Why Netflix’s Selling Sunset is my favourite source of property porn

If you’re looking for a new reality show in your life, why not go for one that combines the requisite in-fighting with the most expensive homes you’ve ever laid eyes on?

Here at IMAGE, we love peeking inside gorgeous homes. There’s a unique thrill that comes from seeing inside someone’s house, which is only amplified with each zero that comes on the end of its value.

Perhaps it’s a curiosity about a lavish lifestyle I’ll never have, or just sheer, unadulterated nosiness, but I cannot pass up the opportunity to see inside an expensive home.

That’s why Netflix’s Selling Sunset is my new favourite show. It’s everything the best reality programmes have: the impossibly glamorous cast, the catty one-liners, the recurring fights that make you take sides. The best part, however, it that its cast are all real estate agents at a high-end broker in Los Angeles, The Oppenheim Group.

This means that the backdrop to all this drama includes some of the most outrageous homes you’ve ever seen. We’re talking $40 million homes in the Hollywood Hills, with infinity pools, rooftop terraces with views for miles, and everything from automated glass walls to home cinemas.

These are the homes of celebrities and tech billionaires, so it’s probably the best chance the rest of us will ever get to peek inside.

Not only do these homes make your jaw drop, they also add an extra layer of drama to the show, as the cast sell them on commission, which is calculated as a percentage of the sale price. This frequently works out at over $100,000 for a single home. So with such a high-pressure environment, there’s no wonder a little competition can emerge.

As you burn through the episodes, you’ll soon become an expert in LA property prices. ‘$4 million for a house with no view in the Valley?’ you scoff. ‘That’s ridiculous.’ You cast your disapproving eye over a walk-in wardrobe with back-lit shelving: ‘Eugh, so small. Only one hanging rail each? That’ll put buyers off’.

Before you book your flights to move to LA and jump into the property business, you sadly have to be a Californian resident to apply for a real estate licence there (I’ve checked).

As the show is made by the same people who brought us The Hills and Laguna Beach, you can expect a cast full of big personalities just waiting to clash with each other. A shoutout has to go to Christine, a woman who booked a zebra for a ‘casual’ party, considers Louboutins everyday wear and counts taking others down a peg as a main pastime.

Is it gross that this broker run by two men seems to only employ incredibly attractive women? Absolutely. Are the amounts of money people are spending on a single home disgusting? Totally. But I can promise you that it all makes for utterly captivating television.

Featured image: Netflix

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