The State of the Housing Market and Why Real Estate Is Not AI-Proof with Jason Oppenheim

Summary

Podcast Summary: “The State of the Housing Market and Why Real Estate Is Not AI-Proof with Jason Oppenheim”

Podcast: Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
Date: April 27, 2026
Host: Nicole Lapin (Money News Network)
Guest: Jason Oppenheim (Founder of The Oppenheim Group, star of Selling Sunset)

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Episode Overview

In this wide-ranging conversation, Nicole Lapin sits down with luxury real estate broker Jason Oppenheim for an unfiltered look at the current housing market, the impacts of AI on real estate and work, and surprising truths about home ownership and investing. Jason offers candid perspectives on renting vs. buying, the myth of real estate being “AI-proof,” why the much-touted affordability “crisis” may be overblown, and what he sees as the future of both our economy and the human experience as automation accelerates. True to Money Rehab’s fast-paced and accessible style, this episode is packed with practical advice, hot takes, and moments of levity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Is It a Buyer’s Market?

• Jason: “Yes, it is. It's a buyer's market.” (03:57)
• Attribution: Jason insists this is not just ‘sales speak’ and would actually prefer a seller’s market for his own benefit.
  • “I prefer to have that as my answer too. I think we have more listings than buyers, so a seller's market would be beneficial for me. ... It just happens to be a buyer's market.” (04:20)
• Market Dynamics: Specifically, L.A. market is tough for sellers due to:
  • The 'mansion tax'
  • High interest rates and building costs
  • Excess supply and buyers migrating to places like Texas and Florida (05:00 – 07:27)
  • Notable quote: “A lot of wealthy people leaving L.A.—I mean, in droves.” (05:00)

The Impacts of the "Mansion Tax" and Wealth Flight

• Mansion tax explained: Wealthy residents (who fund a large share of local social services) are leaving L.A. due to high taxation and remote work’s flexibility, which erodes big city tax bases worldwide (05:35 – 06:46).
• Other major cities experiencing similar trends: London, New York, Chicago (06:16).

Supply Constraints and Where NOT to Invest in Real Estate

• On new “boom” markets: Jason warns against buying condos in cities with no supply constraints like Miami, Nashville, Austin, or Las Vegas.
  • Quote: “I wouldn't buy real estate in anywhere where there's no supply constraint. Miami, there's no supply constraint ... Miami, you can go up. Nashville, you can go out. ... So you're screwed.” (07:34 – 07:45)

What Investments Will AI NOT Destroy?

• Jason’s Big Tip:
  • “You need to focus on what is it that AI can't produce. ... Land is probably the most, you know, obvious.” (08:14)
  • He expects massive deflation in goods and services as robots and AI dominate production, but land (and for now, houses) will preserve value much better than almost anything else (08:14 – 09:24).

Will AI Replace Real Estate Agents?

• Luxury Agents Are Safer (for now):
  • “Humanoids will be replacing lower end real estate agents probably in 10 to 15 years. ... I think luxury real estate agents ... we got a couple decades left before we're [gone].” (12:56)
• Physical, Nuanced Work: Jason explains agents’ work is a blend of intellectual and hands-on that’s hard for machines to replicate soon (09:52 – 10:52).
• Lower-priced/tract home agents are more at risk of replacement due to standardization and virtual tours (11:07 – 12:38).
• Candid Prediction: “At some point there is no work. Work is a fetish. Work is going to be an elective.” (12:56, 10:33, 13:26)
  • Nicole: “So what are we going to be doing?”
  • Jason: “We're going to have to redefine what it means to be human ... get purpose from family, friendship, ... eating, hanging out with friends, reading ... It will be a very hard transition.” (13:28)

AI, Deflation, and Economic Futures

• AI will slash the cost of living and eliminate many jobs, potentially erasing money’s importance in 50+ years. (14:30 – 15:33)
  • “It'll be almost free food. Everyone will have their own Michelin star chef...”
• The currency of the future may be energy, not money (15:20).
• Big picture: "We’re watching probably the most exciting 15 years in the history of human civilization… as we get into AGI and superhuman intelligence" (18:58).

Investment Strategy: Deflation, Bonds, and AI

• Jason’s Approach:
  • Heavy allocation to long-term treasuries (“TLT,” “TMF”) betting on deflation (20:29 – 24:43).
  • Investing in Tesla and AI companies (23:53)
  • “Tesla’s building robotics ... energy is going to be money … I sound crazy, but you’ll see, it’s gonna happen.” (23:53)
• Waits for good entry points: “Actually, I think it's a great time to get in it [TMF] now ... I think it'll be double within a couple years.” (24:43)
• Not buying new real estate now: His own holdings are sufficient, and L.A. market isn’t poised to rise due to taxes and high prices (25:05)

Bubble Talk and Affordability

• The “new crisis”?
  • Jason argues there’s no housing bubble: prices for luxury real estate have stagnated or declined for years (25:56 – 26:49).
  • Affordability crisis? Primarily about rents, not purchases: “If you do an analysis ... in the same location over the last 75 years, [rent] has unbelievably similarly tracked the percentage of median income ... within 1%.” (29:22)
  • Interest rates are the issue for buyers, not affordability per se (28:09, 30:29).
  • Memorable Hot Take: “I would argue [renting] is throwing away less money than buying.” (33:39)
  • “90% of my clients would have been better off renting for the last 10 years than buying.” (35:15)

Renting vs. Buying—The Honest Math

• Renting allows for mobility, costs less when interest rates are high, and does not “throw away money.”
  • “Financially, no, renting makes more sense than buying and always has. ... unless you think that the market is going to appreciate ... that's the only reason you’d buy from a purely financial perspective.” (34:31)
  • “I’ve been renting for the last three years.” (36:05)

Happiness, Money, and the Value of Struggle

• Jason describes happiness as a function of attitude and gratitude—not wealth level (39:42 – 41:31).
  • “I don't know if I'm any happier today than I was [when broke at 20]. ... Money ... removes the financial stress ... but it can't directly buy [happiness].” (39:42)
• He’s not attached to material things—a stolen Rolls Royce didn't faze him (41:59).
• Spending money on loved ones brings him most joy (48:32).

Generosity, Lending Money, and Taking Risks

• Jason often lends money to friends and clients but only as much as he’s willing not to get back (45:03).
• On lending: Sometimes charges 5% interest if it’s structured, but not with friends/family (46:09).
• Runs a concierge real estate service covering home prep costs up front, paid back on sale (47:16).

Mistakes, Regrets, and Living Well

• Rarely regrets investments (except some missed gains from selling too soon), doesn’t worry about “lost opportunities” (56:36, 56:40).
• Enjoys the process (“the slow struggle toward success”) more than arriving at the goal itself:
  • “The most enjoyable aspect of success is the slow climb ... that joint struggle towards success is so enjoyable and so rewarding.” (57:34)

The Future of Happiness and Wealth

• Jason’s “FU number” was $10k/month—never increased it, and isn’t goal-oriented:
  • “I’m not a financially goal-oriented person. I want to just live a high quality of life ... never had particular financial goals, except for that one.” (44:26)
• Advice: Spend your money and enjoy life now, because the coming AI/robotics revolution will make quality of living much cheaper for all (58:40 – 59:36).

Lighter Moments – Personal Tidbits & Fun

• Favorite cheap meal: “Slops” (rice, marinara, ground beef) – would eat it even if broke (49:37).
• Loves banana bread from “Great White” (50:30–51:21).
• Yes, he’s Googled his net worth (“50 million … reasonably accurate, but it's been 50 million for 10 years.”) (51:55)

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Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• 03:57 – Jason: “Yes, it is. It's a buyer's market.”
• 07:45 – Jason: “Yeah, because you can go up … So you're screwed. I wouldn't buy a condo in Miami.”
• 08:14 – Jason: “You need to focus on what is it that AI can't produce. ... Land is probably the most, you know, obvious.”
• 12:56 – Jason: “Humanoids will be replacing lower end real estate agents probably in 10 to 15 years.”
• 13:26 – Jason: “Listen, at some point there is no work. Work is a fetish. Work is going to be an elective.”
• 14:30 – Jason: “It'll be almost free food. Everyone will have their own Michelin star chef.”
• 20:29 – Jason: “AI is unbelievably deflationary... I think we're going to start seeing enormous job losses and that's probably the biggest problem.”
• 23:53 – Jason: “Tesla's building robotics and it has artificial intelligence and … energy is going to be money.”
• 24:43 – Jason: “I honestly, I think [TMF] will be double within a couple years. I really do.”
• 33:39 – Jason: “It's not at all. I never understood that argument, that buying … renting is, I would argue, is throwing away less money than buying.”
• 35:15 – Jason: “I'd say 90% of my clients would have been better off renting for the last 10 years than buying.”
• 39:42 – Jason: “I don't know if I'm any happier today than I was [when I was 20]... Money ... removes the financial stress ... but it can't directly buy [happiness].”
• 41:59 – Jason: “No, no. I don't get unhappy over material things. I get material things can make me happy. They don't make me unhappy.”
• 48:32 – Jason: “There's nothing more enjoyable with money than spending it on the people that you love.”
• 57:34 – Jason: “I think what is more enjoyable is the slow struggle towards success. That is way more enjoyable, even arguably more enjoyable, than being successful.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Is it a Buyer’s Market? – 03:45–05:32
• L.A. Market & Wealth Exodus – 05:35–07:27
• Advice on Where NOT to Buy – 07:27–08:10
• AI’s Impact on Real Estate & Jobs – 08:14–13:28
• How Work Will Change – 13:26–15:33
• Investment Strategies for an AI World – 20:19–25:41
• Bubble & Affordability Crisis Debate – 25:45–31:03
• Renting vs. Buying, the Math – 33:32–36:08
• Life Satisfaction, Money & Goals – 39:42–44:48
• Generosity, Lending, Mistakes – 45:02–56:40
• Lessons on Success & Enjoyment of the Journey – 57:34–59:36

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Conclusion/Actionable Takeaways

• Renting isn’t throwing away money: In most recent years, clients would have done better renting—not buying—especially with high interest rates.
• Don’t buy property in unconstrained boomtowns: Look for supply constraints if you insist on buying.
• Betting on deflation & AI: Consider longer-term bonds and AI-related investments rather than tangible goods.
• Embrace change, don’t fear it: The AI revolution is coming; quality of life will likely rise across the board, even as traditional work fades.
• Enjoy the process, not just the goal: Success is about the journey, meaning, and sharing with friends/family—not just numbers on a screen.

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For More

Listen to the full episode for further specifics, playful banter, and more of Jason’s and Nicole’s inimitable financial hot takes.

Transcript

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[Nicole Lapin]

Is it a buyer's market? That is the question on everyone's mind. And Jason Oppenheim has the answer. He is, of course, the real estate agent, broker, founder extraordinaire of the Oppenheim Group, the luxury real estate brokerage that's covered in Netflix's hit show Selling Sunset. You might think that Jason is a reality star first, but I can confirm after spending a couple of hours with him that he is definitely a real estate fanatic. Way before he's a reality TV star. He talks about how AI is changing real estate investments.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Humanoids will be replacing lower end real estate agents.

[Nicole Lapin]

Whether real estate is a good investment

[Jason Oppenheim]

right Now, I'd say 90% of the of my clients would have been better off renting for the last 10 years. Then buy.

[Nicole Lapin]

And so many hot takes.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Listen, at some point there is no work. Work is a fetish. Work is going to be an elective.

[Nicole Lapin]

I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert. You don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some Money Rehab. Jason Obenheim, welcome to Money Rehab.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Nice to be here.

[Nicole Lapin]

It's great to have you here. There's so much to get into. Obviously, everybody probably asks you a question that I imagine you're going to be annoyed with me asking, but is it a buyer's market?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, no, that's not the question that I normally get. It's usually. Is it. Can you give me some advice, you know, on whatever, like some, like there's some interesting intelligent nugget that I have that's going to change their financial future. So. No, this is an easier and much better question. Yes, it is. It's a buyer's market.

[Nicole Lapin]

But you have to say that.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Why?

[Nicole Lapin]

Because you're in the business of selling real estate.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, I prefer it to be a seller's market. Honestly, if I could choose. And I prefer to have that as my answer too. Yeah, I think I probably have more listings than buyers, you know, although it's probably pretty close to 50. 50. As a brokerage, I think we have more listings than buyers, so a seller's market would be beneficial for me. I also own a bunch of real estate, so a sell market would be, you know, significantly beneficial for me. But it just happens to be a buyer's market.

[Nicole Lapin]

But you're talking about California specifically or in general?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Sure. I mean, I think overall, even nationally, it's a buyer's market, but specifically in la, it's a buyer. We've had a rough time in la, the market's had a really rough time. You know, the mansion tax kind of crushed development.

[Nicole Lapin]

Explain what that is.

[Jason Oppenheim]

As if everyone take a shot. I bet there's people that just take a shot when I say mansion tax. Yeah, it's a high interest rate. You know, you've got just. Build costs are exceptionally high. Carrying costs are exceptionally high. You've got not a lot of buyers out there. You've got more sellers and more supply than you do buyers, significantly more. And you got a lot of wealthy people leaving la, you know, a lot, I mean, in droves. So that's probably the biggest thing. It's just a lot of wealthy people leaving la.

[Nicole Lapin]

Explain if somebody doesn't realize what the mansion tax is.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, the larger issue, the larger issue is a lot of people, a lot of the wealthy people leaving L. A and people, you know, a lot of people that just, oh, we don't need the wealthy or we don't like the. Well, sure, you can hate on the wealthy all you want, but they pay the taxes. So a lot of the people that don't care for the wealthy do care for social services. And the wealthy pay for all the social services. They pay for the education, you know, roads. They pay for the, you know, you want money to go to the homeless and you want money to go to, you know, babysitting kids. I forget, I don't, I don't know

[Nicole Lapin]

if money goes out.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, it does. All those like, you know, I have

[Nicole Lapin]

a one year old.

[Jason Oppenheim]

All those like. Yeah. But you drop them off at. There's like programs for daycare. Yeah. Aren't there programs for babysitting?

[Nicole Lapin]

Programs would be amazing.

[Jason Oppenheim]

There's. They're out there. Yes. And so I just think the reason that most people have. Laughter. You know, it's been a rough few years. I mean, I started with COVID and I'd say the biggest reason is, is that people don't have to be in LA to work. And this isn't, by the way, not just happening in la. I mean, it's happening all over the world. All large cities are losing their wealth. London, obviously, LA, New York, Chicago, I mean, you name the big city and it's just not doing really well. Big cities are having probably the toughest few years they've had in decades.

[Nicole Lapin]

So where do you go?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, you go to where everywhere else is going if you want. I'm not going anywhere, but a lot of people are going to. I mean, it depends where you live. If you live in London, you know, you don't like the taxes, you don't like the big government, you don't like the crime and other things. So you go to Dubai. Interestingly enough, a lot of people from London are coming here and taxes are really high in England. I'd say Dubai is the biggest draw for London. For la, the biggest draw is probably Texas and Florida. There's a few others. Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas, Nevada. But mostly Texas and Florida. They're getting the benefit of all the droves of wealthy people leaving. California, New York.

[Nicole Lapin]

Then. Do you worry that there's so much room to expand in those places?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Like everybody's going, I wouldn't buy real estate. There's.

[Nicole Lapin]

Why not?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Because of what you just said. I don't buy. I wouldn't buy real estate in anywhere where there's no supply constraint. Miami, there's no supply constraint.

[Nicole Lapin]

Not for condos up in Miami.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, because you can go up and there's no. There's no supply. Yeah, exactly. So in both cases, Nashville, you can go out. Austin you can go out. You're exactly right. And Miami, you can go up. Now that's with Vegas, you can go up and out. So you're screwed. Yeah, I wouldn't buy a house in Miami. I mean. Sorry, I wouldn't buy a condo in Miami because there's no supply constraint. I think a house in Miami is a better investment because land is. Is not plentiful in Miami.

[Nicole Lapin]

Okay, so dig deep and give us a tip that will change people's financial lives.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Okay. I would say, I think I'm a big believer that AI is going to change everything. Everything. I'd love to even get into it to some degree, but if I were to focus on an investment strategy, I'd say you need to focus on what is it that AI can't produce. You certainly don't want to be investing in goods and services because AI will. Will be very deflationary with respect to the offering of services and the production of goods. I mean, robots will be building robots that will be building goods. You know, a new car is not going to be a good investment. Anything, any product's not going to be a good investment. I would probably invest in things that AI can't produce. Land is probably the most, you know, obvious. Houses will eventually be produced by AI and robotics, but that's a long way away. So I think housing is still probably going to maintain its value significantly, you know, better than most other assets.

[Nicole Lapin]

Houses aren't there yet.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, no. And not in major cities. I mean, you could potentially start doing prefabs and like outside of Vegas somewhere. But we've got way too much regulation and bureaucracy in la. They're never going to allow a prefab. All the other structural plumbing, all that stuff is never going to work.

[Nicole Lapin]

So don't do it.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I don't, I don't see prefab ever coming to big cities. I just think I've never believed the 3D all that. I don't ever think that's coming. I've been hearing about that since I was a kid and I just don't think there's any real viable now to solve like the homeless problem or something like that. Yes, if you get rid of, you know, if you change a lot of building codes, yes, I think that's not a bad idea. But in terms of a real answer to housing, no.

[Nicole Lapin]

But AI is also coming for you, right?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Only yes and no. Not really. I'm pretty insulated, luckily.

[Nicole Lapin]

Okay, maybe you.

[Jason Oppenheim]

But other real estate agents are largely insulated and I would say for a long time as particularly luxury real estate agents because I will be very helpful to us and I think it will replace the kind of tertiary jobs around real estate. You know, you're not going to have a. It's going to replace civil engineers and architects and designers and appraisers, videographers. You know, it's going to replace a lot of that. But I don't think it's going to replace the luxury real estate agent for a long time. We, interestingly, our job is, is very nuanced and also it's both physical and intellectual. The physical aspects of just, you know.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah, you have to put your little sign up. Yeah, house and down.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, that's it. That's all we do. So I got these arms just carrying just all those signs every day. I think we're safe for, for a good 10 to 20 years. But we're one of the I think lucky professions in that regard.

[Nicole Lapin]

Let's take us out of fancy land and come down to earth and you know, not in the realest luxury real estate market. These sites that allow you to list

[Jason Oppenheim]

your house, well those have been around forever as well.

[Nicole Lapin]

You're not scared for the industry.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I really believe that real estate agents are largely insulated from any near term replacement from AI And I think just lucky it's nothing particularly skillful that we did. It's just we are lucky that we're such a unique combination of multifaceted intellect and physical labor that it's just going to be very hard to replace. I mean just like A plumber is going to be extremely hard to replace in an electrician. They're on the last on the ladder. They're the highest rung of the ladder. That ladder's disappearing. You know, it's going to replace rung after rung. But luckily real estate agents, particularly luxuries, but still just regular real estate agents, I think they'll get replaced first. If you're selling a $400,000 tract home in Nevada, more likely to get replaced than selling know, 8 to 20 million dollar homes and you know, nuanced locations in Southern California.

[Nicole Lapin]

So that $400,000 house, you could have a virtual tour, right?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Or you'll always have virtual tours. But you, but real estate is still a human experience. You still want to walk the house, you still want to look at the finishes, you still want to touch it, you still want to understand the scale and the flow and the floor plan and the yard and the views and the street. It's a very tactile experience. And I just think that is, it's going to be hard to replace the real estate agent. First of all, you're going to need robotics, right. Because you're going to have to still do open houses and walk people through a property and open the doors and turn the lights on. So there's, you know, clean up the dog poop, there's still fluff the pillows. You're still going to.

[Nicole Lapin]

Jason, you're not cleaning up dog poop.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I clean up dog poop quite more often than, you know. Well, I also have a dog. I clean up. Yeah, absolutely. If I go to a house and there's dog poop, I clean the dog poop up.

[Nicole Lapin]

You're not too big?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, I don't have an ego. Especially when it comes to a presentation. No, I'll get to work.

[Nicole Lapin]

So you don't see a day where there's humanoids walking around.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Absolutely. Humanoids will be replacing lower end real estate agents probably in 10 to 15 years. I think luxury real estate agents. And if I'm guessing at this point, but I'd say, you know, we got a couple decades left before we're. Listen, at some point there is no work. Work is a fetish. Work is going to be an elective. You know, it's going to be for everybody. For everybody. Yeah. I don't see humans working in 20 plus years. Absolutely not. I don't see anyone working in 20 years.

[Nicole Lapin]

So what are we going to be doing?

[Jason Oppenheim]

We're going to have to read re describe what it means to be human. What it means to have purpose. We're going to get purpose from family, from friendship, you know, relationship, from eating, hanging out with friends, reading. There'll be intellectual pursuits. I mean, we're going to have to redefine where we get our purpose. It's not going to be coming from work anymore. And that's a, you know, we needed, it was a, it's a human construct that, that we get purpose from work. It's not like some innate thing just largely. And I think capitalism has kind of ingrained that in us to where we do derive a lot of purpose from work. I certainly do. It will be a very hard transition to start figuring out how to get purpose elsewhere, to be honest. But it's certainly possible. You know, back in tribal times we weren't, we weren't really getting as much purpose from work as we do today. I mean that's more of a social construct, a result of capitalism. So I think we'll be able to redefine that at the end of the day.

[Nicole Lapin]

Some Elon Kool Aid.

[Jason Oppenheim]

You'll see. You'll see.

[Nicole Lapin]

How are you going to afford to live then?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, be very inexpensive to live. I mean, because robots will be providing all the services and product. I mean it's going to be very, it's just going to be. Capex is going to be the cost of everything. I mean the costs are going to go down astronomically. I think whatever costs $100 a day will cost five bucks in, in 20 years. It'll be almost free food. Everyone will have their own Michelin star chef. Growing food will be by, done by robotics. The transportation of food will be done by robotics. I mean, give me an industry and it will be done by superhuman intelligence and robotics. There's no, there's nothing that humans are better at than a super human intelligent robot. I mean it's going to be faster, stronger, smarter. I mean humans are not going to be able to compete.

[Nicole Lapin]

There's no work and there's no money.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, there probably won't be money in 50 plus years, but that's now we're going way down the road. We'll still have some form of currency. It'll probably end up being more energy. It'll be the currency that we'll be looking at in 50 years, not so much money.

[Nicole Lapin]

And where are we going to live?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Earth, but we'll probably be exploring other. We'll probably be on the moon. I'm sure that there'll be opportunities to live on other planets. Mars will be tough, but the moon is I mean, I don't know why we'll need to leave Earth, but we will certainly be exploring other, you know, the solar system for sure. And there'll be opportunities for people to live off earth if you want.

[Nicole Lapin]

Sounds so fun. So how long do you think the real estate agent life is again?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No one's working in 20 years. So the top rung of the ladder, the last rung to disappear and be replaced by AI in robotics will probably be around 20 years, I'm guessing.

[Nicole Lapin]

And that's going to be you.

[Jason Oppenheim]

You're going to be like, no, no, I won't be the last. But I do believe that real estate agents are on, are near the top, one of the top rungs of the ladder for sure. I mean lower rungs. Lawyers, accountants, you know, they're gone in, in five years. I mean I'm already replacing my lawyer with. Well, no, but Gemini Deep thing. I just redid all of my onboarding documents, I'm going through all of my insurance stack everything with, with deep. Think Gemini and it's creating 50 times. I mean what I'm getting, I'm redoing my estate planning with, with it as well. It's giving me hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of legal work in a day. I mean there's. I get research reports, I literally type in like the most nuanced question and then Gemini Deep research will give me within about 15 minutes. It takes a 10 page research report on my specific issue with about 80 citations. It would take a cadre of lawyers a month to. I mean I am a lawyer. I mean I've done this.

[Legal Disclaimer Narrator]

Yeah.

[Nicole Lapin]

I was about to say in your previous life, people don't realize what a high tootinfolutin powered lawyer you were working on these big AMD Enron cases. So are you able to feed it the right.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yes. Prompting is, is what is is the most important thing. And so you have to be intelligent enough so far right now you have to be intelligent enough to be able to prompt it. That's the difficult. Can I. I told you it was going to happen.

[Nicole Lapin]

Can you put your dirty Dior.

[Jason Oppenheim]

They're not that dirty.

[Nicole Lapin]

Let's be honest.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Maybe the bottom. I can't see the bottom, but the sides are clean.

[Nicole Lapin]

I'll put up my.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, make me.

[Nicole Lapin]

We're going to get comfortable. Okay. So into the future where there's no work, there's no money, there's no real

[Jason Oppenheim]

estate agents, there's no work will be an elective. There'll still be work, people will still want to there'll still be a desire to have a baseball bat made by a human. There'll still be old people that want their accountant to be human. I mean, it'll still be kind of fetishy work, but it won't be a necessary work. But isn't that, isn't that the definition of a utopia anyway? I mean, doesn't any utopian definition really not have required work?

[Nicole Lapin]

That's so interesting. That said, you said utopia because I was going to say dystopia in the future.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Let me push back on that. I mean, most definitions of a dystopian future would largely involve like labor camps and forced labor, whereas most definitions of a utopian society would be elective work and not required work. So I would argue that we're headed more towards a utopian future than a dystopian.

[Nicole Lapin]

Okay, and what do we do until then? You're investing, it sounds like, in AI.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I mean, what are we doing? We're watching probably the most exciting 15 years in the history of human civilization, maybe even Earth. I mean, we've been around. Earth's been around for billions of years. I mean we are literally, I think as we get into AGI and superhuman intelligence, we're getting, we're going to see the most interesting, exciting and anxiety producing. You know, I mean, it's not all positive, but it will. I think we're about to just be a fly on the wall and watch this and it's going to be the most interesting movie you've ever seen.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah, it's so anxiety producing like this.

[Jason Oppenheim]

It doesn't have to be.

[Nicole Lapin]

That was like, oh, the Alexa is going to kill you. Haha, it's so funny. I'm like, this is not, oh well, hilarious.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I also think there's a good 20% chance that AI wipes us out.

[Nicole Lapin]

But I'm, and that's not dystopian.

[Jason Oppenheim]

That is. But I'm, I am choosing to be an optimist about AI because at the end of the day it's whatever, you're not going to stop it anyway. We're not going to stop AI and we can't because we need to be the leaders. We're not going to let China dominate AI and be the world, you know, dominant force. I'd rather the US do it. If there's any country on planet Earth, you know, there's people that have their problems with the United States, but you name another country that you'd rather be in control besides the United States. I'll take the United States. And so we need to keep going.

[Nicole Lapin]

So how does this change your investment strategy over the next couple of years? I heard you really talk about and get into treasuries, 30 year treasuries.

[Jason Oppenheim]

That's true. Because I think that AI is unbelievably deflationary. I will give you an example. Deflation occurs when people, you know, obviously when people expect prices to go down and so they won't spend money. You won't get. You're not going to buy a car for $50,000 today. If you think it'll be $40,000 next year and $30,000 the year after that, well, you might, fine. But most people won't, right? Because they'll wait and so they won't spend. And so the Fed will need to lower rates to encourage people to spend. It may get to a point, I wouldn't be surprised if we get to a point where you're getting, instead of a bank paying you interest for your money to be at their bank, you're getting charged a fee for the money to be. We could have negative inflation and negative interest rates. I really think that AI is going to be particularly deflationary in goods and services and the Fed's going to have to chase that by lowering rates. It's not going to happen necessarily this year, but I think it will. I think we're going to start seeing enormous job losses and that's probably the biggest problem. And by the way, that is counter deflationary because I think we will then need to pay ubi. We'll need to be offering a universal, I wouldn't even say basic. I mean it could be high income, it could be a service income, but also that'll be a lot less expensive too. I mean, we'll give robots, I mean homeless people instead of spending $100,000 a year like we're doing now, though, you can get a robot for $30,000 that will cook, clean, you know, and do many other things for people to provide services for them. So I'm generally optimistic. I think the quality of life is from for a lot of people is going to go way up. Almost everyone. I really think that a person who's a poor person today in 10 or 15 years will be living like a wealthy person or at least a wealthy person today. There'll be. I actually think the quality of life will come together. I think we're gonna, the bottom is gonna benefit the most because look at, I can get most of the things I want anyway right now if I want a Michelin Star chef.

[Nicole Lapin]

And I wanna. But you're Jason Albana.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I'm saying a person with money can get most of the things they want right now. But in 10 or 15 years a person without that much money is gonna have a maid, someone washing their car, someone doing their dishes, someone cooking for them, someone that's going to be able to handle their health care, largely babysit their kids. I mean that quality of life, it's going to raise people's quality of life. I can afford that stuff right now, but that will be, instead of costing me for all that stuff, it could cost me maybe four or five hundred thousand dollars to get all that stuff all day long. That could cost, in 10 years I could cost $30,000.

[Nicole Lapin]

Are you first in line for a robot?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Not first, because I don't need to dick around with an early generation robot, but when they're able to clean and do dishes and, and wash my car and, and, and cook for me as, as the best. I mean the quality of what they're going to be able to do is going to be a 10. I mean they're going to be the, that my robot in five years will be the best chef on planet Earth. There's no human that will be able to cook as well as my robot. So I will have the best chef in the world. You'll have the best chef in the world. It'll be amazing. I'll have a, it'll be a therapist, it'll be a chef. It'll clean my house better than any maid could ever clean my house. It'll answer every question I have. It'll, it'll do everything.

[Nicole Lapin]

So how are you putting your money where your mouth is around?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, I'm heavily invested in Tesla and long term bonds. But listen, nobody knows. But I mean I'm definitely betting on deflation and I'm betting on some of these AI companies doing quite well. Tesla's building robotics and it has artificial intelligence and there's a relationship to space and space is going to be the new frontier for energy. I mean energy is going to be money and we're going to be launching data centers off of the moon in 20 years. I mean we're not going to be getting, we're going to be getting energy from the sun and it's probably going to be coming from, you know, swarms of satellites collecting that and then microwaving it back to Earth. No, I sound crazy, but, but it's gonna, but you'll see, but it's gonna happen. I'm into it, but it's gonna happen.

[Nicole Lapin]

Are you still big on the leverage Treasuries too? Are you still.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, I'm still. It's not doing well right now because of the war and oil prices. But yeah, in the long term, I mean there's tlt, which is a non leverage. There's tmf actually, I think it's a great time to get in it now because I think the war has caused some inflation with oil. So it's at like 35 a share. I mean, I honestly, I think it'll be double in within a couple years. I really do.

[Nicole Lapin]

What are you buying now?

[Jason Oppenheim]

I'm. Well, I'm buying a condo for myself, but not as an investment. I'm kind of tapped out on real estate. I own a lot of real estate. I'm not really buying anymore, Louisiana And Newport beach, that's your.

[Nicole Lapin]

Where your condo is gonna be?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, I'll be living between Newport beach and la. I have a house in Newport beach and I have a condo in la. I'll be going back and forth. I don't think that I would be investing in real estate right now. You can't make any money in LA because anything I'd be investing in would be eventually over $5 million and the mansion tax would just wipe out too much profit. Also, I don't see the market going up considerably over the next few years. So I'm not really buying real estate.

[Nicole Lapin]

Well, there's a bunch of headlines and I know you love all these headlines.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, they're always, they're always right, which

[Nicole Lapin]

is that there's a new crisis. Housing bubble going on. No, no, because sales have been down like eight and a half percent.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Wait, so they're saying that there's a bubble that's going to burst? I mean, prices suck. Prices have been in the gutter for like five years. Price, LA real estate. Luxury real estate market's down over the

[Nicole Lapin]

last 400k for median.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, I can't speak so much for, for the national average. I don't do real estate across the country. But the LA luxury real estate market, we're selling houses now that for the same price they sold for eight, ten years ago then. That's common right now. I mean, the luxury real estate market is basically at where it was eight to 10 years ago. No growth. That's terrible. I mean, it's not a bubble, it's the opposite.

[Nicole Lapin]

It's a new type of bubble where you're not making money.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, no, I don't understand that definition of bubble crisis. I Thought a bubble was when something's

[Nicole Lapin]

going to pop headlines big.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, no, no. Then I think you're not using the term bubble in the way that we hear about it in real estate. Bubble is something that's. And, and then prices are going to go down.

[Nicole Lapin]

And that's not going to happen.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, because prices suck right now. Prices have been going down.

[Nicole Lapin]

What about an affordability crisis? What kind of crisis are we in? Give me a crisis.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I mean this is not going to be popular, but we're not in an affordability crisis in the way that you would normally define affordability. And everyone loves complaining about being in an affordability crisis. And yes, we've had an. We're in a high interest rate crisis, but in an inflation crisis, so to speak. Not anymore. I mean now inflation's in the twos. The idea that prices are still going up is nonsense. In cpi, every acronym that measures inflation is in the twos. That's historically pretty average. So yeah, 3.

[Nicole Lapin]

Inflation is average.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah. So 2 to 3. So we're closer to 2 than we are. Who cares? We're in the 2 to threes. So inflation is no longer a concern. And like I said, I'm big believer in deflation coming up. But we've had a lot of inflation over the last few years. When people talk about affordability, they should be talking about rent, not purchase. Because purchase price has everything to do with interest rates. So it's nonsense to say we have an affordability crisis. If you're talking about interest rates, you could say we have an interest rate. Interest rates are up. Sure. It's got nothing to say that an affordability crisis is directly related to interest rates. Then what? When interest rates go down in a few years and we fix the affordability crisis. That's nonsense. That definition is stupid.

[Nicole Lapin]

I don't think it has to do with interest rates. I think it has to do with income.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, incomes. Incomes have been going up considerably on average over the last few years.

[Nicole Lapin]

No, no. The income gap has increased.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Income gap is not an affordable. Nothing to do with affordability.

[Nicole Lapin]

Reacts your income to get a house and now it's 6x.

[Jason Oppenheim]

That's because of interest rates. That's an interest rate problem. Not enough.

[Nicole Lapin]

It's a. It's also a wage problem. When you're thinking about rentals.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, because let me get into rental.

[Nicole Lapin]

You would have.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I will.

[Nicole Lapin]

Single digit increases in wages but double digit for rent.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Rents are not. Rents are not higher. I, I will, I'll square it right now. I will do the unpopular and I will teach people why they're wrong.

[Nicole Lapin]

Professor.

[Jason Oppenheim]

And I get all the comments come in. You can hate me as much as you want, but let's put aside purchasing, okay? Because obviously when interest rates are high, it's going to take more of your income to purchase a house. That's an interest rate problem. It's not an affordability problem. Affordability I'm going to do, I'm going to. Is going to. Should be about rent, okay? Because that's not related to so much related to interest rates. If you do an analysis of what it costs to rent a 1000 and I've done this deep dive. So just you can.

[Nicole Lapin]

I heard you and your brother spent 30 minutes with you, right?

[Jason Oppenheim]

So encourage people to do on their own. If you look at what it costs in the similar location over the last 75 years, pick, pick a, I don't know a location. I mean I'll just say Merced or Pasadena. I don't give a what location. It doesn't really matter. But it's important that you apply apples to apples. If you pick a location and you track the cost of renting a 1,000 square foot two bedroom with similar amenities over the last 75 years, it has unbelievably similarly tracked the percentage of median income over the last 75 years within 1%. I mean it's astronomically close over a 75 year term. So there's no affordability crisis in that sense. It costs the same. Now why does it feel like there's an affordability crisis? For more a multitude of different reasons. Why yes, purchasing has become astronomically more expensive because of interest rates. It's not affordability, it's interest rates.

[Nicole Lapin]

Interest rates used to be 15 or 20%.

[Jason Oppenheim]

My only, my only point is it doesn't do the discussion a service. If you call a high interest rate environment an affordable an affordability crisis, it's not, I mean you're not moving the ball forward because what are you. Do you fix an affordability crisis when interest rates go down? No, affordability should be about rents. It should be about the cost of goods that you, that you need to buy and then, and then rent. If you want to talk about the cut to purchase a house, I agree. It's more expensive because of interest rates.

[Nicole Lapin]

Everyone knows that 26% of first time home buyers in the market versus historically 40%.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I just want to divorce the definition of affordability to purchasing a house because I consider that solely related to interest rates. So let's just, let's put that aside. Yes, Interest rates are two to three times higher as they were five years ago. So the cost is going to be significantly higher. I agree with that. And when interest rates go down, it's going to cost a lot less of your income. I don't think we should attach the word affordability to that. I really want to focus on rent. So here's why people think that rents have gone up, because they're not applying apples to apples. They go, oh, my parents, you know, lived on, we're making this, and they lived in this apartment and they could afford it and they could have. Yes. I bet you that your parents lived in an apartment that you wouldn't be willing to live in. I bet you that your parents apartment was 700 square feet. I bet you that it didn't have a pool. I bet you they didn't have appliances. I bet you didn't have a washer and dryer. I bet you that it didn't. Wasn't in a, in the middle of town. It wasn't in West Hollywood. It's probably out in like my parents lived in a place in Sebastopol. Nobody knows where that is exactly. Right. It was two hours away. So people don't compare apples to apples. What people say is, oh well, I want to live in a two bedroom that's new and has all these appliances and has a gym and has a pool. And it's located in the middle of West Hollywood, by the way. It's, it's 1800 square feet and, and it's, you know, it's two $800. And that's a lot of money. Yes. If you, if you compare that to what your parents lived in, that's way more, it's going to cost you a lot more of your income. But the, the size of apartments has gone up astronomically over the last 30 years. So we're not comparing apples to apples anymore. What you get when you get an apartment has, you're getting a lot more services and amenities than you ever did before because they're just offering more saunas and pools and appliances. Sure. I mean, sometimes. But you're saying we're all security, whatever. We become fancier, our demands have become higher. And more importantly, people want to, up until the last few years have been wanting to live in the city where things are more expensive. 20 years ago, 20 years ago, 50 years ago, people weren't. The percentage of people living in the cities was much less. So cost of rentals was less. My only point here is that if you do compare apples to apples and you do a fair analysis of what it would cost of what your parents were living in and you take that 1,000 square foot apartment with the same amenities in the same location, it costs the same amount of percentage of your income.

[Nicole Lapin]

I'm super surprised that you say this because people come for me so hard when I say that renting is not throwing away money.

[Jason Oppenheim]

It's not at all. I never understood that argument, that buying and first of all, renting is, I would argue, is throwing away less money than buying.

[Nicole Lapin]

Well, because you throw away money somewhere, you give the bank.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah. You're either giving it to interest or you're giving it to your landlord. I don't think it's. Why don't you just, why don't you just call the bank president your landlord and then, and then it's the same thing. It's just, it's just doesn't make sense. I've never understood that throwing away money. I really don't. In fact, when you buy, you are, you're tied down. So you actually have less social, you have less mobility, physical mobility, because you're, you now have to. If you, if you want to move when you're renting, you don't have commissions, you don't have transfer taxes, you don't have to move all the furniture and goods. I mean, you could be renting a furnished place. You're much more mobile. That is inherently valuable.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah. In a different way.

[Jason Oppenheim]

And it costs less to rent right now than it does to buy because interest rates are higher. So, yeah, I never understood that. I'm a big believer in renting. There's a, there's a, there's a psychological pride of ownership. But if you get it, if you just look at the. Financially, no, renting makes more sense than buying and always has. Unless, unless you think that the market is going to appreciate and then buying makes more sense. That's the only reason that you would buy from a purely financial perspective is if you want to leverage your loan because you think that there's going to be market appreciation. And historically there has been market appreciation,

[Nicole Lapin]

but not as much as the stock market.

[Jason Oppenheim]

You would be better off buying a house if you think that real estate is going to appreciate even 5% a year. Even if you thought the stock market was going to appreciate 7% a year and the real estate was only going to appreciate 5% a year, then you're better off buying. There are a lot of people, I'd say just about everyone. I'd say 90% of the, of my clients would have been better off renting for the last 10 years than buying.

[Nicole Lapin]

Why?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Because they're making no money. Because the market's back to where it was eight, 10 years ago. And they didn't have the mobility. They had all the problems with fixing up the house and the stress of fixing up the house, and they didn't. And they have to pay commissions to me. They have to pay property taxes. They have to pay the mansion tax. So they would have been better off renting for the last eight years. I mean, that's just a fact. It's just a financial fact.

[Nicole Lapin]

It's crazy that you're saying that as a real estate guy.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, because it's just honest guys sitting

[Nicole Lapin]

there not with their feet on the table, but arguing with me. No how wrong I was.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, you're not wrong at all.

[Nicole Lapin]

That I'm a lot of.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I think a lot of real estate agents push the narrative that they think benefits them. I think just honesty benefits everyone in the long run.

[Nicole Lapin]

But you don't say this stuff on selling Sunset.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, we don't get into this stuff on Sunset.

[Nicole Lapin]

Glamorizing, buying houses.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, there's something very glamorous and sexy and rewarding and fun about buying a house. But I'm just talking to you financially.

[Nicole Lapin]

And can we.

[Jason Oppenheim]

By the way, I've made a lot of money buying homes and renting them out. Long term, I'm not suggesting that you can't make a lot of money in real estate, but if you don't think the market's going to appreciate, then you're better off renting. And I don't think the market's going to appreciate anytime soon. And it certainly hasn't been appreciating the last few years. So for the last few years, especially when in a high interest rate environment, it usually makes sense to rent. I mean, I've been renting for the last three years. Can we have a spinoff of selling Sunset?

[Nicole Lapin]

Spin off, renting Sunset.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yes. Fine. It might not get as many viewers, but okay.

[Nicole Lapin]

I mean, why does it get so many viewers? We've had Emma here, we've had Mary here. Like, these women are smoking hot. Obviously not all the agents that you hire are Emma, but like, oh, my God, is she real?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, she's. There's a lot of beautiful. Emma's stunning. And there are a lot of stunningly beautiful women at the brokerage on and off the show. The brokerage, I think, largely because of the show, has attracted tons of women. We're like 85% women. We started a commercial division that is so far largely men. Although I really did tell the guy I really would like to bring in a lot of female commercial agents. But, yeah, we're just a very female driven brokerage, which is fun. I think it's great.

[Nicole Lapin]

Oh, Polly was here too. Like, next level. Like, unreal.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I know.

[Nicole Lapin]

Do you think, though, honestly, in sales, being attractive?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Of course. That's. Of course, being. I think being attractive probably helps in 99% of professions.

[Nicole Lapin]

Do you think it will continue for how many more seasons you guys are on? 9.

[Jason Oppenheim]

10 will be the next one we've had. 9 came out. My hope and expectation is a lot more seasons. Honestly, I enjoy it and I don't take it for granted either. You know, I really. It's done so much for me. It's done so much for the business. I love it. I really do love it. I've really just come to love it and appreciate it more and more.

[Nicole Lapin]

It looks like you guys are having fun

[Jason Oppenheim]

most of the time. Most of the time. I mean, the drama is. Is. Is. Is taxing, truly.

[Nicole Lapin]

Is it real drama, though, or is it, like, reality?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, unfortunately, it's all real, and that's what's taxing. But. And stressful. But I have kind of allowed myself to not get as caught up and not feel that I need to solve problems. And I've come to realize that. That what. What I think is. Is stressful today will end up being okay in six months. It usually is. So I'm just. I've kind of resigned to just a more like, laissez faire approach to it, and it's really worked. Trying to use financial terms for you.

[Nicole Lapin]

Oh, thank you so much. Is Christine coming back? Christine Quinn.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I can't, you know, I can't, like, confirm anything just between us. Oh, is it just between us? Respect my. My. My contractual obligations.

[Nicole Lapin]

I appreciate that. Where are you on your scale of happiness? I've heard you talk about checking in on a scale of 1 to 10.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, it varies. I say I float between a 7 and a 9, you know, which is great. I mean, I'm in a pretty great place. I mean, honestly, everything in my life is amazing. I have, like, an appreciation list in my phone that I try to go through and remind myself, because a lot of happiness is. Is just your perception and your appreciation. I mean, I was really happy. I've been really happy most of my life. But take, let's say, When I was 20, I was a really happy guy. When I was 20, I didn't have that Much money. I was driving, like, an old 1969 Camaro that I kind of built myself. I was eating at the. At the roach coach, like the little burritos and splitting Subway sandwiches with my brother and wearing a wife beater and, you know, and working on my car and a waiter with my buddies at Macaroni Grill. And I was really happy, really happy. I don't know if I'm any happier today than I was then. So I think happiness is. No, it doesn't mean that, like, so

[Nicole Lapin]

money and buy happiness.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, it does help a lot. It does help a lot because it removes the financial stress. I didn't have financial stress back then because I didn't have any needs. Not needing things, not wanting things and not needing things is really powerful. And yeah, of course, money, you're more likely to be happy if you have money, but it certainly is not. It doesn't. You can't just directly buy it. It certainly helps. Can put you in the right environment to be happy. But there are a lot of unhealthy, happy, wealthy people, and there are a lot of really happy people that aren't wealthy. Yeah, it's. I think it's more a question of. Of appreciating your circumstances. I mean, honestly, I have got great friends and I've got a great dog, and I got. And I go into the office with great people, and I've got a healthy family and I'm healthy.

[Nicole Lapin]

Is that what's on your list?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah. I mean, health is the biggest one. I mean, really, if you, You. You are having a good day, if you wake up healthy and the people that you love are healthy, and that's just a. You're starting your day off really, really, really well, and you're not in, like, some labor camp or, you know, in some suppressed society. If you're. If you're. If you wake up in California under the sun and you're healthy, I mean, that's a nine. You're at least a nine right there. And if you don't see that, then that's. That's on you.

[Nicole Lapin]

I mean, you just had your car stolen from your.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I did have my car stolen. So. Yeah.

[Nicole Lapin]

Did that bring you down?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, no. I don't get. I don't get unhappy over material things. I get material things can make me happy. They don't make me unhappy. So if. If I buy something and it makes. My Rolls Royce made me happy when it got stolen, I wasn't unhappy. Yeah. It's just. It's either up or even. I Think on material things. It's not. I don't get super attached. I mean, it's a car, but you

[Nicole Lapin]

spend like you're a spender.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, they're gonna. I have insurance for it. Otherwise I would be much more unhappy,

[Nicole Lapin]

generally outside of even the car.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, yeah. Money for me is meant to be spent. Yeah.

[Nicole Lapin]

Like, how much of what you're bringing in do you spend? Or do you just like.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, I say. I mean, I can't. I. I would have a hard time spending everything I made. So I spend a lot. And I still, you know, my net worth goes up. Maybe not this year because my stocks are getting shellacked, but yeah, generally I don't stress about money, and I certainly don't stress about spending things. Also spending. You know, I don't. You don't lose all the money when you spend it. You buy a nice watch or you buy a nice car. You don't lose all of it. I don't look at buying a Rolls Royce, for example, spending 4 or $500,000. I look at it as spending $100,000 because I'll sell it and I'll lose a hundred thousand dollars. I don't look, you know, if I buy a watch for 100 grand, I don't look at spending 100 grand. I look at spending 20 grand. I'll probably lose 20 grand on it.

[Nicole Lapin]

If you had kids, would you think about it differently?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, to some degree. I don't know if I would change that much. I'm. I still want to take care of myself. I have enough money to take care of my kids and do the things I want to make me happy.

[Nicole Lapin]

Do you have a number? Like an FU number?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, my. My FU number was passed a long time ago. I mean, when I just not. It wasn't that long ago that I was living in an apartment with my buddy. Maybe this was actually at this point, probably 10 or 15 years ago. 15 years ago. And we were thinking if we could each make $10,000 a month, then we made it. I mean, that's just.

[Nicole Lapin]

That was.

[Jason Oppenheim]

That's a high quality of life. That was. My fu was $10,000 a month, $120,000 a year. $10,000 a month. We decided that that was fu. I'm good. That my. I'm living a very good quality of life at 10,000amonth. So, I mean, I passed my FU money quite a while ago.

[Nicole Lapin]

And you never changed it? You never.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, no, I never. I'm not a goal. I'm not a financially goal oriented Person. I want to just live a high quality of life, take care of my friends, take care of my family, and do what I want to do. I don't really have particular financial goals. Never had really, except for that one. That's honestly the only financial goal I think that I can remember having is the $10,000 a month. And so everything else has been icing ever since.

[Nicole Lapin]

Can we play our game called Secure the bag?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Sure. So you have to teach me how to play it.

[Nicole Lapin]

You have to.

[Jason Oppenheim]

It's a light bag.

[Nicole Lapin]

Get in there. Pick a paper.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Have you ever been ghosted by someone who owes you money?

[Nicole Lapin]

Have you ever lent somebody?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, yeah, I've let dozens of people money. There are people, when you lend them money that you think you may or may not get it back. I would never lend money to, to anyone if I didn't, if I wasn't okay not getting it back. And I, in many, in 90% of cases, I get it back because it's, you know, like, it's, it's. There's a reason why I'm lending it. I'm more than happy to do it. And it's. And, and it's fine. There are instances where I lent money to people that I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get it back. And that's happened and that's never bothered me at all. So I wouldn't say ghosted. Wouldn't say ghosted because I, I wouldn't. I'm not going to chase someone down. You know, if they can't pay me back, then I'm just going to take the L. And I should have known that going in.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah.

[Jason Oppenheim]

So I wouldn't say they ghost me. I don't even.

[Nicole Lapin]

You know, maybe this is actually a good opportunity to educate about how bonds work because the riskier the person or the country or the company, the more interest rate you get back because there's more.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, that's. Yeah, it's a good point. The more, the more rewards.

[Nicole Lapin]

So you wouldn't get it back, but you're not charging interest rates obviously to

[Jason Oppenheim]

90% of the time. No, but if it's like a structured business, you know, thing, then yes, but no, my friends and family like that, obviously. No. I have in a couple cases recently, I won't be specific, but lent somebody to help them with a, A down payment. And so I'm charging a 5% interest on that. But yeah, 90%, which is less than the bank. What? Yeah, I mean, I'm just, I'm not really doing it for the 5%. But it's just that person, you know, I'm not giving away free money because people should be understanding the cost of capital. But yeah, I'm not trying to like, you know, squeeze an extra 1 or 2% out of it.

[Nicole Lapin]

Makes sense. Yeah. I mean, the adage is like when you lend a friend.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I've lent clients money all the time, but I protect it with a, you know, with a note. And it's never not worked out. In fact, I loan money to. I mean, I've long. My clients, probably dozens of times. We have a concierge service where we just front the money interest free. I don't want to even deal with the interest. They have a house, a $4 million house. They, they need. It needs $20,000. Where they worked, I just pay the. For them everything, and then I get it back when it sells.

[Nicole Lapin]

I kind of bank. Jason.

[Jason Oppenheim]

That's. It's, it's. I think that's a part of just being a luxury real estate agent is just you can front the money and get the work done, and then you get it back. Never been burnt. Not once.

[Nicole Lapin]

I've never met a real estate agent.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, I think we're the only ones that do that.

[Nicole Lapin]

Who wants to give me money. Okay.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah. Well, it's just. What am I charge you? No, it doesn't make sense. I just offer it to every single client. Now, if a client has a two million dollar house and wants to do $150,000 remodel. No. And I'm not interested in that. But if it's 20, I mean, we just finished a house up. Up in the Hollywood Hills here where it was even a wealthy guy. But I'm like, let me just. I'll do it all. And then we had to, you know, redo the. Just probably 20, 30 grand staging, cleaning it up, fixing the pool, landscaping, painting, you know, whatever. And yeah, so we just.

[Nicole Lapin]

It's like an investment for.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, Yeah. I don't know why. I'm gonna get it back. I'm gonna sell the house. If anything, you know, it's more likely I sell the house. So it's kind of an investment in my. In my own success. Yeah.

[Nicole Lapin]

All right, so I'll hit you up.

[Jason Oppenheim]

If you want to sell your house, you can gladly hit me up. I will fix your house up for you.

[Nicole Lapin]

Thank you so much. And you'll clean the poop. We have a dog, so if I. I don't.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I prefer not to clean the poop. But if I'm about to show it and there's poop. I will clean the poop. Have you ever felt guilty for making more money than someone you love? No. Plus, I'm extremely generous with. With the people I love, so they love that I am well, that I do well. And by the way, there's nothing more enjoyable with money than spending it on the people that you love. I find I get no more happiness. I don't think I have. Well, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but I enjoy it very much. What a cheap habit. You'll never give up, no matter how wealthy you are. Oh, my. Well, ex girlfriend now. But she still does this for me. Cooks me slops, which is my favorite meal. It's just a plate of rice with marinara sauce and then ground up, you know, meat, like ground up beef. And it's. I go over there, like once a week. We watch a show together, and she cooks me slops. I. If I got poor again, I'm not that mad at it because I would just eat slops like five nights.

[Nicole Lapin]

That's like your ramen.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Slops is so much better. Try it. And you put some crushed red pepper on it. I love. God, it's good.

[Nicole Lapin]

I have a problem.

[Jason Oppenheim]

She is almost annoyed at how often I ask for it because that's all I want. That's all I want when I go over there. And she's a good cook, but I just want her to cook slops every time I go over there.

[Nicole Lapin]

My cheap habit. I have so many. I'll order postmates or doordash a lot. But like, I love a Bogo.

[Jason Oppenheim]

What's a bogo?

[Nicole Lapin]

A buy one, get one. I love a bogo. Deal.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, wow. If I saw a Bogo, it would be a red flag for me that it's not good. Yeah, you don't get quality in a Bogo. I'm a quality guy. I'll pay.

[Nicole Lapin]

Okay, Mr. Slops Guy.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, fair. That's fair, actually. But I do like, if I'm gonna get a steak, I'll, you know, I'm not gonna get buy one steak, get one, Sure.

[Nicole Lapin]

I don't know. I had delicious Bogo banana bread.

[Jason Oppenheim]

So can I just digress here? And I was just going to say the great white banana bread, it's the best banana bread I've ever had in my life.

[Nicole Lapin]

It was the bogo.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, come on. Well, now I'm eating my words. How did you get a free banana bread app? Oh, wow.

[Nicole Lapin]

There's a special.

[Advertiser]

A bogo.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Can we just tell the audience that. That there's no better banana bread on planet Earth, probably even in the solar system or galaxy.

[Nicole Lapin]

Whipped honey butter with it.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yes, I know. I go, like, probably twice a week to get it.

[Nicole Lapin]

Well, if you go and then I

[Jason Oppenheim]

get it, ask for it to be extra. Well, I'm gonna push back on getting. Okay.

[Nicole Lapin]

Because then you're.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Because the best part about it is when it comes up warm and crispy.

[Nicole Lapin]

It's warm because we live near great white, so you can't.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, you need to go to great white and you need to get it fresh with the butter. Literally the whip melting onto it and the crispy edges that are still. My brother and I literally fight to rip off the edges and eat.

[Nicole Lapin]

The crispy edges are delicious.

[Jason Oppenheim]

And all we see is sitting with an extra one. I don't believe that. It's like din tai fung. You gotta go to din tai fung. You can't get that dumpling that's not perfectly hot at your. Although I did have din tai fung last night, but from postmates. But no, don't, don't. Don't ruin the banana bread experience. Go to. Go get it in person when it comes out hot and crispy. I'm adamant about this. You can't do that.

[Nicole Lapin]

I think you lost this argument, but.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, I did lose the argument. Have you ever googled your net worth? Yeah. Yeah, of course. There's not a. I don't think there's a wealthy.

[Nicole Lapin]

What does it say?

[Jason Oppenheim]

50 million.

[Nicole Lapin]

Is that accurate? Ish.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I guess so. I guess it's reasonably accurate. Although the interesting thing is it's been at 50 million for, like, 10 years. I'm like, do these people not think that I've ever made a dollar in the last 10 years? It's really weird.

[Nicole Lapin]

Inflation.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Just put it.

[Nicole Lapin]

Look at his treasury.

[Jason Oppenheim]

At least bake in inflation into my network. Honestly, it's weird. You.

[Nicole Lapin]

I've. No, never. Should we do it right now? Yeah, never. I don't think anyone cares.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, I've googled myself a lot. I Google myself to see what articles are out there or if I get caught, you know, by TMZ or something, I'll go out and the next day. Oh, I Google myself quite often just to kind of see what. What articles are out. Yeah, it's kind of.

[Nicole Lapin]

Does it upset you?

[Jason Oppenheim]

I don't get upset by, like.

[Nicole Lapin]

Do you read comments?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, I don't read comments that would probably upset me. I just don't read comments.

[Nicole Lapin]

You never have or you've had to Pretty much.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I mean, in the last 10 years there have been millions of comments probably, I imagine, about me or the show or whatever. Now maybe a couple dozen. I mean, maybe one time I got bored and I just looked real quick. But generally no.

[Nicole Lapin]

Do you have Google alerts set up? No, I have them and then I.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh yes I do.

[Nicole Lapin]

Folder.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yes, I do have a Google. I got an email. Yes, I do. Sorry, I do.

[Nicole Lapin]

That's sufficient. I'm gonna guess. So Morgan's googling my net worth right now, but I'm gonna guess that it's not out there because nobody.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, no, they'll all make it up. Probably. I guess it'll say. It's going to say like 2 million

[Nicole Lapin]

and yours is 50. Okay.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, I'm just saying.

[Nicole Lapin]

Did you Google my network before you?

[Jason Oppenheim]

I've googled people's net worth and I

[Nicole Lapin]

was just like the.

[Jason Oppenheim]

If you're successful, they're gonna just throw 2 million at you. Yeah, it's not that accurate. But I do all the time, like I want to know, especially clients, you know, I'm like, oh, this football player, you know, what, what's I want? Let's say, what's it, you know, what's his net worth? I mean, listen, it's usually off, slightly

[Nicole Lapin]

suspicious that you guessed exactly what mine was.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Oh, no, it's just because I've googled a lot of people's net worth.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah, it's always 2 million. Okay, you're done with the game.

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, I like this game. Do you negotiate or do you get awkward and just pay? That's interesting.

[Nicole Lapin]

Like with contract.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah. 90% time. I'm happy to pay full price because I think that that person is going to appreciate the difference more than me. And that's kind of like a, you know, utilitarian approach. But if it's something meaningful, like if it's. If I'm buying the Rolls Royce, you know, and I want to try to negotiate $15,000. Yes. I'm going to negotiate the larger items. I don't negotiate, you know, smaller things.

[Nicole Lapin]

You can negotiate a Rolls Royce if

[Jason Oppenheim]

you're buying it at a dealer. Yeah, you're buying it. Yeah. You can negotiate everything. Really? Yeah. When you buy a new car, you can negotiate it.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah, But I thought that the sort of quota cars like the Ferraris of the world are non negotiable because Rolls

[Jason Oppenheim]

Royce was one year old and I bought it at the Beverly Hills dealership. And I, and I looked online for a while and compared pricing and, and also my insurance is going to try to pay me out. And I'm going to negotiate that. I'm going to ask for more. I mean, on macro items. Yeah, it's worth my time. But if somebody is asking me for, I'm going to, you know, whatever I'm at at some store and they want like 150 bucks, I'm not going to negotiate that. I want them to have their small business. I never negotiate small stuff, but. And it's also depending on the business. If it's a small business, I'm never going to negotiate if it's a valet. But you don't negotiate valet, but. Well, yeah, you do. Sometimes I pull up in front and they're like, oh, 50 bucks to park up here. I'm like, okay, you know, I'm not going to say, oh, 40 bucks. But, you know, he, he'll use that money better than I will. But larger things with larger corporations, 100% wealthy people.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah.

[Jason Oppenheim]

And corporations, I'm going to negotiate against them for sure. They don't need the money anymore than I do.

[Nicole Lapin]

Do you feel like it's sport like to win?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, I just want to feel like I'm getting a fair price. I'm not. Not. It's not a sport for me. I just want to sport for me. It's my.

[Nicole Lapin]

The only cardio.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I don't get off on it. I just want to be treated fairly. What's the most expensive mistake? I haven't made a mistake. I haven't made that many.

[Nicole Lapin]

You don't miss made mistakes. You don't make mistakes.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I don't really make mistakes that often. No.

[Nicole Lapin]

What?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Because I think I don't really make mistakes that often. I can't think of a big mistake that I've made socially or professionally or financially, really. I mean, maybe I've made a couple, but whatever. Nothing that, nothing like that pops up.

[Nicole Lapin]

Like an investment. A relationship?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, I've never regretted a relationship. I mean, of course you can say you've regretted some investments and some not, but I mean, yeah.

[Nicole Lapin]

What's a.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Overall, I've been a huge winner in investment, so I'm not like, I've been very happy with my investment strategy, but I'm risky, so some. Some don't do well. I think I shorted gold. Oh. Most of you know what it is. Sometimes I wish I'd held investments. So when Netflix and Facebook dropped to like nothing like a few years ago, I bought like a million dollars of each and they would be like $4 million each right now. But I. I was a Little bitch. And I. And I sold. I got, like, nervous and I sold.

[Nicole Lapin]

You didn't lose money, though?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No, I didn't lose money, but I could have made milk. I lost potential.

[Nicole Lapin]

Morning. Your paper.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I'm mourning my paper gains. Those are. Those are just as real as a loss.

[Nicole Lapin]

Illegal at money rehab. We're not allowed to do that.

[Jason Oppenheim]

That's just as silly. Why is that any sillier than losing money? It's. The lost opportunity is just as valuable as lost money. I mean, it's all the same. So you made money intellectually. No, I didn't. I did. I lived. I left millions of dollars on the table. That's no different than losing millions of dollars.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah, but like, how do you predict when the high.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I know, I know. So I'm not mad at my. I mean, just is what it is. Yeah. I mean, I don't stress out over. Over investments. I'm not ever going to invest in anything that's going to stress me out. I don't. I'm not gonna take those kind of risks. Has money ever ruined one of your relationships? No. It's only helped. I don't think any girl's ever been like, oh, my God, you're doing too many nice things for me. Come on. I'm gonna rewrite these.

[Nicole Lapin]

Okay. What would you say a question should be?

[Jason Oppenheim]

No.

[Nicole Lapin]

What's the most important financial question? What's the question I should have asked you but didn't?

[Jason Oppenheim]

I think that people think that a certain amount of money is going to make them happy. I think what is more enjoyable is the slow struggle towards success. That is way more enjoyable, even arguably more enjoyable than being successful. I think the most fun aspect of success is the slow climb that, you know, every year, the grinding and get. And moving towards a goal and seeing yourself become more successful and you're bringing up your friends with you and your employees and. And that. That kind of joint struggle towards success is so enjoyable and so rewarding. I. I think that is way more fun than just being successful. That's why probably a lot of trust fund kids probably are a lot less happy than the people that are a lot less wealthy but are grinding towards success. I mean, the process is. You have to enjoy the process. And I. And I think that that was. That's the most fun.

[Nicole Lapin]

Yeah, because there's a goal fallacy once you hit one goal.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Absolutely. That's why I don't do goals. I don't. That's why I don't do goals. It's such.

[Nicole Lapin]

You just opt out Of.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, because it's the process that's the fun part. It's the. It's definitely the process and the, and I. And the enjoyment of, of the success. I don't know why people just throw a bunch of money. I guess if you have kids, you want to leave a legacy, but come on, your kids don't need, you know, $50 million. I mean, if you have some money, you should just be spending the shit out of it and, and not. And do it on your kids too. I mean, and your friends. I mean, why not? You should be. I don't know. I really, really think that, that especially now with, with AI creating, you know, where things are going to be so cheap in the future. Spend your money now.

[Nicole Lapin]

Why wouldn't you spend it when it was cheaper?

[Jason Oppenheim]

Well, I mean, just start enjoying it because you're not going to be needing, you know, you're not going to be needing it much in the future. I really don't think you're going to be needed. You still going to need first class flights and things like that are going to be, you know, still gonna have to spend money. Travel will still be expensive, although it'll all be. I mean, we won't have human, you know, pilots and stewardesses probably in 15 years.

[Nicole Lapin]

So that'll be a lot cheaper or stewards or whatever. Come on, Jason, fire up your chopper to Orange County. No, after choppers.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I don't like choppers. That makes me. I just sweat the whole, the whole time. Not a chopper guy too much.

[Nicole Lapin]

Are you scared of flying?

[Jason Oppenheim]

I don't love being in a chopper

[Nicole Lapin]

or a private jet.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, I don't love being in a private jet either. I prefer a larger. It has to be a really large private jet or I'll prefer commercial. I don't like the Rocky. The Rocky, you know, although I do fly jsx, which is pretty small. Although I've had some pretty rough experiences in jsx, so. Yeah, I don't like small and I don't like choppers. I'll do a chopper if it saves me a ton of time, but I just, I swear I just, I'm stressed out the whole time.

[Nicole Lapin]

Well, I'm sure you're into like the tunnels that Elon's building that will get us the boring company.

[Jason Oppenheim]

I don't know. I think I'll just wait. I just. I'm really looking forward to autonomous vehicles. I want my autonomous sprinter van.

[Nicole Lapin]

What do you mean? I have an autonomous Tesla.

[Jason Oppenheim]

Yeah, but you have to be there. I want. No, I want to be able to relax, watch tv, chill out and have no risk of an accident and just have my you know my little cold soda right here and my big ass TV and my massaging chair and there's one other chair next to me and it just drives me perfectly smoothly. I you know no slamming on the brakes no risk of an accident that I'm looking forward to that. We're just a few years away from

[Nicole Lapin]

that utopia here we come by the

[Jason Oppenheim]

way we're also going to all have our own drivers. We're all going to have our own chauffeurs.

[Nicole Lapin]

We're going to need drivers. My daughter's one year going to learn how to drive.

[Jason Oppenheim]

That's my point. We're all I mean I'm just talking about the quality of life for people is going to go up so so much. We're not just going to have Michelin star chest we're going to all have our own autonomous chauffeurs. It's good life coming up.