'Odd Mom Out' managed to make the UES look more appealing than Brooklyn
When a movie or TV show is set in New York City—and if the people making it are savvy—real estate becomes part of the story itself. In Reel Estate, we look at some of the more memorable domiciles to grace the screen.
Even though Odd Mom Out (currently awaiting its second season) as, at its heart, sort of all about real estate porn—what else would you focus on if you found yourself suddenly moving in the circles of ultra-wealthy Upper East Siders?—like so many 'New York' TV apartments that have come before it, 'Odd Mom' Jill's pad is just a sound stage (albeit one designed to look just like author/star Jill Kargman's real life UES digs). You can take a video tour of the place below (and check out more photos here). Mostly, it looks like a standard classic six, with lots of Pinterest-friendly touches like non-threatening skulls and wall-mounted chalk boards:
It's nice, definitely, but we were also sympathetic when, in episode five—on what was apparently Jill's first foray into the world of Brooklyn brownstones—she got a little swept up. Specifically, she headed to the Prospect Park-adjacent townhouse of a former college friend, featuring a treehouse in the backyard (as well as an elaborate recycling set-up):
After Jill announces her "real estate boner" for the place, her new "cool mom" friends point her in the direction of an open house nearby on Bergen—a three-story townhouse with a roof deck. Jill runs in and announces to the broker—who's telling a pair of buyers that there are already three bids—that she's bid number four, and "I'm bidding more than all of them." (Unrealistic, sure, but we've got a strong suspicion that someone, somewhere, has actually done this.) Ecstatic, she calls her husband and tells him that they can get a "palace" in the area for a fraction of what they'd pay in their neighborhood. (The offer of easy admissions for her kids to St. Ann's doesn't hurt, either.)
Technically, this is true—townhouses around Park Slope run for a few million dollars apiece, whereas you'd be hard pressed to find one on the UES for under $10 million—but the kind of homes Jill's looking at would be likely be way higher priced than her relatively modest UES setup. Take these on-the-market Park Slope houses asking $3.895 million and $2.395 million, respectively, as opposed to this two-bedroom Lenox Hill condo asking $1.993 million. In any case, it ends up being moot—Jill decides that the Park Slope set is even more restrictive and judgmental than her Upper East Side co-horts—but we were left with lingering questions. Specifically, did she sign any paperwork at her open house freakout? And what happens to a bid if you forget about it entirely?
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