the times | Saturday September 5 2020 2GM 3
News
Royal thankyous come in all shapes
and sizes. Some are on Palace note-
paper and many are written by court-
iers expressing gratitude on the family’s
behalf. Fewer come in the form of a
personal phone call thanking a party
fixer for an introduction to house
music.
The good manners, and musical jour-
ney, of the Duke of Cambridge have
been revealed following the death of
the American DJ Erick Morillo.
In 2006 William was on holiday in
Ibiza with his girlfriend Kate Middle-
A property salesman who has made a
fortune from mansions and reality TV
melodrama is bringing Hollywood-
style selling techniques to Britain.
Eddie Shapiro, 45, is seeking estate
agents with the X factor to sell houses in
what he believes will be a “game-chang-
er” for the British property market.
The American businessman has built
Nest Seekers into an agency with 1,
brokers, based on its fame from a tele-
vision programme.
His agency has starred in 22 series of
the Bravo network’s Million Dollar List-
ing and appeared in the Netflix hit Sell-
ing Sunset. The series shows the battles
among estate agents as they sell luxury
homes in Hollywood.
Mr Shapiro has hired Daniel
McPeake, his first British-based broker,
after a relentless campaign. Mr
McPeake, born in Essex, said that he be-
came hooked on the New York series of
Million Dollar Listing. Having quietly
adapted the American model for Brit-
ish tastes, he is recruiting.
“We believe [the new approach] will
be a game-changer in the way the
system works,” Mr Shapiro says.
Instead of marketing a home to the
buyers on their books and on property
websites, their method is to invite the
best local agents to view. “They’re
going to bring their buyers round,”
Mr McPeake, 45, said. “Then buyers
are going to see each other and all
of a sudden there’s competition,
there’s a fear of loss.”
For anyone selling their
home, it means viewings by vet-
ted buyers on the books of all the best
local estate agents. Mr McPeake said
that sellers could get a faster sale for a
higher price. “They don’t have to stick it
on Rightmove and wait like a carp
fisherman by a lake for six months.”
At the heart of the difference is
money. The average British agent earns
a basic salary of £25,000. Of the 2 per
cent commission a branch typically
would charge on a property’s sale price,
the agent would get 10 per cent. On a
£1 million sale, that’s £2,000.
Mr Shapiro said: “Their fees are so
low they can’t share it with other
agents. In the US, it’s all perform-
ance. It’s all commission.”
Nest Seekers brokers have no
salary but get as much as 70 per
cent of the agency’s fee, which is
about 6 per cent in America and
3 per cent in Britain. A £1 million
sale would pay up to £21,000 —
enough to work together and
spread the rewards. MrNest Seekers, which
featured in Selling
Sunset on Netflix,
is listing properties
in Knightsbridge.
Daniel McPeake is
its first UK brokerDJ set awarded royal approval after Ibiza party
ton, staying at the villa owned by her
uncle Gary Goldsmith. While there
they visited the Pacha nightclub as
guests of Morillo and Francisco Ferrer,
the club’s artistic director.
Tony Truman, an Ibiza party orga-
niser who arranged the couple’s visit to
the club, said he was “blown away”
when William rang to thank him.
Mr Truman, a former partner of the
EastEnders actress Charlie Brooks,
wrote on Instagram: “A story just came
to me about Erick that I will never for-
get many moons ago... HRH Prince
William came to Ibiza & I had the pleas-
ure to help arrange his party planswhile on the Island with Kate & their
entourage.”
Mr Truman said he asked the DJ and
Mr Ferrer to look after William at
Pacha. “They obviously done a great job
as the next day I get a call from HRH
William (like u casually do) and Wills
says thank you Tony I was not a fan of
house music until last night & your
friend Erick was amazing, now I love it.”
Mr Truman’s account puts the royal
visit in 2008. However, the couple are
known to have visited Ibiza in 2006.
Morillo was found dead at his home
in Miami this week days after being ar-
rested on suspicion of sexual battery.Valentine Low
The duke called up a
party planner to
thank him personallyNETFLIXHollywood treatment for British homes
McPeake explained: “You co-broke or
go broke.”
When homes such as a mansion fea-
tured in one episode of Million Dollar
Listing, dubbed the “Taj Mahal of
Hamptons property” for $40 million
(£30 million), it meant sharing $1.2 mil-
lion (£900,000) in potential commis-
sion. That’s why on Million Dollar Beach
House James Giugliano, 31, spends
$30,000 on a party to showcase a house
with his rivals. “It’s a lot of money to
risk,” he says. “But I need to get eyes on
the property to get this sold.”
In Los Angeles, Nest Seekers had
Chris Martin, of Coldplay, and the rap-
per Snoop Dogg perform to sell an es-
tate. Mr Shapiro said: “Yesterday we
brought in a helicopter... and shot a
video. We shot a property with a Van
Dutch [yacht] in it because there was a
bay front. It’s part of the experience.”
On this side of the Atlantic, Mr
McPeake’s fledgling team has been less
ostentatious. One of his new brokers in
Surrey printed 250 agency-branded
frisbees to throw to fellow dog walkers.
In Kent, they have left Nest Seekers tote
bags filled with asparagus on the door-
steps of sellers listed with rival agencies.
Mr McPeake, who was a door-to-
door salesman before joining an estate
agency 25 years ago, said that he was
looking for recruits with an “entrepre-
neurial flair”. He asked: “Can they think
for themselves, even if they’re wrong?”
The lucky recruit might even become
a star of the screen. Mr Shapiro said
that Nest Seekers was working with
networks on several programmes. He
said: “This show may showcase some
UK elements in season two and three.”Martina Lees
Selling your house US-style
does not mean hosting
burgers and botox parties,
as American estate agents
on Netflix have done.
When you list your house
with a British agent you get
access to only their buyers,
In the US they partner with
others who bring all serious
buyers to view; instead of
five or six serious buyersyou have access to 30 or 40.
Your broker shares half their
commission with the buyer’s
agent. This comes at a price:
6 per cent commission on
the sale price in America or
2 per cent in Britain. Perhaps
conscious of price, Nest
Seekers, the agency behind
Netflix’s Million Dollar Beach
House, charges 3 per cent
on British sales.How it works