If you love watching reality TV, mostly because real estate runs rampant on the screen and in your heart, stay tuned to Real Tea. Inman’s Dani Vanderboegh sits down with your favorite celeb agents to get the scoop on the newest releases, go behind the scenes, and spill the tea on all your burning questions from last season.
Selling the OC dropped on Netflix on Aug. 24, 2022, marking the introduction of the Oppenheim Group’s newest luxe brokerage in Orange County, where the heels are high, the fashion is good and the competition is fierce.
Between all the drama with all the agents named Alex (Alexandra Rose, Alex Hall, Alexandra Jarvis) and proverbial pissing contests in Season 1, Gio Helou, the self-described “fucking rockstar” and “top dog” of the Oppenheim Group’s Newport Beach office, had some sweet moments with his mom, Lisa Helou. Lisa Helou, who’s been an agent since 1976, according to her bio, also hangs her license at the Oppenheim Group.
She started in LA but has been selling in the OC for a long time, Gio says. “Priding herself on her old-school approach and tactics,” she was quick to offer mentorship to Gio and his castmates.
While there’s no official launch date from Netflix on Season 2 as of yet, Season 3 is currently being filmed, “like right now,” Gio Helou said.
Get the Real Tea on growing up with mom and fellow agent at the Oppenheim Group Lisa Helou, working with Jason Oppenheim and staying competitive in today’s market. What follows is Inman’s conversation with Gio Helou, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Not-so-humble beginnings
How did you get into real estate?
It’s kind of an in-the-blood sort of thing. My dad is a builder. I actually started working with him. And it was really great learning the building side of things and understanding how much things cost for clients if they want to remodel or build their dream home from scratch. So it was great to be able to bring that to the sales side…