As people continuously rely on digital platforms in the age of social media, new careers have found their way into the market. These new careers have ramifications in real estate, as it opens up new avenues for home shopping—and new ways for agents to build their business.
Digital platforms designed to share and spread content represent a new form of entertainment unique to the modern age. YouTube—one of the world’s biggest online video-sharing platforms—launched in 2005, and after 20 years, continues to dominate the scene. Currently, analytics platform Social Blade estimates that there are a total of 69 million creators on YouTube, and other independent estimates show 2.7 billion people worldwide use the site each month.
Content creators—groups or individuals that regularly create content through mediums like YouTube—generally make their earnings through advertising revenue or donations from viewers. But digital platforms have found new ways for their creators to earn a living.
This unique line of work combines technical skills, entertainment and entrepreneurship. As such, content creators are a unique clientele when it comes to home shopping.
Luxury tastes
Christophe Choo—a luxury real estate agent based in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles—says that he has helped content creators both buy and sell their homes.
“I’ve worked with a lot of influencers and gamers; they’re kind of similar. They tend to be very young, they’re generally in their 20s,” he says.
Depending on the situation, creators may live together if it suits their needs. Streamer houses are residences where multiple creators live and collaborate together. Sometimes their work overlaps, but not always. Recently, Choo represented two content creators who rented a house together for $20,000 a month.
He’s also worked with a husband and wife who were content creators, who bought a five-bedroom house so that they could each have their own designated content production space.
“Communicating to a young 22, 23-year-old influencer is very different than communicating to a 60, 70-year-old owner of a house that’s wealthy and owns many businesses,” Choo noted. “Every client is different, so I’m always very clear before I meet them. I research who they are, or I might know who they are, and I try to not present to them, but communicate to them in a way that’s comfortable for them.”
Some agents use their background in content creation as a skill when interacting with clients. Andy Ta—a Coldwell Banker Realty agent based in Los Angeles—is a former professional gamer (or “esports” player) who went by “Smoothie.” Ta was a professional “League of Legends” player and recently retired after representing his team—Evil Geniuses—in the North American League of Legends Challenger League in 2023.
When asked why he turned to real estate after his retirement from gaming, Ta said, “I was looking to pivot into something else. Pro gaming, it’s such a very niche skillset. I would say there were only a few avenues I could take. It was either going back to school or I could pursue something in the business side of esports—which I didn’t really want to do—or I could start a business, which I ended up doing with real estate.”
“I think it just really came from me wanting to keep the connection with and utilize my network in the gaming and content creation space,” Ta added. “Just because I’ve been in the space for about 11 years in LA.”
He also talks about how his background in content creation and connection to the trends, platforms and culture of the younger generations has helped him when it comes to marketing his brand and business.
“I would say the best marketing is posting a TikTok in a house, literally doing TikTok dances, and you’ll probably get more exposure. It’s just more engaging, as my generation—the Gen Z generation—starts getting ready to buy houses,” he explains. “I think this will be a very powerful step forward, and I think everyone needs to get on the content creation grind, which I am as well.”
Being based in Los Angeles, Ta has frequently worked with clients in content creation and uses his experience in gaming to understand what his clients want.
“(Content creators) are oftentimes very, very picky with who they work with. It really is just a trust thing at the end of the day, for these people that have millions of followers,” Ta says. “This is the unfortunate reality of the situation, but people do know these people—as celebrities—and people are constantly interacting with these creators for the wrong reasons.
“And so, me being in the space, me being a content creator for about 11 years already myself, there’s an immediate rapport given to me, just because they have the respect that I’ve been in the space,” he added.
What to know
Both Choo and Ta discovered one unique quirk content creators share: their homes are also their work space.
“There’s a couple of things that content creators really look for. They are very, very particular in the things that they’re looking for in a house. I would say, fast internet being one of them, it’s a must,” Ta says.
Creators rely heavily on digital platforms. Ta noted that there is no way to check whether a listing has access to fiber internet (providing the fastest speeds) through MLSs, so it takes extra time and effort to cross-reference these property aspects. Although all of his listings so far have had fiber internet, he notes that this is not the case in many areas in Los Angeles.
For Choo, he says his clients come from different walks of life and various industries within content creation.
A recent sale he made was for a streamer on Twitch, a platform popular with gamers (but also host to many highly influential content creators). Streamers have to be online often and during scheduled times each day, so Choo takes this into consideration when offering listings and discussing the client’s options.
“Each buyer has different needs and wants. Some want certain rooms with certain lighting at a certain time of day, although they use fake lighting. Space is important, having dedicated spaces, having places for friends to come hang out at the house with them. But it’s all individual to that particular client’s needs, depending on what their content is,” he says.
Choo mentions that although not every content creator makes it big, he’s seen similarities between his content creator clients and other celebrities in California.
“They’re not irresponsible, but when you’re in your early 20s and you’re earning that kind of money, you kind of think it’s gonna go on forever,” Choo explained. “Most of them are not so flashy, meaning even though they’re making millions a year, they’re not buying the $300,000 diamond watches and driving Ferraris and Bentleys necessarily. So, it’s all individual taste.”
Clients don’t just look for what homes offer, but what can be done to them after the sale. Ta mentioned that a property he sold has soundproof walls, which is used as a streaming room.
“They install a bunch of things. One of the clients installed a hanging light from the ceiling. So there’s a hanging light that goes straight into their camera, and it’s very elaborate—their production quality for their podcast spaces or their stream rooms,” Ta says. “They put a lot of effort into it, of course, that’s because it’s a livelihood. They want to hide all these cords, they want to hide things that shouldn’t be in the (camera) shot.”
Content creators have quickly become synonymous with other mainstream celebrities in Hollywood, music and other industries. As such, they are susceptible to dangers associated with stardom—and luxury real estate agents like Choo and Ta agree that security and privacy are at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
“When you’re talking about celebrities, the security issue is a really big one. I think, for men, it matters a bit less. However, for women, the ones that I’ve worked with, security is absolutely number one,” Ta explained. “There’s so many people in the world that—let’s say they don’t have the best intentions.”
Privacy issues have even seeped into properties themselves.
“I had a listing recently. It would have been completely perfect for one of the streamer houses that I’m working with. It had everything they needed. It had enough rooms, storage space, a podcast space, fiber internet, and had everything you would possibly need in a house, but the only issue is that the house was actually doxxed a while ago, because the (previous) people there were also content creators,” Ta says.
“Doxxed” is an internet shorthand for having private details like addresses revealed and publicly disseminated, often by bad actors—stalkers, hackers or rivals.
As with all clients, agents learn to work with content creators and find properties best suited for them. But agents can also learn from content creators and see what works when it comes to outreach and gaining traction online.
“We’re moving more into a content-focused lifestyle with short forms. TikTok, IG Reels are becoming so popular. I would say (agents) that are in the business that are not utilizing video, are going to be behind,” Ta says.
