Nile Lundgren on the discipline behind NYC’s ultra luxury deals — and the high-stakes return of owning manhattan

Photo courtesy of Nile Lundgren.

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When Owning Manhattan returns to Netflix for Season 2 on December 5, viewers will get more than sweeping penthouse shots and backstage drama. They’ll get an intimate, unfiltered look at how some of the world’s top real estate brokers operate under extreme pressure and at the center of that storm is SERHANT. power broker Nile Lundgren.

The New York–based luxury agent, who has quietly built a reputation as one of the city’s most disciplined and high-performing dealmakers, says the show didn’t change who he is. But it did force him to elevate everything. “When millions of people are watching you move through real negotiations, real tension, and real relationships, you’re forced to elevate every part of your operation,” he says. “The cameras don’t change the way I sell, but they do change the level of accountability.”

That intensity is a running theme for Lundgren, from his earliest days in the industry to the mega-deals that put him on the national map.

A fast start and a taste for high stakes

Lundgren’s first day in real estate set the tone for the career that followed. His very first showing became his very first closing.

“The rush from that moment was insane: the pressure, the stakes, the immediacy of it,” he recalls. “I knew right then this was my arena.”

It didn’t take long for him to realize that he wanted to go beyond the typical sales track. “I wanted to sell the most expensive thing you can sell,” he says. “High pressure, high stakes, high reward… that’s when I knew real estate wasn’t just a job, it was my path.”

The mindset behind elite performance

New York has no shortage of driven agents, but Lundgren credits one single trait for separating the top professionals from everyone else: relentless consistency.

“Every day, I wake up as if nothing is guaranteed, because in this business, nothing is,” he says. “You need a fighter’s mentality with a surgeon’s discipline.” A piece of advice from brokerage founder Ryan Serhant sits at the center of that philosophy: What got you here won’t get you there.

“That mindset keeps me evolving, sharpening, learning, and refusing to get comfortable,” Lundgren says. “Comfort kills careers.”

The breakthrough: Two eight-figure deals that changed everything

Lundgren’s career-defining moment came during the pandemic, when a New York client asked him to help with a relocation to Miami. That call turned into an $18 million waterfront mansion purchase; and a month later, a phone call from Serhant himself.

“Ryan invited me to join SERHANT., and fourteen months after the original sale, I flipped that same property for $34 million,” he says. “That two-deal run changed everything. It proved I could not only close eight-figure deals, I could duplicate them.”

From there, his trajectory steepened, eventually placing him among the most visible agents in the city and landing him on Netflix’s flagship real estate series.

Precision, speed, and emotional intelligence at the ultraluxury level

Asked what it takes to get nine-figure deals across the finish line, Lundgren doesn’t mince words: speed, precision, emotional intelligence, and absolute focus.

“With ultra-high-net-worth clients, the margin for error is zero,” he says. “They’re not buying walls and windows; they’re buying confidence, access, efficiency, and trust.”

For Lundgren, working around the clock isn’t a grind, it’s standard operating procedure. “If something needs to get done at 2 or 3 a.m., I do it. There’s no ‘tomorrow’ in the luxury market.”

But he stresses that the emotional layer of real estate matters just as much as the analytical one. “Luxury is the way light hits a penthouse at golden hour or the rarity of a Sunset Island lot with full Biscayne Bay views. When you understand the emotional currency of a property, you unlock the deal.”

And behind every major closing is another key ingredient: long-term trust. “You don’t meet a billionaire and close the next day,” he explains. “You earn their trust by being consistent, a market expert, and reliable. When they see you as their advisor, everything changes.”

Advice for new agents: Stop chasing the commission

For those new to the business, Lundgren offers a warning: don’t chase a million-dollar commission before you build million-dollar discipline.

“They want the outcome, not the craft,” he says. “Top producers aren’t born, they’re built through consistency, fundamentals, preparation, and follow-through.”

What it’s really like to close mega-deals with cameras rolling

Season 2 of Owning Manhattan promises even bigger listings, bigger personalities, and bigger stakes — but the real pressure, Lundgren says, isn’t the TV lights. It’s the deals themselves.

“When you’re negotiating a $20M, $50M, or $100M deal and the cameras are rolling, there’s no redo,” he says. “The stakes are high, the cameras are on, the world is watching… and you still have to close.”

For Lundgren, that isn’t a burden — it’s his natural environment. “High stakes is where I thrive,” he says.

As the premiere approaches, the spotlight gets brighter

With Owning Manhattan Season 2 dropping December 5, Lundgren is gearing up for another wave of visibility. But underneath the Netflix spotlight is the same discipline, precision, and unshakeable commitment that powered his first-ever sale.

“The show didn’t redefine my business,” he says. “It refined it.”

And as the world gets a closer look at how he maneuvers through the most competitive market in America, one thing becomes clear: the stakes might be high, but Nile Lundgren has never been more ready for them.