“What matters most is finding places where design, history and contemporary living intersect in meaningful ways,” says Billy Nash. Like this ultra-modern villa in Spain.
NASH LUX PRODUCTIONS
Be honest, you’ve done it. We all have. As a perfect vacation is coming to a close, you look back on how idyllic everything’s been. Weather, food, wine, waiters. You want to bottle the feeling you get from travel. You pass the local real estate agency, pause in front of the window and wonder, “What would it be like to stay? To actually live here among the history, the architecture, the neighbors? Be one of the neighbors…”
These are the thoughts that occupy Billy Nash much of the time. The host and creator of Passport Properties, the docuseries that took him and his crew across Europe, the U.K. and North Africa last year, is on a mission to document that feeling and translate it onto the screen.
“I wanted to create something cinematic that captured that emotion,” says Nash, “using exceptional residences as entry points into destinations and revealing the stories, traditions, perspectives and the communities that live there. It’s truly non-scripted and authentic. People and culture is what’s beyond the walls of a home.”
The traditional trulli homes of Puglia require traditional skills. “There are only a handful of masons in the world who can restore them.”
NASH LUX PRODUCTIONS
Exactly the kind of vibe that chimed with Blue Ant Media, the Toronto-based distributor that specializes in unscripted, factual and documentary programming in more than 200 territories worldwide. A fitting partner for Nash and his production company, who, as I reported last year, borrow a leaf from the Anthony Bourdain playbook, albeit a more polished version. Part travelogue, part lifestyle magazine, part industry intel. Yes, real estate is the focus, but it’s also a jumping-off point for wider stories about culture, cuisine, history, geography. The things that turn locations into neighborhoods.
“People and culture is what’s beyond the walls of a home.”
Over nine one-hour episodes, Passport Properties touches down at locations in Croatia, France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. Nash meets craftspeople, chefs and restaurateurs, winemakers, farmers, artists, historians, raconteurs—and a few real estate agents to help get through the doors of some truly remarkable properties. A château in Provence owned by former NBA star Tony Parker. A 14th-century fortress in Sardinia. A traditional trullo in Puglia. The family home of the Mona Lisa in Tuscany.
In Provence, some banter before the rosé tasting.
JOE D.MCLEAN
Any particular highlights? “I’m gonna say Croatia, it was very special,” Nash confesses with the guilty air of a parent asked to declare a favorite child. “It was so interesting to meet some of the locals—they’re so welcoming—and see how proud they are of their country and how it’s come back from the war in the ’90s. We visited an olive grove where young trees were growing out of these black stumps—olive trees that had been cut down during the war. I said to the guy who makes the olive oil, ‘The olive trees never forgot you, the roots in the ground never forgot. They waited for you and came back.’”
Nash appears genuinely moved as he relives the experience. And genuinely interested in all the other human stories he’s picked up during filming. In London, it was dropping in on the celebrated society photographer Richard Young to tease some anecdotes out of the veteran snapper. In Sardinia, it was heading to the mountain town of Pattada, where chefs from around the world “can wait up to a year or even two years to get a handmade knife from this family, who to me were like celebrities.”
In London, photographer Richard Young spins a yarn in his eponymous Kensington gallery.
Mars washington
There’s another strand to Nash’s storytelling mission beyond digging into local culture and meeting local characters. As Season 1 went into production, he was keen to distance Passport Properties from what he described as the manufactured drama of real estate ‘reality’ television. “It’s not real,” he avers. A former private banker turned luxury real estate agent in South Florida, Nash has transacted deals worth hundreds of millions and understands intimately what ultra-wealthy clients respond to. The soap-opera-style gloss of the Selling Sunset era is a look that’s no longer in tune with the times.
“The global real estate and luxury travel industries have evolved over the past five years from indulgence to authenticity. Today it’s about access and meaningful experiences.”
What’s emerged during filming is how a marked trend among wealthy travelers seeking authentic experiences is playing out among affluent, globally mobile individuals and families. “[These people] are enjoying lifestyles across continents rather than anchoring themselves to a single base,” he says, with flexibility, connectivity and access to culture becoming key considerations when renting or buying property. It’s a shift that Nash believes is influencing “everything from architectural design to how properties are acquired and experienced. Through Passport Properties, we are effectively documenting this evolution in real time.”
“Some of the most memorable properties I’ve encountered are deeply rooted in their surroundings,” says Passport Properties host Billy Nash. “They reflect a sense of place and personal narrative that goes far beyond aesthetics.”
NASH LUX PRODUCTIONS
Executive producer Kipp Lassetter (CEO of RBN Rewards, the real estate loyalty-program equivalent of airline miles) sees a parallel with the way real estate wraps into travel and lifestyle experiences. “The global real estate and luxury travel industries have evolved over the past five years from indulgence to authenticity. Today it’s about access and meaningful experiences. That philosophy sits at the heart of Passport Properties.”
Clearly the philosophy and its screen manifestation resonate. The series has been licensed to air this summer on Canal+ in Poland on prime time Saturday nights, Dreamia in Portugal and TV3 Latvia in the Baltics, with more than 50 networks and streamers across Europe, APAC and the U.S. actively reviewing.
And Season 2? “Asia. First stop, Japan,” says Nash. “When we first talked about the show a year and a half ago, I already had a vision about walking the Nakasendo Samurai Trail. That’s going to happen.”
Check the show website for updates on how to watch Passport Properties.
Billy Nash is a top-performing agent with The Keyes Company, a member of Forbes Global Properties, the invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
Author’s disclosure: One of the first rules of journalism is to never insert yourself into the story. But when I met Billy Nash in London last year to report on this project in pre-production, he asked about where I live. And was intrigued enough by my answers to get back in touch and arrange to come see the place for himself. I can confirm he is authentically unscripted.
