The intense rivalry between two of the most recognisable faces in real estate, has spilled over at a recent conference.
Having Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles co-stars Josh Flagg and Josh Altman speak at a recent conference in Australia, but not on stage together, was a lost entertainment thrill for the 5000 estate agents in attendance.
The event failed to truly address the obvious elephant in the room – their legendary rivalry, which continues long after the Bravo series ended.
However, Flagg did fleetingly raise their awkward relationship.
“Someone who calls me (into a listing presentation) is not calling Josh Altman, mainly because usually the people calling me have taste,” Flagg said.
“I represent a different kind of a home … I don’t represent modern sexy glass boxes, I represent old grand homes – that’s the niche that I have created.
“I like old homes and when you like something, it manifests.”
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Josh Altman and Josh Flagg. Picture: Instagram
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Asked by conference founder John McGrath what he’d say if a glass box owner did call, Flagg said: “Oh, I’ll take the listing” to much laughter among the agents.
“I don’t generally take more than 10 listings at a time,” he added, acknowledging that rivals, including Altman, regularly claimed to prospective vendors that Flagg was overloaded with all his varied commitments.
“They all use that … Josh Altman does it all the time.
“I know everything he says.
“I don’t think the client cares as long as their get their price.
“They just want their money.”
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LA estate agent Josh Flagg has listed the Beverly Hills estate Falcon Lair.
Now at Compass, Flagg’s most acclaimed conjunctional listing is Falcon Lair, the legendary estate above Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles, California. It was the 1920s Spanish Revival Beverly Hills estate for the silent-screen heart throb Rudolph Valentino, with a Wallace Neff-designed residence. He bought 1436 Bella Drive in 1925 for $US175,000, but shortly after he and Natacha Rambova divorced.
Valentino kept Arabian horses in the stables, his Isotta Fraschini, Avion Voisin and Franklin cars in the three-bay garage, and his unconfirmed fiancee, actress Pola Negri, in his bedroom.
After Valentino’s sudden death, 100 years ago this August, Falcon Lair reportedly fetched only a quarter of its construction costs.
It was briefly the rental of mobster Bugsy Siegel in the 1940s.
The reduced 1.55ha estate is set behind the original gates with caretakers cottage.
Gloria Swanson, who rented it around the time of her career resurgence in the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, then convinced her friend, tobacco heiress Doris Duke, to purchase it in 1953. Duke died in 1993 at age 80, and it was sold in 1998 for $2,229,000.
The pity was Diane Keaton only contemplated its purchase, so its demolition-renovation subdivision project phase started in 2003, with its peak asking price of $29.5m in 2018.
Flagg listed the reduced 1.55ha estate, set behind the original gates with caretakers cottage, at $10.995m late last year, but it is now down to $7,995,000.
For digital attendees of AREC, the live remote viewing was down for much of the opening morning, blamed on a technical issue.
“We’re extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused,” AREC advised, while rebutting any recompense requests.
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