A glamorous new TV show that follows some of New Zealand’s top real estate agents has been teased by the makers of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Million Dollar Listing New York.
A photo of the former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett in Queenstown flanked by a troop of smartly dressed agents was posted by Bravo New Zealand on Friday, announcing the show, which is called Rich Listers and is due to air later this year.
Bennett, who deals with some of New Zealand's wealthiest people in her role as National Director of Customer Engagement and Advisory for Bayleys, is joined on the show by a former Miss New Zealand who now works as an agent for Ray White Parnell in Auckland.
OneRoof understands the show will provide viewers with a colourful behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to sell millions of dollars’ worth of property in New Zealand. Filmed in Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown over the past year, Rich Listers will take a look inside some of New Zealand's most expensive houses.
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Like most reality TV shows, it will also have its fair share of heroes and villains throughout the series.
Joining Bennett and Cassidy on the are husband and wife agents Dominique and Dave McCartney, from Ray White Howick; Barfoot & Thompson agent Greenlane Cheryl Whiting, who is also Cassidy's grandmother; Annabel Marshall, from Bayleys Ponsonby; Harcourts Northwest Diego Traglia; and the sole agent who operates outside of Auckland, Karl Matakatea, from Sold On Kapiti.
Not all of the agents involved in the show sell at the top of the market, but many are among the most successful.
The agents line behind Bennett in the advertising for the show, which is set to air on Bravo later this year. Photo / Bravo
Traglia is Harcourts' number two agent nationwide and has been voted the number one agent in the country on Rate My Agent. And Dave McCartney is one of Ray White's elite performers.
OneRoof reached out to some of the stars for comment but had yet to hear a response. However, Traglia told OneRoof this month he was going to be in the reality show. "I don’t know how they found me but I loved filming it," he said.
He also told OneRoof what it took to be a success in the New Zealand housing market. "For me, real estate is not a job, it is a lifestyle. If you think of it as a job, you’re in the wrong job."
Bennett has also discussed with OneRoof her life in real estate, revealing last month that she loves working with ultra-high net worth people.
"I can tell you that they are smart and they are literally designing our landscapes. It feels to me that too often we as the public give them a hard time,” she said, but adding some wealthy people had "some quite nice eccentric views, shall we put it that way".
