Ryan Serhant Dishes About Turning 40, Changing Up His Brooklyn Home, and Premiering His New Netflix Show

After costarring on “Million Dollar Listing New York” for nearly a decade, world-famous broker Ryan Serhant is returning to reality TV with his own show, “Owning Manhattan.”

The new Netflix series, which premieres June 28, follows Serhant in his role of CEO at his namesake brokerage and a dozen of the New York-based agents he leads. Through all the high-stakes competition, negotiations, and deals, the team gives a glimpse inside some of the most exclusive luxury listings on Earth—including the world’s tallest residential unit priced at a quarter of a billion dollars and a penthouse that musician Bad Bunny rented for $150,000 a month.

Eager to get his expertise on buying, selling, and renovating, we got Serhant to open up about the trophy homes featured this season as well as his personal townhouse and rental properties. Delivered with some signature Serhant humor and flair, the megabroker gave us his best advice as he closes in on a milestone birthday. So take note of his pro tips for strategically navigating today’s challenging real estate market.

You’re turning 40 on July 2. Do you have any reflections to share about life thus far—or dreams for the next decade?

I’ve written three books now, and the way I think about my life is similar to the way I think about those books in that each decade is a chapter. I’m about to go into my fourth chapter of what is potentially a nine- or maybe 10-chapter book. When I think about it that way, it’s like, “Man, I’ve only just begun.”

Each chapter has a different section, and what makes a great book is not the chapters where everything goes according to plan. It’s not the stories where everything works out. You don’t want to watch that show. You don’t really want to read that book either. It’s everything that happens in between, and all those lessons you’ve learned.

If I could go back in time, I’d tell myself to chill out. It’s going to be fine. It’s all going to work out. I’m sure that 50-year-old Ryan probably wishes he felt the way I do right now—even if, right now, I wish I felt like I did when I was 30. I wish I had that stress. I wish my back felt like that. I wish my knee wasn’t making a weird noise right now, like, what is that? I don’t understand!

How has the Ryan we know from “Owning Manhattan” changed and grown since Season 1 of “Million Dollar Listing New York”?

Woah. Well, I am now older. I think “Million Dollar Listing New York” Season 1 Ryan—when we started filming—I was 24. The show came out when I was 26. I was single, dating. I was a real estate agent trying to sell my first apartment. I had only been in real estate for 18 months when that show started. I was closer to graduating school and having my first summer jobs than I was to having a career.

Today, I’m obviously a very different person. We’ve done multiple shows with Bravo over the years. I built a sales team to be the No. 1 sales team in New York City for multiple years in a row; and then in 2020, I started my own company.

We grew really fast. We went from being bottom of the barrel in 2020—I think number 25 in the rankings—and we’ve risen over the first three years to be No. 6 six in the city. We still have a little ways to go, but we move really quickly.

I went from being young, real estate agent Ryan to now CEO Ryan, dad, husband, family man [who is] managing people, managing staff, the stresses—everything in between—while not letting go of what makes me tick, which is putting deals together and having a little bit of fun while doing it.

How does “Owning Manhattan” stand out from “Million Dollar Listing New York” and all the other real estate reality TV shows that have come out since?

Obviously, because I was on “Million Dollar Listing” for 10 years—the OG real estate show—I think people will be excited to follow the deals, the process, the negotiations, and the parties.

I think the other shows are all great in their own way. You know, “Buying Beverly Hills” is not “Selling Sunset.” “Selling Sunset” is not “Selling [the] OC;” it’s different. Neither of those are “Buying London,” which I just had the opportunity to check out with my friend Danny Daggers, who’s based there.

“Owning Manhattan” is its own world, its own vibe, its own energy. It is similar enough to other real estate TV shows, but it is so different in that it is New York. “Owning Manhattan” is the only New York City show out there. It follows me and my company and the founding of my company. I don’t just work at a big box brokerage, which I think is interesting. It has a mixture of the other real estate shows, a mixture of “Succession,” a mixture of “Vanderpump Rules,” a mixture of “Shark Tank,” and stylistically, it has such a different vibe from the others that it really helps redefine that real estate TV genre for the better.

A growing tradition at the SERHANT. office is to sign the wall when a big deal closes. What are some recent deals you signed the wall for?

I love those moments. As many times as I can say, “Take it to the wall,” is the best. I tell everyone, “You want to come here? You want to take it to the wall as often as you can.”

As we’ve started to expand and grow in other offices and different markets, every market leader or team leader of ours has built out an office and has done their own deal wall. Even agents that don’t come to the office that are totally virtual, they’ll come into the city, or they’ll go into one of our other markets just to sign the wall.

I just sold something in Soho for $50 million, just sold something on Park Avenue for $37.5 million, I’m closing on a townhouse next week for $35.5 million, another one for $18 million, another one for $14 million, so I sign the wall a lot! But I try not to sign it too much because I need to save room. I want everyone else to sell, not just me.

One trophy property highlighted on the show is a $250 million penthouse at Central Park Tower. What did it mean to land that listing, and has it sold since filming wrapped?

Landing it was a really, really big deal, especially because we had just started our company. To really have somebody trust us at that level was really exciting, so we followed that process on the show.

We adjusted the price a couple months ago to $195 million. It’s a lot of money; but it is well-priced for what it is, based on comparables. There’s nothing else like it in the world. It’s the highest residential property on planet Earth.

It’s still on the market. We’ve received multiple offers. I’m negotiating an offer right now—knock on wood, please!

Another standout listing on the show is the penthouse at Jardim that gets rented by musician Bad Bunny for $150,000 a month. What’s that property’s current status?

The Jardim property’s a great one. That’s a beautiful penthouse. We sold out that building, and then we were down to the final penthouse.

On the show, we rent it to someone very famous for $150,000 a month and then, I don’t know if this is on the show, but we actually sold it and we’re closing on it tomorrow! Yeah, Realtor.com, track the closing—you’ll be good to go!

What is your top piece of advice right now for buyers and sellers?

For sellers, I understand that you probably have a home loan at a low interest rate, so if you don’t have to sell, you’re probably not going to sell because to go and purchase something else at a much higher rate than what you’re paying can be tough.

But I think there’s no better time than now. We have a presidential election coming up in the United States, and I don’t know what the market holds in the future; but right now, I know it’s active. Inventory is incredibly low. The minute rates start going down, will more buyers flood the market? Sure, but so will more sellers. More sellers will come to market, which is going to create more competition, which is why now is such a unique and opportunistic time to sell.

For buyers, yes, rates are high, but they could be higher because they were higher. You have to understand that it’s OK to marry the house and date the rate. Your monthly payment can change, but you’re not renegotiating the sale price of the house. You’re not renegotiating the house and the location. If you find a house you really like, let alone love, figure out how to make it happen and you will live into it.

Do you notice any common missteps buyers and sellers are making in today’s market?

Sellers try to sell on their own instead of using a real estate agent all the time, or they try to sell with a discount brokerage and you always pay for it. Great service is expensive; bad service costs a fortune. You’re paying for protection. You’re paying insurance. That’s really what it is when you use great people.

Sellers also take the market for granted and think that just because something sold in a day six months ago, their home is going to sell in a day today, and [that] they don’t have to declutter, don’t have to paint, and don’t have to get their yard ready.

Buyers are always thinking the market’s falling, or they always think the market’s going straight up. If you try to time the market, you will get hurt because you’re either going to pay too much out of exasperation later on, or you’re not going to spend enough out of fear, and you’re going to have to move much sooner. Those opportunity costs of having to move in two or three years and then [again] in two or three years—you should’ve just bought the place that made sense for you six years ago.

How is your personal real estate portfolio these days, particularly the $3.7 million Soho penthouse you keep as a rental property and the Brooklyn townhouse you call home?

We own a lot of rental properties. That [Soho] property still has a great tenant: pays the rent on time, no issues there.

I built a townhouse in Brooklyn, and I live there now, which is great.

I see lots of deals, and I’m always interested in looking at great deals. Owning real estate is a great path toward generational wealth in the United States. You have ownership of your deed and if you can carry the monthly, then I think there’s really no better surefire way to build a great investment portfolio.

Have you refreshed your home’s interior, especially as your daughter Zena grows up?

Her floor changes a lot, that’s for sure—not on purpose.

We change the art all the time. We work with a company called CAP art (Creative Art Partners), who rotates the art in our house all the time. When we built the house and I had 8,000 square feet of walls, I’m like, “What do I do? I just spent all my money building this thing, I can’t go get all this art.”

They rotate the art, so the rooms change vibes all the time, which is really fun.

We’re updating and renovating offices all the time and working with clients on their own renovations, giving advice, doing floor plan and finish designs, so even though I’m not currently renovating any of my own properties—thank heavens—I feel like I’m always renovating something.

All eight episodes of “Owning Manhattan” Season 1 drop June 28 on Netflix.