Episode 45: Sheri Sachs – Selling Smart with The Home Selling Playbook

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Nate Carver
Hey, everybody, it's Nate Carver, your favorite mortgage guy, and we are meeting with,

00:00:04:13 - 00:00:16:06
Nate Carver
Sherry Sachs today again. Second time, we have conversations about FBA for sale by owner, and what she is doing in that space.

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Nate Carver
Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome to Between Two Doors.

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Nate Carver
Hey, Sherry. How are you doing?

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Sheri Sachs
I'm great. Nate, how are you today?

00:00:41:02 - 00:00:49:16
Nate Carver
I'm good. So let's, let's jump right into it. Tell me a little bit about your background, and, we'll go from there. Sure.

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Sheri Sachs
I've been in service of people for my whole life. Pretty much, started in ministry and met real estate in 2010 and built a pretty strong book of business. For the last 15 plus years. And, now I'm kind of. And I'm not completely shifting away from retail business, but, I just know that there's another avenue of helping people achieve what they need to achieve.

00:01:18:19 - 00:01:32:15
Nate Carver
That's right. And what is the what's the website that a homeowner that has to go FSB oh, to sell their home. What what's the website that you would send them to?

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Sheri Sachs
Yeah. So we have a course available and it is at the Home Selling Playbook, the home selling playbook.com.

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Nate Carver
All right. Excellent. And I'll link that to but the link of bio description down below. All right. So you, you found a niche, or a place where in the real estate world and serving people that you can really help, where they may not have any help at all. Yes. Tell me, tell me right off.

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Nate Carver
What do you think the biggest misconception is about going about an FBA for sellers?

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Sheri Sachs
Yeah. Misconception for sellers is that it's free to sell. It will never be free to sell, but it can be less. You can save some of your equity. I think that the misconception for buyers is that this is going to be cheap or that this this house is going to, that it has problems, or that the owner's going to carry the financing.

00:02:38:16 - 00:02:59:21
Sheri Sachs
Those are all misconceptions within the buyer seller range. And the misconception from the agents is that this person is anti agent. I think the the need and some might be I think you know there's always going to be that that side. I had a lady tell me one time I'm going to sell it for sale by owner.

00:02:59:21 - 00:03:21:21
Sheri Sachs
Because I'm an adult and I can. And I was like, well, okay, that's also you are an adult and you can. But I think, most are not an agent and they are, in a need position and they can't afford it. So there's quite a few things I think, that play into, why people don't just embrace it with open arms.

00:03:21:23 - 00:03:30:08
Nate Carver
What do you think is like, maybe the number one reason homeowners are drawn to doing and going the FSB route right now?

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Sheri Sachs
I think it's because so many people bought at the peak of the market. And with interest rates being up, there's not enough buyers to be the sustaining that price. And so but sellers are finding themselves, having bought high and now they have to sell lower and they're already upside down. And if you are in a position of having to move for any sort of reason, you're getting a divorce.

00:03:58:01 - 00:04:31:01
Sheri Sachs
Your job is transferring you. You know, you're downsizing because you just have to do whatever. If you bought at an earlier time and there's not enough buyers to sustain the price that you have to get, then cutting out the agent commission is probably what has to happen. And that's unfortunate. I think it's unfortunate for all parties. However, if you're going if you are finding your plate, your self in that place, then there's not a then a place to go and get help for it.

00:04:31:03 - 00:04:44:06
Sheri Sachs
There's not unless you want to take full on real estate courses. There's not a place where you can, just pull up some documents and and get assistance. Until now.

00:04:44:08 - 00:05:22:07
Nate Carver
So what would, Things a homeowner needs to think through being your realtor and you put together an avenue for FPO for a homeowner. Water the things that they have to consider because neither neither are free. Right. And so the cost, no matter what direction you go in selling a home title, for example. So, some of the pros and cons there.

00:05:22:09 - 00:05:24:21
Nate Carver
Can you talk a little bit about those?

00:05:24:23 - 00:05:55:15
Sheri Sachs
Sure, sure. So, the pros and cons are. Yes, you can do it yourself. Yes. You know, there there has not been support for that. There is now, as an agent, I don't I did not create this course with, a hook at the end that you really might need an agent. I really do go through everything that you can and should do.

00:05:55:17 - 00:06:18:17
Sheri Sachs
But I think one of the things that sellers have to focus on is that because you're not using an agent, you don't automatically have a perceived knowledge. Now, I'm not saying every agent out there is the best. I'm not saying they're the worst. I'm just there are agents out there that are just as new it as you, as the seller.

00:06:18:19 - 00:06:42:01
Sheri Sachs
They went to some school and they have yet to sell their first house also. And here you are finding yourself in that position. But but you don't as a seller, you don't automatically have perceived trust. And it's super important that if you're going to represent yourself, that you come at it as professional as you possibly can.

00:06:42:03 - 00:06:59:09
Sheri Sachs
So in my course, I do go over your staging, being ready for photos. Everything about it still has to be top notch, as if you are working with an agent. You're just going to lead that yourself.

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Nate Carver
Do you? Do you see buyers in their fields? Are they typically cash buyers? Crypto looking for financing? That's a good.

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Sheri Sachs
Question.

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Nate Carver
Yeah.

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Sheri Sachs
Yeah, that's a really good question. You know, what I find is that the buyer that will look at a for sale by owner automatically thinks there's some deal to be had, that this seller is desperate. And so that's something else that I addressed in the course. Is that because you don't want your buyer coming at you like, you know, they're they're going to pay cash and get this stellar deal on it.

00:07:43:11 - 00:08:21:02
Sheri Sachs
You want them coming to you with a loan you want them pre-qualified with May. You want them ready that as a seller, you have to take control of even the buyer early on to let. And your professionalism matters the way you present your home, you know, looking at best, then that first conversation with your your potential buyer has to sound and act just like your agent would if if I, if a buyer contacts me from a sign for a retail sale, my first question is, are you already working with an agent?

00:08:21:06 - 00:08:32:16
Sheri Sachs
And have you been pre-qualified? Right. But that's me as an agent representing my seller. You're the seller now. These are questions that you have to know to ask right away.

00:08:32:18 - 00:08:48:09
Nate Carver
Do you see the SBO homeowners? Switching gears in that timeline to a realtor or do you see them coming from a realtor?

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Sheri Sachs
We, it's both. However, most people that will list for sale by owner. I hear things like, well, I thought I'd try it first. I thought I'd see if it would work. That is not the way to start any business opportunity I just want. I throw some money at it and see if it would work out right. That's never the way to set yourself up for success.

00:09:15:09 - 00:09:47:10
Sheri Sachs
And this is no different. You literally are opening your own lemonade stand right here, and if you're not going to, then have lemonade. If you're not, then going to have cups. If you're not going to provide ice, this is not something you should just try. And unfortunately, that is kind of what happens. People stop at Home Depot and they stick up some trashy sign, and then they maybe throw it at Zillow on the for sale by owner side, and then they get a million calls from agents and no showings.

00:09:47:15 - 00:10:09:03
Sheri Sachs
And in their mind, they, what they say is, well, this isn't working. And now we have to go with an agent anyway, unfortunately, that's backward, right. Is that if you're going to set up your lemonade stand, you want the brightest, best sign. You want little signs leading up so that the car is coming down the street, know to get their change out and buy some lemonade.

00:10:09:05 - 00:10:24:23
Sheri Sachs
And and you want your best foot forward. And when and when they get there, you have a cup and you out some ice and you sell them something and you don't just set some lemons on the sidewalk and go, well, we'll see if someone stops and asks if we make lemonade. This is not the way you do that, right?

00:10:24:23 - 00:10:42:02
Sheri Sachs
And it's not the way you sell your own home. And there is the right way. And yes, after about 30 days, if they haven't sold, they find an agent. And you don't have to. They don't have to. But they started wrong. So now they do have to you.

00:10:42:04 - 00:11:09:09
Nate Carver
So if I were doing an FBO of my home, I tell you I'm very biased. Got a lot of great memories here. I know my memories don't translate into dollar value. Yeah. So one question, would be how does a homeowner handle coming up with the a price evaluation of their home to list?

00:11:09:11 - 00:11:38:03
Sheri Sachs
That's right. Yes. Your memories don't matter. And, and I tell clients that as a, as a listing agent is that we you are moving now. And so all of these things that have made this a home, we do need to eliminate that and only to walk into your home imagining their things, not your things. It doesn't change for for sale by owner.

00:11:38:07 - 00:11:58:05
Sheri Sachs
And just as I said, you even have to be better at it than Nate has to be because he's going to have an agent, and that agent is going to cover some change by saying, oh, forgive that. He's a, you know, a tournament fisherman, and he's got this wacky fish hanging on the wall. Just ignore that. Try to imagine your things.

00:11:58:11 - 00:12:25:02
Sheri Sachs
You don't get to do that. If your for sale by owner, it has to be packed away. And so yeah so that that process of finding now the price the numbers don't lie. You for sale by owner don't get to price in how how tall your children got in the pantry doorway. You don't get to price in your memories.

00:12:25:04 - 00:12:54:12
Sheri Sachs
The numbers don't lie. So yes, even in a state where we're nondisclosure and every, every sale is not, disclosed, you can get pretty close between what you see on Zillow and what you see on Redfin and what the tax, you know, as assessed properties that you can get close because you are saving the commission. There's absolutely no reason to be overpriced, absolutely no reason.

00:12:54:12 - 00:13:19:14
Sheri Sachs
And it should be easier for you to sell because you should be able to shave off at least 3% of your own agent if you're not. And then if you're going to offer a buyer agent commission of 2%, let's say you should be well under what other people are listed at, by about 2 or 3%, at least others.

00:13:19:16 - 00:13:30:21
Nate Carver
How about, negotiating? So as a homeowner, I don't have someone with negotiating skill sets. It's on me.

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Sheri Sachs
Right.

00:13:31:16 - 00:13:38:17
Nate Carver
And I could be across the table looking at an offer from a savvy realtor.

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Sheri Sachs
Yeah, right.

00:13:40:13 - 00:14:00:23
Nate Carver
Or civic and, you know. Yes. Or they didn't seem like maybe an investor is looking to score a heck of a deal. You know, and really low balling it. I mean, either could happen. So how what was how about yeah talk to me about the negotiations.

00:14:01:01 - 00:14:22:21
Sheri Sachs
Yeah. So the first thing you know just as we talked about pricing, is that you should have a pretty solid grasp of not just what you owe and what you want. Right? Because that is two don't really matter how much you owe on your home and then what you want for it. Those don't matter. The numbers tell the story.

00:14:23:00 - 00:14:53:13
Sheri Sachs
So you have to be pretty confident that, you know, if you were going to take a convenient option from an investor, open door, any, any eye buyer type thing that if you wanted the convenience option that they are no listings, no showings, and no repairs, fine. You also price that and right. So now you know, okay, even if an eye buyer comes to me, even as an investor comes to me, the minimum is this.

00:14:53:13 - 00:15:15:06
Sheri Sachs
That's still a good deal. Okay. Yeah. In what is a good retail price now when you're sitting across from someone and my dad always said a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, it is better to make a deal with the bird you have in your hand. Then throw it out and go, well, two will come back.

00:15:15:08 - 00:15:38:23
Sheri Sachs
Two don't come back always. And now you're lowering the price and lowering the price, and now listing with an agent or whatever. So when, when you have a customer, a buyer before you neither. It has to be a deal that you can both live with and you are the one trying to sell. So be the one that is giving.

00:15:39:00 - 00:15:53:22
Sheri Sachs
Really. And so and I say that as a retail agent, that you're the one that wants to sell. This is your opportunity to be moving on. We're going to be as reasonable, as reasonable as possible, but you have to be the one that's getting all right.

00:15:53:22 - 00:16:03:15
Nate Carver
On the buyer side. From the buyer's perspective, what, what's different about purchasing from an FSP? Oh, seller.

00:16:03:17 - 00:16:25:20
Sheri Sachs
Yeah, I think that some buyers, maybe a majority of buyers, worry that the reason they're selling for sale by owner is that they haven't taken care of some things, is that they don't want to work with a professional because they're hiding something, or they're in such a tight spot and they have to take a quick deal, they'll take a piece of chicken for it.

00:16:25:22 - 00:16:52:16
Sheri Sachs
So I think buyers have a wrong thinking in that this isn't just a professional transaction. They think there's some underlying procuring event going on, and that's not always the case. It certainly is at some times. But sometimes you just have people that say, you know, I went to the car dealership and bought my own car. When I wanted to sell it, I sold my own car, I bought my house.

00:16:52:16 - 00:17:17:14
Sheri Sachs
I can sell my house, you know, don't they don't see this commodity any different than any other commodity, and buyers shouldn't probably see it that way either. You are, as a buyer, still going to negotiate. You're going to use a title company, you're going to get an inspection, your lender is going to order an appraisal. You're going to have all the same things happen in the transaction.

00:17:17:16 - 00:17:24:22
Sheri Sachs
There just might not be agents on each side. And that's okay if you can both be reasonable together.

00:17:24:24 - 00:17:37:17
Nate Carver
Right? Okay. How about is there an are there opportunities for realtors, to partner with an FBO seller?

00:17:37:19 - 00:18:22:02
Sheri Sachs
I think there absolutely is. And right now with the Nar decision last year, this whole commission thing is so upside down and everybody's confused and and so on one hand, sellers are like, you know, all I just sell it myself and save all the commission. Or I can just cut out the buyer's agent and make them pay. There's so many things going on that with people looking around going, well, I think maybe selling myself would be reasonable, then that's your opportunity as an agent to to negotiate your position, to say, you know, I could put you could be a flat fee, I can put you on the MLS for this much.

00:18:22:04 - 00:18:44:01
Sheri Sachs
And if we don't, if you don't get it sold, then your commitment to me is that I would list it and we would make these adjustments. But what I find is that instead of agents coming to a for sale by owner and saying what you're doing is brave, you're awesome, you're obviously a smart business person, you know, whatever, whatever.

00:18:44:03 - 00:19:04:23
Sheri Sachs
And then do the compliment sandwich. Here's your risks. Here's, you know, here's a reward that you're going to miss out on whatever. They belittle the process. They come to the for sale by owner and say, well, you're never going to sell it. You're leaving money on the table. Well, are they really? Even if they priced it lower, all they did was cut you out.

00:19:05:00 - 00:19:25:21
Sheri Sachs
So agents take that personal and they they kind of attack the for sale by owner seller. Instead of saying you might want an option in the future and I'd like to be the one to give it to you and to start that conversation. I could do this for you right now. I could run a CMA for free. I can put you on the MLS for a flat fee.

00:19:25:23 - 00:19:38:07
Sheri Sachs
I can I can introduce you to my title, people. You could be of service and earn that business instead of being venomous and push it away. That's up to you.

00:19:38:09 - 00:19:54:03
Nate Carver
All right, so tell me this will switch gears here to some tools and solutions, because this is where you are, are excelling in. Tell me a little bit about the home story, selling playbook.

00:19:54:05 - 00:20:20:18
Sheri Sachs
Yeah. So the home selling playbook is, six part course. It's six videos and chat, downloadable checklist. And, each video walks through a different aspect of the process. So you start with, just getting your home ready, being ready for photos. Who takes those photos? You know, putting the sign in the yard, getting the yard ready.

00:20:20:18 - 00:20:40:22
Sheri Sachs
I mean, it's six videos all the way across the line. From being ready to the closing table and the last, you know, the last video is it's time for your buyer's final walkthrough and all the way down to where to leave the keys for them. And, you know, any, any books that belong to the home warranties and stuff like that.

00:20:40:24 - 00:21:04:05
Sheri Sachs
So I really go through the entire process from start to finish. And then I have a private group on Facebook so that people can, in fact engage there if they're having trouble, if they have a question, if they run across something, they can come in, put it in the private group and ask their question, and I will personally answer those questions.

00:21:04:07 - 00:21:11:16
Sheri Sachs
So it's not really a coaching program, although I do have a consultant aspect of it.

00:21:11:18 - 00:21:30:12
Nate Carver
I like it. Tell me if a homeowner is considering going FPO. Yes. What would be the number one piece of advice that you would be that you would give them to start?

00:21:30:14 - 00:22:19:05
Sheri Sachs
Do it better. Do you have to create a perceived value that you don't automatically have by using an agent. So you want to look around the realtor landscape and see how have agent listed and then be better than that. And it doesn't it doesn't take you any more time. It doesn't. It's not harder. But it's necessary because you are really, you're fighting an uphill battle of, you know, almost 100 years of real estate agents, and so don't, don't come at it as unless you want the lowball offer, unless you want, you know, that that, attention.

00:22:19:11 - 00:22:27:14
Sheri Sachs
But if you're really wanting your price in, you know, for what you have, then come at it better than anyone else.

00:22:27:16 - 00:22:41:11
Nate Carver
Excellent advice. And you've got tools to help homeowners do this. Yes, sir. Tell them, like, tell us again. You got to the give us the website and then let's talk about Facebook, how they can find you on Facebook to share.

00:22:41:12 - 00:23:08:13
Sheri Sachs
The home selling playbook. Com is, my store. It's, you buy the you buy the, the, kit, and then you have access to all those videos. As long as you need them, and you can go back and forth and listen to things again and and this and that. And then on Facebook, it's Sherry Sachs. And then the home selling playbook is also on Facebook and Instagram.

00:23:08:15 - 00:23:32:04
Nate Carver
That's okay. We'll get the links. And those tell me, are you are you limited to a realtor? Typically they get they're licensed, they're limited in, in a state. And they have their license and maybe practically limited to maybe a 60 mile radius with what you're doing. And if it's not for sale by owner space, are you national?

00:23:32:06 - 00:23:33:00
Nate Carver
Is it state?

00:23:33:02 - 00:23:58:23
Sheri Sachs
Yeah. Yeah. Anybody can buy our course and get in there and learn about selling your own home. Because I'm not representing you. You are not represented by by me or my my broker brand, which we don't talk about in this at this point. But yeah, this is not representation. If you decide you need representation, you would find an agent in your area.

00:23:59:00 - 00:24:20:18
Sheri Sachs
Zillow has a pretty good program for that. If you needed an agent. They have premiere agents that they have vetted. And they also give some courses to selling agents. So if you're looking for an agent in your area, you can pivot that direction to find someone you know, or maybe you know, someone from your church or whatever, but you're not being represented by me.

00:24:20:21 - 00:24:23:02
Sheri Sachs
You're just learning how to do it yourself.

00:24:23:04 - 00:24:29:11
Nate Carver
Gotcha. All right, so there we have it, folks. FSB oh, you got to do it.

00:24:29:13 - 00:24:32:10
Sheri Sachs
You can do it. You does still.

00:24:32:12 - 00:24:48:24
Nate Carver
North. South. Check out Sheri's website and, and have a get yourself a clear plan put together if you're going to do the FBO route. And, Sherry, thank you. Thank you for being a guest again.

00:24:48:24 - 00:24:50:16
Sheri Sachs
You. Yeah.

00:24:50:18 - 00:25:00:05
Nate Carver
Talking about the FBO, I'm going to put all your links down below. And, I hope a lot of people reach out to you that that need to do the FBO route to sell their home.

00:25:00:07 - 00:25:03:06
Sheri Sachs
Thank you so much.

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