Jason Oppenheim, star of “Selling the OC,” has made a lucrative career out of buying and selling homes—yet he has advised caution to anyone preparing to make either move right now, admitting that he has even hit pause on listing his own $15 million mansion amid ongoing economic volatility.
The 48-year-old real estate mogul, who cofounded luxury brokerage The Oppenheim Group with his twin brother, Brett Oppenheim, in 2013, prides himself on having a constant finger on the pulse of the housing market—both in Los Angeles, where the company’s headquarters is located, and across the U.S.
After his brother broke off from the business to launch his own real estate endeavor, Oppenheim now oversees a team of agents who specialize in luxury and high-profile listings—including rapper Kanye West‘s former Malibu beach house—across L.A., Newport Beach, San Diego, and Cabo San Lucas.
Ahead of the premiere of “Selling the OC” season 4 on Nov. 12, Oppenheim shared with Realtor.com® his best piece of advice for anyone who is thinking about buying a home—particularly those who are considering snapping up an investment property.
“I think if you’re going to buy, it’s going to be a personal life decision that’s going to justify buying, you’re not buying for an investment right now,” he said.
“And I would arguably say the same thing for selling,” he adds. “If you’re selling, it should be a life decision. Oddly, I don’t think it’s a good time to be buying or a good time to be selling.”
Oppenheim knows better than most how quickly the market—and the many factors that influence it—can change, however, noting that both buyers and sellers should be doing ample research before making a major move.
It is an ethos that he has passed down to all of his agents, including Gio Helou, the top producing agent at the O Group’s Newport Beach office, who echoed his boss’s sentiments about the current state of the real estate market, acknowledging that buying and selling are more reliant than ever on a person’s “specific situation.”
“I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule right now in this topsy-turvy world we’re living in,” Helou said. “My advice right now to my sellers in general is if you’re going to sell, price it right, otherwise you’re going to sit. And if you’re a buyer, strike while the iron’s hot.”
Oppenheim is putting his money where his mouth is as far as that advice goes, revealing that he has U-turned on his decision to list his own $15 million mansion in Newport Beach, after holding an intra-office competition among his agents to see who would win the listing.
Though she was overjoyed to claim victory in that contest, winning agent Alex Hall revealed that she and Oppenheim have ultimately decided to press pause on listing the property because they don’t feel that the time is right.
“It’s still not been taken to market yet actively,” Hall explained. “There’s still tenants currently living in the home and Jason and I both agree that it’s not a property we want to try to take on selling while there is somebody living in the home.”
Still, that doesn’t mean that Oppenheim isn’t relishing the opportunity to enjoy a client-agent relationship with Hall as they bide their time with the six-bedroom, 10-bathroom estate.
Though he insists that he is “easy” as far as his agency’s clients go, Hall joked: “I find that very hard to believe!”
“We’ll see how he is as a client as soon as I have answers for that,” Hall added.” It might be more of a group effort. I might need to pull in some help from some other agents at the office if Jason starts giving me flak.”
Hall has plenty of nearby qualified agents to call upon if needed. As it turns out, the OC office currently tops the leaderboard above all other O Group teams.
“The Newport Beach office is the most successful office this year, and rightfully so,” Oppenheim crowed. “I mean, we all know what’s going on with the real estate in Los Angeles not doing so great. San Diego is falling a little bit, too—not necessarily our office, but the city real estate is going down a little bit.
“And honestly, even Newport Beach. I’d say the peak was, like, a year ago. It’s off a little bit in terms of sales volume and pricing, but the agents keep selling more and more. In fact, this season, far and away, the most sales that we’ve ever done in a season, and most impressive real estate that we have on a season.”
Even real estate agent Tyler Stanaland, who left The Oppenheim Group to join his father’s team at rival firm Douglas Elliman but still appears on the reality show, reports “business is good” in Orange County.
“The market’s in kind of a funny place, as we all know, but professionally, moving back with the family was definitely the right decision for me,” says Stanaland. “We’ve been doing pretty well ourselves.”
Now that Stanaland works in a different office from his castmates, he’s able to see what a difference reality TV cameras make in a workplace.
“There is no drama that compares to O Group drama,” he said. “I mean, there’s normal drama, like, we forgot the keys, or we’re running late to a showing, or somebody [needs to] write the contract. Like, very normal real estate office things, so it’s a much more peaceful environment.”
Real estate agent Brandi Marshall backs up Stanaland’s observation about the O Group’s unique brand of office politics, and acknowledges she made a conscious effort to avoid getting sucked into it this season.
“A lot of the things that go on in the office is kind of like ‘Fight Club,’” Marshall joked. “Like, it goes off and you can’t talk about it because if you do, now you’re in a spiral, and now you’re distracted from your work.
“That’s why you saw me this season operating the way I did, because we are in a difficult market right now, and I’m going to be completely honest, I’m not in a place to play around. Maybe when I get on Gio’s level, then I can talk a little more crap, but right now, I need to keep my head down and focus.”
According to real estate agent Austin Victoria, some tension between coworkers is inevitable since the show captures so much of their lives.
“You see our inter-relationships with each other as well as our families, our work relationships, and there’s always going to be drama,” Victoria explained. “The show is around all the time and so they capture our best and worst moments. We’re good friends, so, you know, in any relationship, there’s ups and downs.”
However, despite being at the center of some of the season’s most explosive onscreen moments, real estate agent Ashtyn Zerboni insists that relocating her business from the San Diego O Group office to the Newport Beach location felt “seamless.”
“I kind of did a little bit of bebopping back and forth between the two offices,” Zerboni said. “The transition was pretty seamless because it’s still the coast of California. A lot of the demographic is very similar, and I think that I have performed very well out there.”
Also new to the O Group’s OC team is Fiona Belle. At just 23 years old, the Orange County native is establishing her business and making the case to all buyers and sellers to give emerging agents a chance.
“An agent that’s starting off, there’s a lot of pressure, and I think you have to kind of work almost harder to prove yourself when you are newer and you are young,” she said. “I really want to show my clients that I’m an expert in the industry and I pride myself on the knowledge.
“I would say if there’s someone out there that you feel and trust as an agent and they’re starting off, definitely give them a chance, because I think they could really surprise you.”
Between the newbies and the OGs, the “Selling the OC” cast promises plenty of surprises this season in and out of the housing market.
Season 4 of “Selling the OC” will be released Nov. 12 on Netflix.