Meet your instructor & coach
Sarah Richards
Principal Broker · Spring Mountain Realty PLLC · 23 years in the field
Most instructors teach real estate. Sarah is still doing it — writing offers, supervising a brokerage, and sitting on the state committees that decide what professional conduct actually means. Her students learn the exam, then learn the job.
Why students stick with her
Four reasons- 01
She runs a brokerage — not just a classroom
Sarah is the Principal Broker at Spring Mountain Realty PLLC, where she leads a team of agents and supervises live residential and commercial transactions every week. When she explains agency, disclosure, or a contract clause, she's explaining something she signed off on this month — not a paragraph from a textbook.
- 02
She's closed the deals nobody else wanted
REO, short sales, cash-for-keys, HUD listings, and lender-owned inventory for Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance — the complicated, paperwork-heavy files where careers are made. That's where her war stories come from, and it's why her students walk in on day one knowing more than the average third-year agent.
- 03
She sits on the committees that write the rules
Professional Standards Chair, Grievance Committee for Tennessee, Government Affairs, RPAC, MLS, Commercial Committee, TAR CCIM Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion, THDA Advisory Board, and the Five Star Advisory Board for REO. She doesn't just teach license law and ethics — she's in the room where it's interpreted and enforced.
- 04
She teaches the exam and the career at the same time
Sarah is a TREEFI instructor and a top THDA agent in Tennessee. Her classes get you licensed, then keep going: pricing and CMAs, financing options, negotiating strategy, property management, marketing plans, and how to build a referral pipeline that keeps clients coming back for decades.
“I've never wanted a student to pass the test and then freeze at their first closing table. Anybody can memorize a definition. I'd rather teach you how to think on your feet — that's the part that pays you for the next twenty years.”
Sarah Richards
Credentials & service
- Principal Broker — Spring Mountain Realty PLLC
- Licensed in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania & New Jersey
- Instructor for TREEFI
- Top Agent in Tennessee for THDA
- REO / Short Sale / Cash-for-Keys Specialist
- Listing Broker for HUD
- Listing Broker for Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance Inc.
- Professional Standards Committee — Chair
- Grievance Committee for Tennessee
- Government Affairs · RPAC · MLS · Commercial Committee
- TAR CCIM Leadership Committee
- Diversity & Inclusion Committee
- Five Star Advisory Board for REO · THDA Advisory Board
- Member: East Tennessee Realtors, Lakeway Association of Realtors, NETAR (TN/VA), GSMAR
Designations
What she coaches
- Residential & commercial sales
- Property management, leasing & maintenance
- REO, short sales & foreclosure systems
- Comparative market analysis & pricing strategy
- Contract drafting, stipulations & negotiation
- Compliance, ethics & professional standards
- Marketing plans that actually generate showings
- Building a lender / attorney / appraiser network
Sarah leads a high-performing team of agents and has built her business on repeat clients and referrals — the clearest proof that what she teaches works after the license arrives.
From her students
“Had the best experience learning Real Estate with great people. Instructor (Sarah) is very knowledgeable, caring and advocates for your success! Highly recommend taking your classes here!”
“Sarah was fantastic. The class was small with a lot of participation. I think everyone was well prepared for the exams at the end of our class. Sarah also made the classes enjoyable!!”
“Sarah was awesome! I love her teaching style. She made sure we all were learning in our own way making sure no one got left behind.”
Learn it from someone still doing it.
Every pre-license, post-license, and CE course at East Tennessee School of Real Estate runs through Sarah's classroom.