Cash-flush influencers with iffy credit turn to this twentysomething L.A. realtor to snag their dream cribs

IN THE HOUSE Sorrentino with clients and TikTok sensations the Moy Boys. (PHOTO COURTESY JONNY SORRENTINO)

(Tara Weingerten) The ginormous Bel-Air mansion that once might have housed a studio chief is these days just as likely to be the home of a teenage TikTok superstar.

Just ask realtor Jonny Sorrentino, himself only 22, who’s made a budding career of finding the right digs for young internet sensations with cash to burn. What do influencers, some of whom earn $100,000 a month shilling merch like gold-dust mascara, demand in a property? “A lot of them want a huge house so they can have all their friends under one roof,” explains Sorrentino. “Usually, it’s in Sherman Oaks or Tarzana,” where there are more new properties with multiple bedrooms in which to kick it.

Sorrentino has repped influencers like Cody Orlove (with 1.8 million Instagram followers) and says that, although eager to flex their success, many young influencers don’t have established credit or even credit cards, making a real estate purchase dicey. So they lease. “They only pay cash for things and don’t understand how to build credit,” Sorrentino says. “They’ll pay $8,000, $12,000, even $25,000 per month on a lease.”

For all their extravagance, you’d think influencers would be happy campers. Not so. “A lot of them are super stressed—they only make money when something goes viral,” Sorrentino says. “They’re always looking for the next thing because, without it, they’ll have to move.”

Source: by Tara Weingerten | Los Angeles Times

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