{"id":75002,"date":"2025-12-18T23:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75002\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:41:14","slug":"tricia-lee-riley-on-the-reality-of-real-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75002\/","title":{"rendered":"Tricia Lee Riley On The Reality Of Real Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReal estate has a high failure rate, with 90% of agents making under $40,000 annually.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSecuring deals requires financial expertise and extensive networking, beyond just ‘gossiping and gawking’.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRiley aims to break stereotypes about Black women’s success by sharing her personal journey and challenges.<\/p>\n

\"TriciaSource: Courtesy of Netflix\u00a9 2025 Netflix, Inc. \/ Courtesy of Netflix\u00a9 2025 Netflix, Inc.<\/p>\n

Owning Manhattan star Tricia Lee Riley<\/a> is one of the faces representing real estate in the media. She sits atop the it girl professional ladder with designer bags and luscious bundles.\u00a0Her industry is idolized for an ability to create wealth relatively quickly, but Riley notes it\u2019s harder than sixty-second clips set to D-List pop tracks make it look.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c90% of agents make well under $40,000 a year, gross, and then 98% of agents never renew their license after they get it,\u201d clarifies the former beauty entrepreneur. \u201cIt is so many different hats and so many different skills, and it gets cheapened down.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one considers doctoring easy after watching Married To Medicine<\/a>, but real estate gets painted as glorified gossiping while gawking at granite. Riley sees knowledge gaps when recruiting.\u00a0People think real estate automatically equals getting rich quick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think the best representation for real estate and how tough it actually is is the failure rate. The failure rate is far greater than any other industry. And until this day, 10% of agents out here are making 90% of the money. That is always the case,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a world where white collar careers are deprofessionalized through propaganda and misinformation, details matter.\u00a0Season 2 of the Netflix series features one agent being forced to complete a complicated math on the spot to save a deal. Riley confirms this is a common occurrence. Finance knowledge is a must to be a success in real estate, according to her.\u00a0Interest rate facts outrank Instagram reach. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot do this job effectively without it,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you don\u2019t understand the deals on a granular level like that, you don\u2019t know what it is that we do here. You have no idea. You\u2019re just in the room.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Breaking Through Barriers\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting something out of the room is not as easy for Black women. The Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network reports a wide pay gap<\/a> in the industry. The loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs for all women impacts realtors\u2019 professional networks. Riley recently had a deal fall through because a client lost their job.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She isn\u2019t letting circumstances stop her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While speaking she is preparing for an event hosted by Miele and Lamborghini. Her goal isn\u2019t creating content, it\u2019s securing contacts. It\u2019s one of many uncompensated tasks real estate agents do. They also query \u201cPainters, architects, home designers, interior designers\u201d and other professionals to maintain access for clients. If potential buyers want to know renovation costs, she parrots them off with confidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Breaking Through Expectations<\/p>\n

\"TriciaSource: Genesis Suero Credit: Courtesy of Netflix\u00a9 2025 Netflix, Inc. \/ Credit: Courtesy of Netflix\u00a9 2025 Netflix, Inc.<\/p>\n

Riley expresses a desire to break her hustler\u2019s spirit out of Brooklyn on Owning Manhattan. She speaks up for herself in a meeting and cinches a deal. What the viewer doesn\u2019t see is the leg work that went into getting the client\u2019s attention. She scoured through her contacts prior to the meeting. Getting access to information others wouldn\u2019t think to look for set her apart in the deal. \u201cWe had to know that Armani was looking for a new location, we had to know that Emirates was looking for a corporate setup. We had to know that Apple was interested in buying buildings and putting a headquarters in the city,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Weeks of unpaid work preceded the win we watched.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had already brought Armani there before we even got the listing. That\u2019s the level of effort and work that goes into it. Before we shot that scene, we had brought George Armani into that building with their entire sales development team to look at that building.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some find it difficult to stay disciplined when\u00a0direct deposits dwindle, not Riley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople ask me why I\u2019ve always done well in real estate. It\u2019s because I was an entrepreneur already. I didn\u2019t have a boss, I wasn\u2019t looking for a boss. I didn\u2019t need that direction, I didn\u2019t need that hand holding,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are entrepreneurs, but they act like employees. And that\u2019s just not what works here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breaking Through Black Excellence Stereotypes\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TriciaSource: Jeffrey St Arromand, Tricia Lee \/ Courtesy of Netflix\u00a9 2025 Netflix, Inc.<\/p>\n

Related: Memphis Women\u2019s Expo: A Movement for Empowerment and Impact<\/a><\/p>\n

Mainstream media has ideas about what leads to success for Black women.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Riley wanted to challenge that after a moment of personal revelation. It was important to her to not only highlight the labor involved but the different kinds of lives that could lead to success in the industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She opted to share more of her personal life on the show this season. In one scene, she shares information about her family background with a coworker. \u201cI had hidden that and I [previously] had so much shame around it,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opening up let those watching reality tv with complicated backgrounds see themselves in her experience. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: Rasheeda Frost Talks Bossing Up And Knowing When To Fall Back<\/a><\/p>\n

Breaking Out Of The Professional Box\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I was being upheld as this, like, perfect picture of success, and all while that is true, and I\u2019ve broken my neck for the things I\u2019ve been able to do, I wanted to make sure that I told the truth about who I am in a way that I had never done before.\u201d\u00a0It didn\u2019t feel right to ignore the less charmed portions of her story. \u201cI really felt a responsibility to do it on the show because I felt like, where else can you tell other young little Black girls that it\u2019s okay to not look, live, be like everyone else,\u201d she continued.\u00a0\u201cYou still are super, super special, because of how different you are from everyone else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Riley\u2019s plans on taking her brand of special into new arenas. She respects her profession but doesn\u2019t want it to define her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have built a brand around what I do, and I think I can do a lot more to build a brand around who I am. I think who I am is far more interesting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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