HERU

Eklund, who took a star-making turn playing an over-top-version of himself on Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Listing” reality show, and Gomes, who often appeared on the show, have had a big year. 

On top of selling a $70.5 million condo in New York, a $17 million mansion in the Hampton’s enclave of Sag Harbor, and a $17.5 million condo in Beverly Hills — to name a few — the duo just resigned to stay on with Douglas Elliman for five more years.

Speaking about the year ahead alongside Eklund Gomes Team CEO Julia Spillman, they said wellness perks remain at the top of the list of must-haves for luxury homebuyers of both condos and single-family residences. 

And while the more traditional self-care extras like pools, hot tubs, and home gyms are still desirable, perks like spiritual concierges and IV drips that can be accessed on-demand with a call, text, or email are really what buyers are turning towards now.

“Wellness is not necessarily a new trend,” Eklund said, “but it’s increasing in strength.” 

Self-care has moved beyond the basic amenities that serve physical wellness to include amenities that cater to mental and spiritual wellbeing, he added. 

The duo also led the charge on selling Maverick, an 87-residence building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood where currently available condos range from $1.49 million for a one-bedroom to $7.5 million for a three-bedroom with a terrace. The building offers a “spiritual concierge” who helps set residents up with practitioners of hypnotherapy, transcendental yoga, and leaders of other psychic experiences. 

Maverick’s spiritual concierge is available via text or phone call, and that ease-of-use is something that today’s buyer expects. Having these kinds of decentralized perks is both more affordable for homeowners and an easy way to get more out of less space, Eklund noted. “With the technology of our phones today, there’s so much you can do even if you can’t afford to build it into your home,” Eklund said. But, of course, having dedicated spaces for wellness is an added plus.

Gomes said he also sees clients prioritizing wellness experiences within their square footage. 

“An extra room to have a home gym is increasingly popular, even in cities like New York, where there’s not a lot of space,” he said. 

“Life is a marathon, not a sprint, especially in this industry,” Eklund said. “The more you can invest in yourself, the better.”

Eklund said they want to bring on 50 new agents as well as a national marketing director and an agent concierge, who will aid agents in everything from troubleshooting tech issues to answering questions about the biz.

“We were never interested in size. It’s not about that,” Eklund said, “It’s about becoming the top team not only nationally, which we already are, but within each market and then moving up in price point, moving up in price per square foot, moving up in number of transactions.” 

“We’re looking to continue to grow our agent count in each of those cities and continue to boost our market share,” said Spillman.

Fans of Eklund’s television antics should rest assured that he’ll return to the spotlight soon enough. 

While he isn’t ready to disclose what he’s working on, he did offer this: “There’s more TV coming, and I’ll just leave it at that for us.”