Josh Altman had nothing but praise for reality TV after Million Dollar Listing helped his career as a real estate agent.
“It’s how you use the machine of television. From day one, I was very careful about everything that I did, because I realized that if you use television correctly, it can be the greatest marketing tool in the world for your business,” Josh, 45, shared in the newest issue of Us Weekly. “And if done correctly, it can catapult your business to a whole other level that would take most people a lifetime.”
Josh recalled what made him decide to be on TV, adding, “15 years ago as a different person at the time, I was trying to claw my way to the top in an industry that was super competitive, I just started having a little success after the economy collapsed in 2007 where I lost everything. So the mentality was, ‘Do what I need to do to get back to where I am or really just to survive.”
The realtor put in the work to get himself where he is today.
“I started to have a little success cold-calling and door-knocking all day, every day,” he noted. “So we ended up being in a couple articles and we got a call from the show. You have to realize my mentality at that time was I had money that I made becoming a mortgage broker. I was self-made and I lost everything and got everything taken away from me. So when they offered me the show, I actually thought about it probably a lot longer and harder than most people would have thought about being on television.”
Million Dollar Listing, which debuted in 2006, chronicles the professional and personal lives of real estate agents based in a specific city as they sell high-priced real estate. Josh has been with the show since 2008.
“I had already made money and then got clobbered and lost everything. So every move that I was making from then on, I thought it out a million different ways,” Josh recalled. “Really what it came down to — the No. 1 thing in the world — is to let everybody know what you do for a living.”
The transition to reality TV wasn’t easy for Josh. “It was tough the first couple of years. … It was very difficult in the beginning but the best part about the show was I got to meet my wife on the show. I got to get engaged on a show, married on a show, the birth of my children on a show. That’s all the special stuff for me.”
Josh is also grateful for the platform he received for his real estate.
“I’ve used it as a benefit for our real estate business and teaching and mentoring other people and passing down what I’ve learned along the way. The highs and the lows to now selling a billion and a half of real estate a year — almost 5 million every day in sales — for the last 2000 days,” he told Us. “I get mail from people being like, ‘Oh, I became a real estate agent because I’ve been watching you since I was 10.’ And I’m like, these 10-year-olds are now competing against me. I f—king love it. It is so cool to watch.”
Read more in this week’s relaunch issue of the brand-new Us Weekly, featuring 12 additional pages, a redesigned look and new franchises you’ll love — on newsstands now.
With reporting by Sarah Jones
