Secrets of success saying you can do it too. But first this special edition nightline 5. Have you ever wondered if you could get lucky in your hotel room . This really matters to me. Come on, lucky. Hotel . Trivago. When is a salon pass began, 80 years later, it involved in to am hi of pain relievers. Perfect for back muscle or joint pain. Salon good evening. Thank you for joining us. Im rebecca jarvis. Tonight, you are going to meet a Real Estate Agent who carries a firearm with him to work. Thats becau hes no ordinary agent. These are no ordinary houses hes selling. They are crammed to the gills with trash filled and sometimes illegal squatters. Who buys these kinds of properties and should they be something for you to consider . Heres abcs gloria riveria. Reporter in the market for a mansion but dont want to pay a premium . You might want to look in jacksonvilles exclusive gated community pablo bay. This is nice. Fountains, wellkept grounds. This is a nice community. Reporter inside there is a house for sale that will take your breath away. But not in a good way. Wow. This is crazy. Reporter in severe disrepair, seemingly unlivable. Whats your name . Reporter seemingly unsellable. Garage sale gone bad. Reporter it is a garage sale gone epically bad. Reporter unless you are a Real Estate Agent todd arnold. What do you see it as. Opportunity. Like you see here, you have to get rid of all of this. Reporter you have to get rid of all of this stuff but it is also the filth. Reporter where most see trash, todd sees treasure. He finds distressed homes in danger of foreclosure. Prices it low and tries to sell it fast. It is called short sale. The opportunity for me because i believe the house is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Reporter todds job is to convince the mom of three this nightmare of a house could be her familys dream home. What are you here to see . We are here to look at this house because its a short sale. And a good price for this neighborhood. Reporter theres a catch, right . Its not very clean. Reporter jens First Impression what is that . Smoke and animals. Smoke and what. Smokers. Reporter i expect jen to high tail it out of here but she seems to be seeing the potential. I guess im an optimist anne and like a challenge. You have a challenge here. Off challenge. I mean, really, though, it would come down to the price. This could be a lot worse. Reporter looks pretty bad. Definitely need a new toilet seat. Reporter yeah. Whats in here . Oh my god. Look at this. Nasty. Reporter if these homeowners dont take their belongings with them jen could be stuck with all of that clean up. Do you think that is dog pee . I think that is dog pee. Reporter todd thinks he can convince jen to buy it for the bargain price of 315,000. That is 40 below the market value. Short selling distressed houses is a big business thats happening across the country. If palo alto this threebedroom home is selling for 1. 8 million. Barbara corcoran is a real estate mogul and host on abcs shark tank. Yes, i am a big mouth. Pipe down little man. Reporter her take on jens home. If i was writing an ad on this house id say buyer beware. Reporter but she does see the investment potential. It is always worth it to buy a hoarder house, heres why, youve get a 20 to 30 discount on the house and all you have to do is get rid of the stuff. Reple jen decides on that house, todd takes us on a tour of his inventory, his business is booming. This is jacksonville but the worst side of jacksonville. Reporter and can be dangerous. You feel like you need to carry a gun . Absolutely. It is dangerous business. Reporter todd is not sure what is waiting on the inside. People could be living in this place that dont really belong there. I like to honk my horn to let anyone that is there to know im here. Good practice knock on the windows, peek in to see if i am going to surprise anyone. Reporter i have a hard time imagining how this bombed out abody could be a sale. We like to call it broom swept clean. You run a broom across and doesnt run across anything. Reporter the next home looks decent from the front but the backyard is now a junk yard. The inside is packed to the gills. Homeowner Tommy Thompson said he and his wife became overwhelmed by their own collections. Why didnt you get rid of this stuff . You would be surprised what we have gotten rid of. Reporter if he can sell it fast his family will avoid foreclosure. Todd reports this home has multiple offers with a contract pending. The good bad, ugly, they all need a buyer. I am helping buyer and sellers. Reporter back at pablo bay, it seems jen was able to see through the zoo inside. It as a formal dining room and eating area. Reporter i missed that where was the dining room. The birds. Reporter oh, i missed that experts say buyers should do there is a wild card when you gate house. You cant get to the basement to see what the plumbing and boiler is like. You cant see what the view is like because you cant get to the window. So there is guess work. Reporter jen is ready to make a decision. You know all the work it will bring. Are you still thinking of putting in an offer . Yes. Reporter yeah . I would do it. Reporter you are not easily daunted. But jen may not have been fast enough. Tonight todd reports that home received multiple offers and went over the asking price. No shame in the highest price from your end. Im happy to sell it at any price. 10,000 or 300,000. As long as it is closed it is money. If they dont close no money. Reporter Gloria Rivera in jacksonville florida. The money that heavyweights are spending to turn a lackluster listing in to a spectacular sale. This is my body of proof that i can fight Psoriatic Arthritis from the inside out. With humira. 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Digs and Matthew Perry put his sprawling mansion on the market they summited meredith for a makeover. Do they have as many problems as the average persons home when it comes to trying to sell them . I think their homes are like anybodys. Sometimes you can be a great actor and not have great taste. Bad taste, too. Stars are like us. They have stacks of unread mail like us toys all over the whole thing. I remember we did halle berrys home at one point and you see her pajamas, all of these things. You go oh, my god, these are halle berrys pajama as. Reporter dirty laundry aside, there are reasons so many she celebs call on meredith how much more will the homeowner get for the sale price bringing you in. 20 more. We just did a house down the street from where i live and it sold for a million over asking. Because it was staged . Are. Yes. Reporter what are you charging for this . Anywhere from 5,000 to 200,000. Reporter efron smith has been working with her for 20 years. Shes the goto when you are looking to stage a home and you want to make the extra significant dollar you reach out to meredith. Reporter these the house whisperer. She is the house whisperer. Reporter he brought her in to style a 17 million mansion in the palisades. The best thing about staging you are not focusing on the imperfections. The chipped paint, uneven floors. Recessed lights arent in correctly or things that arent straight. Reporter for a sneak peek we headed to the Hollywood Hills home of grace, the star of 70s show to see a transformation with his Real Estate Agents. A lot of celebrities have lived here. Megan from will and grace. She sold it to scott barnes her Makeup Artist and he sold it to jessie met calf. Desperate housewives. Reporter a lot of pedigree but they needed help. What did it look like in the beginning . Bachelor pad. It needed warmth and style. Just needed a little help. Reporter he was ready to sell but his 1. 6 million two bed, two bath home had been languishing on the market for four months. We brought in a good sized sofa regardless of the fact this is a rather small space. To show to make it feel bigger actually the mirror gives more depth to the room. And to reflect the green. And we started with the white furniture and we started to bring in the color with the rug. We brought the color through with the chairs. Picked up the green. Gave it a little theme with some accessories. Reporter bachelor pad be gone. Yes. Reporter in the master bedroom, a major transformation. Wow, this is a very different after than the before. Right. We do this sort of pretend curtain because as see theres no curtain rod. By taking the curtain to the top it makes the ceiling look taller. Reporter merediths staging traits led to a big day. This house sold at the First Showing for six figures over asking. Reporter thats huge. Merediths makeovers begin here in this 80,000 square foot warehouse in downtown l. A. 175 skraftsmen movers and designers here choose from endless aisles and shelves of furniture and accessories. They have their own woodworking shop upholstery departmentment and onsite florist and 8,000 piece pieces of art. Once the selections are made Team Meredith loads up one of their 13 trucks and heads back to the latest empty canvas. That sprawling sevenbedroom, tenbath, 17 million mansion in the pacific palisades. 15 minutes later. This is it . This is it. It is welcoming, elegant and comfortable. Reporter how can you create merediths midas touch in your home without breaking the bank . People need to keep it simple. I personally believe that walls should be white. Reporter her advice, hold off on renovations and invest in a fresh coat of white paint what do you want to do in a master bedroom . You want to feel like a five star hotel. So yummy you want to put your toothbrush and clothes in the closet and move in. Crisp white bedding. You put a comfortable under the sheets to look plump and yummy. Crisp white sheets. Reporter invest in fluffy white towels. Roll them up and load the shelves if there is any surface that doesnt look great, add towels. Reporter finally add a cook book to the kitchen. I pay tourn a recipe that looks yummy and leave it open hint hint. You can start to cook as soon as you check out the house. Reporter the whole idea is making someone feel this is their home. This is home. Reporter add these touches to your home and you never know. It might be so inviting youll never want to leave. Just ask Scarlett Johansson. She was going to sell it and saw what we did and she said why am i selling this house . Reporter next the celebrity Real Estate Agent who can sell anything. He didnt know anyone when came to america, and yet he built a multimilliondollar real estate empire. Now hes sharing the secrets of his success. Announcer this special edition of nightline is brought to you by macys. Excellent. Researching a hunch, and making a decision. Time for a change of menu. Research and invest with e trades browser trading. E trade. Celebrity Real Estate AgentFredrik Eklund can sell anything and we really mean anything. Hes leveraged his charismatic charm in to a multimilliondollar real estate empire but its actually been a long road to his success. Tonight, hes sharing his secrets to fame and fortune. Lots of lights lots of sunlight. Reporter spending the day with Fredrik Eklund sold reporter its no surprise hes one of the countrys most famous real estate brokers. Push a button reporter his combination of charm. Open the deerns get fresh air. Reporter and sell sell sell. Double steam oven double regular oven. Reporter even a toilet. Say you are tired in the middle of the night reporter has put him in the high stakes world of real estate. I think im getting aroused. Lets talk price. Reporter it also made him a reality star. Going to be an interesting year. Reporter as the high kicking, highrolling power broker on bravos Million Dollar listing new york. Off camera his business has exploded. How much more successful are you . It basically tripled but never know if it comes from the show or not. Reporter they sold 1. 1 billion of real estate last year making him the number one broker in new york. This is a box of the glass hanging over the highway with all of this water. Reporter like this one in downtown manhattan. It may not look like much now but this will one day turn in to a trophy apartment. As the exclusive brokers they will make 110 million on just this building. It seems like a lot of money, and of course it is but once again 2 1 2 years of work and we didnt get paid until the whole building closes. Reporter and its made him a rich man. You have a place in here right . Yes, i bought this apartment a few floors below. Reporter what did your apartment cost . I never talk about my own prices. Its you know a few million. Reporter fredrik enjoys the fruits of his labor. His main mode of transportation a chauffeurdriven range rover. It is a luxury but also necessary because im with clients all day long and take them around. Reporter fredrik insists hes like the rest of us. I came here with nothing. I didnt know anything about new york. I had never done a real estate deal in my life. Reporter he was born in sweden and moved here knowing no one when he was just 25 years old. My first apartment was 550,000 and that was a big price point for me. Reporter before he made it big in real estate he starred in a gay porn movie, a fact hes always been open about. Its not something im proud of but i am not ashamed of. I was worried i would meet someone i would be in love with would say huhuh. Thank god i met derek who doesnt care. Reporter he doesnt care . He loves me so derek is derek kaplan, artist and now fredriks husband. They tied the knot in season two of the show they are now planning on starting a family. Id like us to take the next step. Were going to have a baby. I have always just known i would have a daughter area her name will be willa russia it without be reality tv without drama and fredrik creates plenty of that. Dont be a stupid child. Give me the check. Reporter if you could take anything back that you have done over the course of of all of the seasons. Theres only one thing. Its not nice. Its really weird that i did that. But it was the highest rated episode in the history of the franchise i believe. Reporter for fredrik the man and moment have met, and theres no better way to celebrate that than with his signature move. You are getting better. I can tell. I have been practicing. Reporter still working on that high kick. Thank you for tuning in to abc news. Tune in to hey, ray. Oh, boy. What . Well, your mother and i have reached a decision. Its the end of an era. Oh, well, at least it was amicable. No were selling the old car. Yeah. Its just the car. Wait a minute. Youre selling the valiant . Thats right. Were cleaning it out. This bathing suit was in the trunk. Its yours. Heh heh. Remember how cute you looked in that, ray . Yeah. Thanks. Ive been looking for this. Still good. Hello, old friend. Whats that . I think i can tell you this now, ma. This is whats known as fake i. D. Raymond, this isnt even you. See, ma, all week long i was 17yearold ray barone but saturday nights i was 43yearold achmed abdulakakahn. Ohh. Im very disappointed in you. I was a holy man. Whats going on . Oh, they want to sell the valiant. I lovehat car. You know what i love . The 800 offer i got for it. Hey, maybe well taket. Oh, ray, come on. What . Were thinking of getting a second car. Yeah. A new minivan, not a 2 valiant. Y didnt you tell me you were interested . You cabuy the car. Well, we couldnt asthem to pay 800, frank