Do You Remember The Best Nine (9) Real Estate Movies Of All Time?

Do you remember watching any of these Real Estate Movies?  Some of these flicks are certainly worth watching again.  Logon to your streaming video vendor and cue up a few of these great classics.  Here is my Top 9 List in REVERSE ORDER.

9) Disney’s Haunted Mansion.  Eddie Murphy stars as a very dedicated real estate agent going the extra mile to view a new house on the market.  His family encounters 999 grinning ghosts in the Haunted Mansion and needs the powers of a psychic to rid the house of the haunts.   Not the best Eddie Murphy film but still entertaining and it is a Disney film.

8) Far and Away.  Back in the day all you needed was a stake and a fast horse to make your claim.  In this movie, after some trouble erupts, a young Tom Cruise leaves Ireland with his landlord's young daughter, Nicole Kidman, and they begin the dream of owning land at the big land giveaway.  After they find jobs and begin saving money young Cruise’s employers steal all his money.  Their struggles continue when Kidman’s parents find out where she has gone and come to get her.  In retrospect they should have put their money in a bank and used an experienced mortgage broker to help them get a loan.  Clearly not the best Tom Cruise movie, but worth watching when surfing the channels.

7)  Superman I.  The evil plan - after a monumental man-made earthquake by a devious villain California will fall into the Pacific and make ocean front property of the thousands of cheap Nevada acreage owned by Lex Luthor/Gene Hackman.  Ned Beatty is Luthor’s evil sidekick.  Some may call this ingenious – others would call it felonious.  Needless to say it didn’t work.   Great re-watch with the kids.

6) Pacific Heights.  New young owners take a hammer to the real estate sign outside of the money trap they just bought.  This young couple didn’t really bargain for what was in store for them when they rented out a lower portion of their house to a less than desirable tenant, Michael Keaton.  Is there an eviction lawyer in the house?  Scary moments and gives one second thoughts about having a live-in tenant.

5) Poltergeist.  This movie is a Steven Spielberg special effects masterpiece ahead of its time.  The new home developer of the land where a “former” graveyard was located promised they would move the caskets, eh hem.  When the ghost starts doing his stuff those caskets start popping out of the ground like ‘pop-tarts’ from a toaster all over the newly minted neighborhood.  It was an impressive special effect for its day – not so much anymore.  The lesson: never buy the first phase of a new development. 

4) American Beauty.  A dead guy, Kevin Spacey, is narrating the movie from the opening scene.  Annette Benning is the perfect agent for the Open House, the candlelight music filled dining rooms, and the tryst with the “King.”  I still can’t figure out the weird metaphors, the crazy next-door neighbor, and the bed of roses, but I’m not really a movie critic.  This one is clearly entertaining and worth a second, and third look.

3) Caddyshack.  Rodney Dangerfield as Al Czervik catapulted his career with this cult classic.  Czervik, along with his investor friend Mr. Wang, wanted to demo Bushwood Country Club (along with a few of its members) so that he could develop some condos.  Classic plot, memorable quotes which every boy growing up in that period has memorized verbatim.  Chevy Chase is stunning as Ty Webb, a young single playboy millionaire who is the club’s best player.  A must re-see with your mature children.

2) Glengarry, Glen Ross.   A young Alec Baldwin is the heavy corporate thug who screams at non-productive agents including a nervous and aging Jack Lemon, “…put down that coffee right now, coffee is for closers.”  This star studded line-up also includes Al Pacino as Ricky Romas.  This movie is an all-time top ten for anyone who is serious about selling anything, especially real estate.

1)    Up.  Up is the best animated film in a long time which touches the heart and soul; and it’s about real estate.  Guy, the hero, won’t sell his house to a developer who he ends up injuring.   Guy cleverly blows up several thousand helium balloons inside of his house which allows his house to go “Up” into the wild blue yonder.  Very cute and pulls at the heart strings at the same time.  The best real estate movie on my Top 9 List.

Make sure to cue up these movies in your Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Redbox, Vudu or cable accounts.  These movies don’t disappoint.