YouTube series shows lower end of NYC real estate

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - A new YouTube series is playing off of Bravo TV's "Million Dollar Listing," and showing the world of real estate is really like for realtors who are trying to cut their teeth.

Noah Kaplan created Thousand Dollar Listing.  He has been working as a New York City real estate agent for two years and says at times it's a struggle.

"The statistic is, there is about one sales listing for every 10 brokers in the city, which is insane," said Kaplan. "I show people places I can't' afford myself, what I can afford is like $800 a month including utilities."

Kaplan says many of his clients come to him with budgets of $1,000 or less, and that means finding places to share.

"What you see on the show is very real, a lot of people out there are living with roommates, there's really no way to get around that," Kaplan said.

In his pilot episode he shows a client less-than-desirable, sometimes windowless rooms in places like the East Village and Bushwick.

Kaplan, who until recently worked for Corcoran, admits the show is a parody and that much of it is played up for comic effect, but he says the truth is, real estate is a tough and competitive business here in New York.

But things may be changing for him, after his show caught the attention of some of the "Million Dollar Listing" brokers themselves. Now he says he's in talks to join one of their teams.

Even as he prepares to move up in the new world of real estate Noah says he still plans to continue producing episodes of "Thousand Dollar Listing," with more coming soon.