has owned for years.

As you can see, the rich are very different from the rest of us.

Million Dollar Listing L.A. airs new episodes on Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m. with replays throughout the week.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

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