A few weeks ago we brought you part one of our interview with Jason Abrams, the real estate agent who helps professional athletes find homes all over the country (and now does it as part of the HGTV show Scoring The Deal). With an office in DC he has worked with locals such as Cato June, Clinton Portis, Vernon & Vontae Davis, and Joe Haden. After the jump is part two of our interview where Abrams talks more specifically about how his job is different from a regular real estate agent. He needs to know a lot more than just which mortgage lender to call since athletic Whales have much bigger needs than the rest of us.
Athletes are known for having pimped out pads. What are some of the ones that stick out in your mind?
In the episode with Vontae Davis (a DC native) you walk through what is an absolutely gorgeous home—in his case it's amazing waterfalls in his master bedroom along with a hyperbaric chamber that he lays in at the end of the day to oxygenate his blood. He told me his requirements and said he needed a master bedroom that is big enough for a bed, a couch, a flatscreen tv, and his hyperbaric chamber. Most people don't know this but the first hyperbaric chamber in a residential environment was in Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. But now you can find it in a lot of professional athletes homes.
Here's a few screenshots of the $20,000 waterfall, hyperbaric chamber, and $12,000 gold chandelier.
You get to know these athletes pretty well. What do you know about some of them that most people wouldn't know?
Vernon Davis just opened his own art gallery in San Jose and his paintings are on display there all the time. All the proceeds go directly to his foundation which helps kids get back into the arts. Here's a guy who can pick up a paintbrush and literally go to town and paint amazing stuff. I have a Vernon Davis original in my living room. You think they're all rough and tumble and it turns out they have more sides to their personality. The same with Cato June. Here's one of the fiercest linebackers and now he's a high school coach [at Anacostia], but he's also investing in Broadways plays.
In our last interview you mentioned Clinton Portis' house in McLean that has black leather wallpaper. Where do you find black leather wallpaper?
There's a supplier out there. Who, if I had to guess, does most of his business in Las Vegas casinos. A lot of the really cool, different, interior decorating groups do a lot of hotel and resort kinds of stuff. And a lot of these guys end up taking those things and making them personal.
Do you have a hyperbaric chamber supplier on your speed dial?
Absolutely. I have everything in my speed dial. I would be shocked if you named something I couldn't provide for you relatively quickly.
Describe how your job is different from a regular real estate agent.
Oddly enough my job is similar to other real estate agents except in my world I'll get a call that says I need to look at houses in Beverly Hills on Monday and then I'll get a call that says I need to look at Miami penthouses on Tuesday. So I'm doing a lot of the same actions but coast to coast. I was on the road 309 days last year.
How many frequent flier miles do you have?
I'd have to get you a number on that. But I sit first class on almost every airline now for free. I have status which is great. When I first started everything was super budget. We would stay in $50/night hotels and fly coach. It's definitely much harder to travel that way. That's why the DC area is so conducive to our business and it why we still keep a presence there. Being able to fly in and out the three major airports I could pretty much get anywhere the day I needed to get there. A lot of places in the country you just can't do that.
Are there certain parts of the country you find you keep going to? Where are the hotspots that athletes want to be?
All of Florida has always been a hotspot for professional athletes and I think that it always will be. Besides the fact that they have a phenomenal income tax structure which is conducive to living there, it's also where everyone wants to go and party. That helps.
· Scoring The Deal [Official Site]
· The Abrams Team [Official Site]
· Former Redskin Clinton Portis Shops For Luxury Real Estate [CDC] ,
· All Clinton Portis coverage [CDC]