With COVID-19 impacting nearly all aspects of our daily lives, many Canadians are finding themselves spending more time at home, as they practice physical distancing or self-isolation.
With tools like the REALTOR.ca Listing Stats App, CREA WEBForms®, MLS® HPI and REALTOR.ca virtual tour providers, REALTORS® can continue doing business.
However, after a long day of sending emails, making phone calls and writing offers, you may want something to watch to unwind.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite television series featuring fictional real estate professional characters for when you need a bit of mindless entertainment.
- “Modern Family”: This mockumentary style sitcom follows the lives of Jay Pritchett and his family, including his son-in-law, self-professed “cool dad” and REALTOR®, Phil Dunphy (played by Ty Burrell). The show provides a lighthearted, hilarious look at three different modern family dynamics.
- “Santa Clarita Diet”: This dark comedy series from Netflix stars Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as suburban real estate agents living in Santa Clarita, California. Things get complicated when Barrymore’s character becomes undead and starts craving human flesh—but the scariest part is how her character pronounces “REALTOR®.”
- “Dead to Me”: Christina Applegate plays “Jen” a grieving widowed real estate agent trying to come to terms with the loss of her husband, who was killed during a hit-and-run. She meets Judy (Linda Cardellini) at a bereavement therapy group. The series follows the unlikely friends as they try to unravel the mystery of Jen’s husband’s death.
- “Two and a Half Men”: Holland Taylor plays Charlie Sheen’s high-powered real estate broker mom, Evelyn Harper, on this sitcom. The series follows a free-wheeling bachelor (Sheen) as his life is interrupted when his divorced brother and nephew move into his beach house. The brothers are opposites with little in common except for a general dislike of their cold, domineering mother.
- “Desperate Housewives”: This primetime soap opera features not one, but two characters working in real estate. Nicollette Sheridan played Edie Britt, a sassy divorcee working as a real estate agent while Kevin Rahm plays real estate agent Lee McDermott—one half of the first gay couple to live on the fictitious Wisteria Lane. Lee gets his real estate license in Season 6, taking over the neighbourhood from Edie Britt.
Bonus: If reality television is more your style, you can always turn to HGTV. While some of the programming is more home-related than real estate-related, there are still classics like “Love It Or List It”, “Flip or Flop”, “House Hunters” (and “House Hunters International”) or “Property Brothers”.
If you’d rather spend your spare time learning, you can find online courses, help guides, webinars and more on CREA’s Training Hub.
Do you have a favourite real estate-inspired television character or show? Tell us about it in the Comments below.
Note: Advice related to the efforts to mitigate the outbreak of COVID-19 is constantly evolving. First and foremost, we recommend REALTOR® members follow the guidelines and precautions set by Canada’s public health authorities. See Health Canada’s website for comprehensive coverage.
