The Morning: Real estate fantasies

Plus, President Biden, Ukraine and the class of 2024.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story April 28, 2024 Good morning. Today my colleague Debra Kamin, a real estate reporter, explains why Americans are entranced by the glitzy world of celebrity home sales. — David Leonhardt In Los Angeles.  Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times Selling a dream By Debra Kamin She is a real estate reporter. There are few acts more optimistic than shopping for a home. You walk through its doors, run your fingertips along its appliances and see your face reflected in its windows and mirrors. You consider untapped versions of your life, imagining yourself waking up every day in that bedroom, cooking every day in that kitchen and letting the years unfold between those walls. Real estate agents understand this allure. The good ones package it up, serving it to clients in the form of property tours that show off not only a house, but also the life that a house can offer. And the really good ones are so adept at spinning the fantasy that they're building careers on television out of it. For a new story for The Times's real estate section, which published this morning, I spent time with agents from shows like "Million Dollar Listing" and "Buying Beverly Hills" to understand how they became stars in their own right, and what that tells us about the state of housing in the U.S. Hollywood luxury Late last year, I flew to Los Angeles to attend an awards show for some of Hollywood's most famous real estate agents. Seated in the backyard of a sprawling estate once owned by Madonna, I watched as Mauricio Umansky, who stars on Netflix's "Buying Beverly Hills," cracked jokes and presented awards like "Stratospheric Sale of the Year." (The winner was Kurt Rappaport, who represented Beyoncé and Jay-Z in their purchase of a $190 million Malibu pad last May.) "This is the Oscars of real estate," Alexander Ali, a public relations official, told me that night. He runs a company, the Society Group, devoted solely to promoting celebrity agents and the houses that they list. Millions of us are hooked on his clients' content. The most recent season of "Selling Sunset" brought in about 3.2 million streaming viewers per episode, according to Nielsen Media Research; "Buying Beverly Hills" drew 1.7 million per episode in its first season. At a Los Angeles Power Broker Awards party. Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times I also toured homes with some of the celebrity agents, and felt the seductive power of their extravagance firsthand. One of my hosts was Aaron Kirman, who starred on CNBC's "Listing Impossible." We drove around Los Angeles while he pointed out houses owned by Chrissy Teigen and Leonardo DiCaprio. At a red light, he reached into his Range Rover's center console, which is refrigerated and stocked with protein shakes, then helped me put my seat into massage mode, so a dozen nodules could melt away the knots in my back. We pulled up to a $58 million home in Bel Air. The house, a temple of glass and curved steel, has nine bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and a central spiral staircase that alone cost $1.25 million. Usher borrowed the space to shoot his music video for "Ruin" just before this year's Super Bowl. I sat on the home's plush sofas and stared at the soaring ceiling of its primary suite. Outside, its infinity pool glinted in the sun. And I wondered: In an alternate timeline, one marked by different life choices, could this have been my home? Refuge in fantasy In the real world, the dream of homeownership is more elusive than it has been in decades. Housing affordability in the U.S. is at a crushing low, with skyrocketing prices, elevated mortgage rates and a shortage of inventory for low- and middle-income households. Instead of turning us away from escapist real estate television, though, these struggles seem to have increased the programs' allure. The reason, one sociologist told me, is the "parasocial relationship" that viewers can form with celebrity agents: They feel like friends to us, and as a result, we live vicariously through them when we watch. In one of the cruelest housing markets in history, Americans are turning to television to fulfill their real estate desires. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Politics President Biden  Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times President Biden joked about Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner. "The 2024 election's in full swing and yes, age is an issue," he said. "I'm a grown man running against a 6-year-old." No major American presidential candidate has talked like Trump now does at his rallies, not even Trump himself, Charles Homans writes. Environmental rules are imposed, gutted and restored with each election. Economists say that's creating an unstable business environment. At Trump's criminal trial, the testimony of David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, offered a window into the golden era of tabloids. As Earl Blumenauer, a longtime Oregon congressman, prepares to retire, he is trying to persuade his fellow Democrats to embrace federal marijuana legalization. Israel-Hamas War Hamas released a video of two hostages that appeared to have been made recently. The circumstances of how the video was filmed were unclear. Development agencies and Middle Eastern businesses have been meeting to plan Gaza's long-term economic future. The U.S. military is building a humanitarian pier in Gaza. Read about how it will work. Campus Protests At Northeastern University in Boston. Sophie Park for The New York Times The police arrested more than 200 protesters yesterday at Northeastern University, Arizona State University, Indiana University and Washington University in St. Louis, officials said. Some colleges that initiated police crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests have since taken a different tack. Others have defended the move. See images of the student protests from Reuters. More International News Guatemalan security forces.  Daniele Volpe for The New York Times As fentanyl has largely displaced heroin in the U.S., the world's largest market for illicit drugs, poppy farmers in Guatemala are losing their primary income. In Ukraine, prisoners of war are returning with physical and psychological wounds. Soldiers are sent back to active duty, often without adequate treatment. "I came to the U.K. for the U.K.": Asylum seekers in Britain expressed anxiety about a law that brings the possibility of their deportation to Rwanda closer. Other Big Stories The Louisiana Supreme Court cleared the way for a new city to be created out of part of Baton Rouge, carving out a largely white and more affluent section of the city. A Delta Air Lines Boeing 767 plane lost its emergency slide soon after takeoff, prompting it to return to New York. It was not immediately clear what caused the slide to detach. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Was Mike Johnson courageous to advance military aid for Ukraine? Yes. The speaker pushed military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan at great personal risk to himself. "This political underdog from Louisiana has demonstrated that courage and a spirit of unity still have a place in American politics," Earle Mack writes for The Hill. No. It should not have taken so long to advance a popular measure, held back only by his apparent fear of Trump loyalists. "That Johnson finally relented merits a sigh of relief, not celebration," The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin writes. FROM OPINION Conservatives should once again become champions of environmental policy, Benji Backer writes. Harvey Weinstein had so many victims that it allowed him to be held to account in the court of public opinion. It also saved him in the court of law, Jessica Bennett writes. Even if the government's near-total ban on noncompete agreements is legal, enforcing it is going to be tricky, Peter Coy writes. Here are columns by Ross Douthat on what students read before they protest and Nicholas Kristof on U.S. arms transparency. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE INTERVIEW Yair Lapid Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times This weekend, The New York Times is publishing the first entries in a new feature called The Interview, the successor to David Marchese's Talk column from The Times Magazine. The Interview will feature two alternating hosts — David, as well as Lulu Garcia-Navarro, whom you may know from her work on the podcast "First Person" and from NPR. Their conversations will also appear as a podcast, "The Interview." Below is an excerpt from Lulu's first interview in the series, with Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel's opposition party. By Lulu Garcia-Navarro Israel is being accused of genocide, of war crimes. And as we've talked, you've defended the conduct of the war. And you've referred to yourself as an Israeli patriot. But can patriotism not also be defined as questioning the conduct of this war? Of course it can. I assume what I was reacting to is what I feel is the betrayal of the intellectuals. Meaning that the intellectuals of the West, or some of them, have betrayed the idea of complexity. And the dialogue we have with the outside world is either with people who are chanting slogans they don't really understand or who are determined to make this into a one-sided story. What I'm thinking about actually is just what it means in a moment like this to effectively, even if you care about Israel and the Israelis, say this is not OK. You know, earlier you disparaged the young people in the U.S. marching for Palestinian rights, and you say that they're clueless and misled. I don't think they're marching for Palestinian rights. I think they're marching against Palestinian rights. I think what they're doing is against the best interest of the Palestinian people. Doesn't that dismiss their legitimate concerns about civilian deaths? Well, I think they should understand that there is a reason why everything is happening, and the reason is Hamas. The reason is not Israel. I mean, not to be able to even track why what is happening is happening is a total lack of even, I don't know, intellectual dignity or at least curiosity. You can read, or listen to, the full interview here. MORNING READS David B. Torch for The New York Times Start-up: This company aims to make head-to-toe body scans part of the annual health checkup routine. Senior year: Members of the class of 2024 feel anxious and frustrated with the state of the world. A $275 bus ticket: After a decade of flying passengers to eastern Long Island on helicopters, Blade is getting into the luxury coach business. The Culture Desk: Alicia Keys discusses "Hell's Kitchen," a Broadway musical that draws on her life story and discography. "Posture panic": This academic is re-examining conventional wisdom about proper posture. Vows: They exchanged vows on 4/20, complete with a weed-infused reception. Lives Lived: Andrew Davis was an ebullient British conductor who brought passion to hundreds of opera performances. He died at 80. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Photograph by Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times Click the cover image above to read this week's magazine. BOOKS In Dallas.  Desiree Rios for The New York Times Dallas: Meet the publishers and booksellers putting this Texas city on the literary map. Early influencers: "Liberty Equality Fashion" explores the clothes that embodied the ideas of the French Revolution. Our editors' pick: "Great Expectations," about a Black campaign aide working for a candidate who resembles Barack Obama, and eight other books. Times best sellers: Michelle Obama's "The Light We Carry" and Patti Smith's "A Book of Days" both make appearances on the paperback nonfiction list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Improve your sex life with these exercises. Read what to know about antidepressants. Bolster your Wi-Fi speed. Clean your yard. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For Nominations for the Tony Awards are announced on Tuesday. The Federal Reserve meets this week. Local elections in England are held on Thursday. The Kentucky Derby is on Saturday. Meal Plan Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. In this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein highlights an easy new recipe that's already earning rave reviews: roasted chicken thighs with hot honey and lime, which is ready in a total of 35 minutes. Emily also suggests roasted salmon with peas and radishes, and spicy shrimp patties. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was placebo. Can you put eight historical events — including origins of chess, Pueblo cliff dwellings and instant ramen — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018