Sadly, this week's Million Dollar Listing San Francisco was very low on new properties to drool over. In fact, there wasn't a single fresh property actually within San Francisco on the episode, meaning that Andrew's Pleasanton country house was as good as it got. Pleasanton, according to proud Andrew, is the "third wealthiest mid-sized city in the country." His new listing is modeled after a country villa in Spain and boasts a three-quarter acre wooded lot with streams, waterfalls, and gardens. However, in Million Dollar Listing, there alway has to be a catch to any property. In this case, its the presence of the 680 freeway, which can be seen and heard from the yard. What is Andrew to do?
Andrew puts the house up for sale for $1.748 million and starts showing it to potential buyers. He wants it to sell for over asking, so he really needs to find multiple buyers. Andrew seems much more on his home turf out here in Pleasanton than he did in Bernal Heights, and he quickly has people on-site for showings. The somewhat incoherent storyline shows one potential buyer, Vikram, showing up again and again but also asking for things like a new gate and garage door to be installed before he buys. Andrew finally ends up in a negotiation with Vikram's agent, who tries to play hardball and offers just $1,000 over asking. Andrew wants $50,000 over but doesn't show his cards and ends up with $75,000 over.
The rest of the episode is a long, intertwining story involving Roh and Justin that carries over both of their story lines from the week before. As you might recall, Justin was trying to sell an overpriced $3 million condo at the Millennium for his long-time friend Kevin who needed the cash to start a cherry jam business called Chammy. Justin's segment opens with his declaration that he is about to meet a broker who has a reputation for getting his clients to overpay for properties. The broker is Roh. Roh is on the hunt for a new property for Mr. Wong, a client who is selling a condo at the Metropolitan but must immediately buy something else to avoid getting taxed. Roh and Mr. Wong's representative have already been to check out M@1875, the new development with a boutique feel that is either Euro or LA, but the $5,000 potential rental income isn't high enough.
Justin and Roh clash immediately. Justin scoffs at Roh's Hayward home base, saying "I can't imagine any reason why I would go to Hayward." The property, however, is perfect for Mr. Wong because it could rent for $9,000 to $10,000 per month. Mr. Wong offers up $2.875 million, but when Kevin and Justin meet up to discuss the offer at the Fog City Diner, Kevin is unimpressed and fires Justin. "I've got to go with someone else," he says. "It's business, Justin." That leads to Justin drinking in a bar with his sister and, in one of the show's more serious moments, talking about how nothing he has ever done has been good enough for his successful lawyer dad.
The story has a happier ending for Roh. Although he has to pull out of the deal with a buyer who wants the condo at the Metropolitan for a second time, another buyer magically materializes. Roh hasn't been able to find a new property for Mr. Wong to buy, but he does convince the new buyer to pay $50,000 over asking. That's enough to cover Mr. Wong's taxes, and the deal goes through. All of these neatly tied-up endings mean that next week there should be three new properties on display.
· The Final Two Units at M@1875 in the Mission Are Up for Sale [Curbed SF]
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