Low confidence, unorthodox techniques and Greece in Ryan Sherhad's life that evolved into one of the top US brokers.
He has delivered fried sweet potatoes to a customer in the middle of the night, has organized a baby party, traveled to Shanghai to convince someone to sign a contract, has set up a building selling a 30-meter banner with bare model bodies to draw public attention and has sent 2,000 orchids to aspiring customers... Ryan Sherhad knows very well what real estate means. Proof of the creation of his real estate company with more than 1,100 brokers in 14 U.S. states, real estate sales worth more than $15 billion, about 10 million followers on popular digital platforms, the successful series on Netflix «Owning Manhattan» And his personal property valued at $40 million.
Ryan Serhant founded his own company in 2020 and currently has more than 1,100 brokers in 14 U.S. states with property sales exceeding $15 billion. Photo: Alex Abaunza/da. wikipedia.org
Grown up in Houston, Texas, he moved to New York City to study theatre, with the aim of strengthening his confidence. He had difficulty finding a job as an actor and thus became a hand model, until he participated in CBS soap opera «As the World Turns». To be maintained between auditions, he worked as a broker. The positive results from his transactions strengthened his self-esteem and prompted him to take another step: He bought a fake Rolex and pretended to be a successful broker. The week that Lehman Brothers collapsed marking the start of the economic crisis, Sherhad issued a brokering license and was soon later hired by Nest Seekers International. His participation in reality on real estate sales «Million Dollar Listing New York» was decisive, making him widely known. A few years later from his television presence he announced the establishment of his company, Serhant.
Accessible and authentic
He argues that the years he tried as an actor trained him to feel comfortable with himself and talk to strangers. As he explains, the best actors do not pretend to be other people, but they learn to be the fullest version of themselves. Authenticity is the secret to good sales according to him. Indeed, his experience in front of the lens is revealed in each of the videos posted on social media. His communication with his associates, who often record him falling «victim» in their harmless pranks, the immediacy and friendly disposition that he project enhances his image even more, forming the idea of an affordable man far away from the possible distant attitude of a multimillionaire.
The successful series «Owning Manhattan» Netflix follows the top broker and his team as they manage some of the most expensive real estate ads in New York City. Photo: Netflix
The two method «M»
In a recent post on Tik Tok, Sherhad revealed the very simple approach with which he manages to «win» and the most difficult customers: «In every space I enter, I use the two Ks.», reported and explained that it is about «compliments» And something. «Public» Which connects him to the client. This tactic helped him complete the sale of a $3.5 million loft. There were enough lines at the gym. «Do you need help?» and «Nice Nike!» to approach a rich client and start a constructive dialogue.
Sherhad, however, is not limited to these steps. Once he has the contact details of an interested person, he sends within about 10 minutes a brief message saying he was happy to meet you. The goal is to meet 5-15 people a day, resulting in his contact list turning into an asset, since networking is not only based on the transaction, but on the creation of relationships: «Your number one job as a salesman is to create relationships. It's not selling products.».
According to the millions in his bank account, the formula is successful. His best sales include properties in Palm Beach totaling $308 million by phone! His unorthodox techniques rise level, as it is not a few times that when a customer expresses interest in a property, his answer is «No, you can't have it.», since as he points out «Everyone wants what they can't get.»After all, as quoted in his book «Sell it like Serhant» (Key Number Edition): «If you want a customer to buy what you're selling, confidence must be dripping from every resource.».
The television star, best-seller writer and businessman in his first book presentation «Sell It Like Serhant», 2018. Photo: AFPForum
Tips for more sales
In statements to the Sunday Times he revealed a few more tips. If a residence has an impressive terrace, the video tour of the site must begin and end there. The sunrise or sunset may be the key to attracting more stakeholders and possibly «win» The buyer. If it is a renovation, it can be a video with the contribution of an architect explaining the stages of the renovation.
The most important, however, is that the seller sees the property as a brand. It needs correct storytelling and the challenge of competition. Let the buyer feel he must fight to get it. At the same time, a slightly lower initial price can create huge demand and attract more stakeholders, eventually leading to a higher selling price. Before every visit, the house must be neutral. No personal effects and after having been deep, professionally clean. Presuppose that everything works perfectly: a prospective buyer can open a tap or a device.
Serhant and his Greek-born wife, Emilia, married in a chapel in Ponticonisi, Corfu, in 2016. Photo: Getty Images/Ideal Image
Childhood and confidence
He has revealed that his childhood was not an easy case. He was overweight, with acne problems and embarrassment in associations, having difficulty joining groups and making friends. His parents encouraged him to try every kind of sport, but he did not excel in anyone. Instead of talent, however, he cultivated something more useful: an almost stubborn familiarity with failure. Like this, as he describes, «became addicted» the test of its boundaries. Where confidence was lacking, a conscious strategy of its transcendence was born. Without the luxury of alternatives, he began to build daily a new version of himself more bold, more outward, more convincing.
His professional course was only the extension of this exercise of character. Meeting new customers daily, he was forced to «recommended» from the beginning, every time better. He repeated to himself that he was the world's leading broker not because he was, but because he had to be. And finally, his persistence not only convinced him, but also hundreds of people around him.
Greece in its life
Like a romantic comedy with the tested recipe that balances between feeling and humor, where the first contact between the protagonists is funny or epic, this is how Sherhad met his later wife, Greek-born lawyer Emilia Behrakis. Both invited to a Greek-Jewish charity event in New York City, the original impressions were misleading. The careful appearance and beauty of Sherhad put Behrakis in suspicion: is he gay or married?
Eventually, after nearly two hours of discussion, any doubts were dissolved and love began to be born. Sherhad has described Behrakis as the only person he has ever known and thought of every second. Sherhad was baptized a Christian Orthodox and the couple married in July 2016 in Corfu. Three years later he acquired little Zenia, whose baptism was held in a small church on a beach in Antiparos.
Emilia and Ryan Serhant at season 2 premiere of the series «Owning Manhattan» December 5, 2025, New York. Photo: AFPForum
Behrakis was born in New York City and grew up between America and Athens. She deeply loves Greece, where she often returns, and speaks Greek with her daughter. Lawyer and real estate professional, has published a children's book, has participated in television shows «Owning Manhattan» and «Million Dollar Listing New York» And since 2025 she has joined her husband's company. At the same time, she works with the UNHCR, supporting the Building Better Futures programme.
The smell of success
More than 1,000 people per hour were on a waiting list for a perfume presented by Sherhad. The realtor with an excellent sense of spectacle, published Proaprillia a high aesthetic video: atmospheric lighting, carefully directed and himself in the center, in a scene that revealed his well-trained body and reminded authentic luxury perfume campaign. In the mood of conscious exaggeration, Sherhad launched a product that did not exist. Until... there was. What started as a well-established joke, for a fragrance with notes of Japanese cypress, mineral subtons and a characteristic skin base was turned into reality.
The millionaire seized the opportunity and put up for sale for $60, Scent by SERHANT, whose «signature» It's his... sweat. On the website created only for this, the fragrance designed to broadcast on the site of «smell of success», exhausted immediately confirming Sherhad's talent, like a modern Medes—to transform everything he catches into commercial success in his hands.
Introductory photo: AFPForum
