Selling Sunset BTS: The crazy world of celeb super-mansions
Opening the doors to LA’s most exclusive and expensive houses, Netflix’s Selling Sunset became one of the most-watched shows last summer. Star of the series Mary Fitzgerald reveals all on selling homes to the mega-rich and famous ahead of season four
‘One couple asked for a sex room!’
The stunning, multimilliondollar mansions of LA are the star attraction of hit reality series Selling Sunset. Cameras follow the lives of a group of super-glamorous estate agents at The Oppenheim Group in West Hollywood, as they fight for celebrity clients and multimillion properties.
The house with the biggest price tag to feature on the show to date is a $75million (£54.8m) listing in Beverly Hills, with nine bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and a private movie theatre, which still remains unsold.
In series three, the brokerage closed a deal on a $40million (£32.5m) mansion above the Sunset Strip, with an underground glass garage that housed a collection of 15 supercars. But that’s not out of the ordinary, according to Selling Sunset’s Mary Fitzgerald.
UNUSUAL REQUEST
She laughs, “We recently had a couple who said they had an ‘unusual request’, but I was like, ‘I’ve heard of everything in this job’. The client called and said they wanted everything in their home revolved around sex. They wanted a “sex room”, like in 50 Shades Of Grey, and I was like ‘Okayyy’. It was a little awkward.”
While Mary, 40, says she’s had her busiest year in real estate, despite the pandemic, it has changed how her high-profile clients are viewing mega-houses.
CELEB DEMANDS
“We often get celebrities who will view a house via FaceTime now, but there will always be inspections for them if they can’t be there. It all depends on how big the celebrity is,” Mary tells Closer. “There have been a couple of celebs who will have their agents and assistants do the showings first, before they go to see the house for themselves. Justin Bieber’s team came to showings multiple times, but he didn’t end up taking the house.”
Other celebs that the Selling Sunset agents have sold to in the past include Ellen DeGeneres, Orlando Bloom and Meryl Streep, so meeting a high-profile client’s property demands is key.
“A celebrity’s number-one request is privacy. They either want the house to be really set back, or privately gated,” Mary explains. “A lot of clients in the music industry will request that the house has a music studio and sometimes there will be ridiculously expensive sound systems – I’ve seen a house with at least half a million dollars worth of equipment in it. Our clients want tennis courts and basketball courts, but that’s really not unusual!”
● Selling Sunset’s Mary Fitzgerald and Amanza Smith took part in an exclusive Zoom event hosted by Thrillz last month