When Season 2 of Owning Manhattan premieres on Netflix on December 5, viewers will once again step inside the pressure-cooker world of ultraluxury real estate, but this time, with an even closer lens on one of the show’s breakout stars: Nile Lundgren of SERHANT.
Lundgren’s rise through the ranks of New York’s most competitive industry didn’t happen quietly. And as millions of Netflix viewers know, he doesn’t operate quietly either. His approach blends fierce discipline, strategic intuition, and a level of pace that mirrors the market he moves in.
But long before the cameras arrived, Lundgren had already decided he wanted a business defined by high stakes.
The First Deal That Changed Everything
Like many top-producing brokers, Lundgren didn’t ease into real estate — he crashed into it.
“My very first showing turned into my very first deal,” he says. “The rush from that moment was insane — the pressure, the stakes, the immediacy of it. I knew right then this was my arena.”
That instant momentum gave him clarity about the type of career he wanted.
“I didn’t just want to do ‘sales,’” he says. “I wanted to sell the most expensive thing you can sell. High pressure, high stakes, high reward — what a thrill.”
Outworking a City Where Nothing Is Guaranteed
New York’s luxury market rewards talent, but it rewards grit even more. For Lundgren, that grit comes down to a simple mantra: relentless consistency.
“Every day, I wake up as if nothing is guaranteed, because in this business, nothing is,” he says. “You need a fighter’s mentality with a surgeon’s discipline.”
He credits a defining piece of advice from Ryan Serhant: “What got you here won’t get you there.”
“That mindset keeps me evolving, sharpening, learning, and refusing to get comfortable,” Lundgren explains. “Comfort kills careers.”
The Two Deals That Pushed Him Into the National Conversation
Lundgren’s inflection point came at a moment when most of the world was slowing down: during the pandemic. A client relocating to Miami reached out — and what followed was a pair of eight-figure transactions that reshaped his trajectory.
“That turned into an $18M waterfront mansion sale,” he recalls. “About a month after I closed it, Ryan Serhant called me personally and invited me to join him.”
Fourteen months later, he sold the same mansion again — this time for $34 million.
“That two-deal run changed everything,” he says. “It validated that my system, my relationships, and my discipline worked at the highest level.”
Inside the Psychology of a Luxury Deal
While the numbers in luxury real estate are massive, Lundgren says the variables that matter most are invisible: accuracy, timing, emotional intelligence, and trust.
“With ultra-high-net-worth clients, the margin for error is zero,” he says. “They’re not buying walls and windows; they’re buying confidence, access, efficiency, and trust.”
He treats time as the real currency of every deal.
“Their time is their most valuable asset, and I protect it fiercely,” he says. “If something needs to get done at 2 or 3am, I do it. There’s no ‘tomorrow’ in the luxury market.”
And while data matters, emotion often seals the deal.
“Luxury is the way light hits a penthouse at golden hour or the rarity of a west-facing Sunset Island lot with full Biscayne Bay views,” he says. “When you understand the emotional currency of a property, you unlock the deal.”
A Warning for New Agents Chasing Fast Money
Lundgren has little patience for the “get rich quick” mentality he sees among newer agents.
“They want the million-dollar commission before they’ve mastered the million-dollar discipline,” he says. “They’re too focused on the transaction, not the personal transformation.”
Real estate, he insists, “rewards preparation, follow-through, and fundamentals.”
How Owning Manhattan Turned Up the Pressure — and the Precision
With the launch of Owning Manhattan Season 2 days away, Lundgren says the show didn’t reshape his business — but it sharpened it.
“Honestly, the show didn’t redefine my business; it refined it,” he says. The cameras made him elevate everything: systems, communication, leadership, discipline.
“You become hyper-aware of every decision, every conversation, every missed beat,” he says. “It makes you sharper. It makes you faster.”
On-Camera, High Stakes Become Even Higher
Viewers see the glossy version of the deal. What they don’t see is how intense it feels to negotiate tens of millions of dollars with cameras rolling.
“High-octane pressure,” Lundgren says. “When you’re negotiating a $20M, $50M, or $100M deal and the cameras are rolling, you don’t have the luxury of being anyone but yourself.”
There are no retakes. No edits. No breaks.
“There’s no ‘cut,’ no redo,” he says. “The stakes are high, the cameras are on, the world is watching… and you still have to close.”
To him, that isn’t a burden — it’s an advantage.
“High stakes is where I thrive,” he says.
The Season 2 Spotlight
As anticipation builds for Owning Manhattan’s December 5 return, Lundgren’s visibility as one of the show’s standout personalities only continues to grow. But beneath the spotlight is the same philosophy that guided his very first deal: discipline, speed, and an appetite for pressure.
And for millions of viewers tuning in next week, that’s exactly what they’re hoping to see.
