From left: Tracy Tutor Maltas, Josh Altman and Josh Flagg
Well viewers, we’ve made it… to the midway point.
We’ve successfully navigated the first half of Season 10 while witnessing our fair share of deal-making and drama. Here’s to all of the demanding developers, broker breakdowns and over-the-top open houses. Onward!
In this episode, Josh Flagg deals with a pair of picky buyers who have a limited budget and sky-high expectations. Tracy gets stuck with an overzealous, overbearing developer and Josh Altman… well, he takes a break from real estate this week.
Here’s where we left off.
Whoa baby
Now that his wife Heather is about to burst, expectant dad Josh Altman is spending as much time at home as he can. It’s not easy for him — until this point his job has dominated much of his professional and personal life. But because all men eventually grow up, he begins the small, subtle steps toward fatherhood.
One of the more heartwarming scenes this season occurs when Josh and his dad hit the home gym. Josh at first struggled with the news that he and Heather would be welcoming a baby girl, not a boy, into the world. What about sports? What about being coach of the football and baseball teams? Well, lucky for Josh, girls play sports, too! His father then bestows upon him a piece of wisdom that initiates all the feels.
“Trust me, when they put that little girl into your arms, there’s nothing like,” his dad says. “And she will then wrap you around her finger for the rest of her life.”
And it appears that prophecy has come true. Just as Josh and his brother are about to seal the deal at Lancer, Heather’s water breaks. They’re off to the hospital, but not before Heather fixes her hair and applies some makeup. Hey, this birth is going to take place on national television, so we’re all for it.
You know how the rest goes.
The road more traveled
As it turns out, it was Tracy’s husband that was wrong about which grade their youngest daughter was in. Come on, Jason!
Feeling a smidgen less guilty about the time she spends with her family, Tracy turns her attention to a brand-spankin’-new spec home in Crescent Heights. The five-bedroom, six-bathroom property epitomizes modern living, with an open floor plan, sleek finishes and zero-edge pool in the backyard. There’s just one tiny problem, something that plagues much of the fancy real estate we’ve seen on the show throughout this season. And that’s the traffic. The home is located on a busy thoroughfare, and ohmygod, you can hear cars driving by!
This does not dissuade Henry, the home’s developer, from pricing the property at $3.8 million, even though Tracy advises that this is just too much. They agree to reconvene in two weeks if they don’t attract enough suitable offers.
To drum up some interest, Tracy hosts a broker open house. It’s a beautiful day for the event, if you enjoy 100-plus degree weather. The cherry on top of the melting ice cream is that the road is closed down for construction, so any sense of curb appeal gets thrown out of the window. Despite this, Tracy draws a decent crowd for the open house. But not according to Henry, who shows up unexpectedly and voices his displeasure that hundreds more people aren’t walking through the door.
After following up with the brokers who did attend, she and Henry meet to discuss the price tag. According to Tracy, it’s still too much, and they must reevaluate the price if they want to get more people interested. The developer is unwilling to bend and ultimately decides to “explore his options” by way of another broker.
“Not only is he not willing to budge, he’s offensive and almost blaming me for it,” she says. “I’m out. I’m out.”
Sex, drugs and real estate
Josh Flagg gets saddled with pair of buyers who demand perfection and won’t “compromise” on any old multimillion-dollar house. Yay! He meets with Troy, who’s repped rock-and-roll legends like Ozzy Osbourne and Fleetwood Mac, and his girlfriend Kelly, who was most likely in diapers when “Crazy Train” hit the airwaves.
“Well this is Los Angeles,” Josh says. “Love knows no age.”
Troy and Kelly are working within a budget range of $2 to $3 million, and looking for something that’s “cold, sterile and sexy.” No children allowed, no pool and no paparazzi. Considering their price range and the fact they want to be near Beverly Hills, this won’t be easy.
And it isn’t! Josh shows the couple a parade of houses, none of which meet their standards. Too many power lines, not enough of view, a pool. They spend too much on blowouts for their dog to have it ruined by a chlorine-infested pool!
Josh takes a break from the madness to induce a new headache: wedding planning! His fiancee Derek has arranged a sit-down with their new wedding planner, who honestly seems like a woman you’d want on your side. In a truly heartbreaking moment, Derek reveals that both of his parents passed away last year and that he wants to somehow honor their memory on the couple’s special day.
“My parents won’t be there physically, but maybe we can figure out a way to pay tribute to them somehow,” Derek says.
After the emotional meetup, Josh gets back on track with Troy and Kelly, who have their eyes on a remodel in the Hills. Troy initially wants to submit an offer well below ask, but Kelly reminds him that $50,000 is “less than a week in Bora Bora.” Duh!
It looks like the couple will get the house and their trip to Bora Bora, too.
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