Brash Mr. ‘Million Dollar Listing’ tones it down a little
Andrew Greenwell began selling real estate at age 19 and lays claim to about $ 4 billion in residential sales in the years since. Now 31, he has been cast as a kind of brash hero of our cash-obsessed era on “Million Dollar Listing San Francisco,” Bravo’s new reality showthat recently premiered.
If you watch, you will get to know him, fast: He’s the one who refers to his two competitors— agents Roh Habibi and Justin Fichelson — as amateurs who were “going to the prom” when he was already a seasoned professional.
In conversation, Greenwell, who founded and runs Venture Sotheby’s International Realty, which has 60 agents, turns out to be less confrontational. He is proud of his “formidable” mom, who raised him while working as the chief financial officer of a large construction company in Florida, and claims to be less fond of the Bay Area market’s excesses than one might expect. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Are you surprised to find yourself on this new show? It presents you and your two competitors as if you were pop culture icons.
A: I don’t know if I’d call myself that. I’m just a real estate agent with a camera following me around.
Q: Tell me about the drama of the deal. Why does it translate to TV?
A: When you’re dealing with someone who has large assets, the emotions run raw and there are no rules. It’s a no-rules game. It’s one of the most stressful and crazy things about the business, but it’s also what makes it exciting. You can get up in the morning and close a deal by noon, but you can also totally lose that deal by noon.
Q: On the show, you come across as unusually competitive.
A: You have to be. This is a high- stakes game. There’s no messing around.
Q: Toward the end of the first episode, you drop a bombshell on the two other agents — that you’ve bought their domain names, rohhabibi. com and justinfichelson.com.
A: It started out as a joke, and I had all intentions of giving them back to them. But one of them got really pissy about it. I like being a gentleman — rules of engagement and all that — but I don’t like it when people get all huffy and puffy. We’ll see how it goes and whether he gets it back.
Q: Is the show already bringing you new business?
A: Yeah, I think it’s really going to ramp up. People come through an open house and the cameras are there— it adds a little extra level of desire for them. Among the properties that have been on the show, I had one sale in the city where they offered $300,000 over asking, because they really wanted the house. People want to feel close to the show, close to the brokers.
Q: On the show, you beg a seller to price her home strategically — at a hair under $3 million, instead of over $3 million— asking her to trust you.
A: That’s what it was like. You kind of had to be a psychologist or therapist and they had to trust you. You’d price it a little under where the market is, and let the market take you past that. But I think that’s changing. Six months ago, if you wanted to sell a home for $2.2 million, you’d price it at $ 1.8 million, knowing it’s going to go over asking. Now you’d price it at $2.1 million. I think people are still going a little over asking, but maybe 5 percent over instead of 20 percent over.
Q: Why did you get into this business? You’ve been in real estate since you were 19.
A: I was super unpopular when I was 12. Everybody wanted to be a firefighter or a doctor, and I was on the playground saying I wanted to be a Realtor. I just always had a fascination with houses. I think for a little while I wanted to be an architect.
I entered college as a sophomore — I studied political science and law at Florida State — and I was really bored. I got into real estate to pursue my passion and keep myself busy.