By Dave Danielson
Each transaction represents much more than a property being bought and/or sold. As you know, it represents a relationship… a bond of trust that has made a difference for all those involved.
One of those who knows all about those relationships is Jeannine Savory.
As a realtor and team leader with The Savory Group as part of Coldwell Banker West, Jeannine builds relationships through advocating for the people most important to her.
“For my family, clients, team, and community, I am an advocate. I can’t not do it, it’s how I’m wired, its who I am,” she said.
Designing her future
As Jeannine graduated from high school, she designed a course for her future.
“As I went to college, I pursued life as a designer in Los Angeles,” Jeannine recalls. “I studied Interior Design at Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (F.I.D.M) and worked as a project engineer for a construction company on the San Diego State University expansion pro-ject.”
She went on to practice interior design and worked with a design firm based out of Del Mar be-fore dedicating herself to real estate full time in 2001, beginning her career at the age of 21 with Coldwell Banker as an apprentice to a real estate agent ranked in the top 1% worldwide.
That led to her becoming a buyer’s agent for a few years, while she earned her B.A. in Business Administration. Her professional background culminated in a desire to expand her expertise be-yond residential real estate and into commercial and development markets as well.
Building for the future takes a team effort
Jeannine continued to build her business — along with a team.
Jeannine’s success is rooted in her determination to diversify her expertise and resources in or-der to fulfill the needs of her clients, whatever their real estate goals. Today she and her team, the Savory Group, work with everyone from the sellers of small condos to clients with multi-millions dollar residential and commercial properties.
“My team caters to whatever the client needs, versus specializing in any specific field or area of the business. We work with clients that can have very specialized needs and have the under-standing to meet their needs, including building a team of experts outside of our area of exper-tise to maximize our clients return on investment and other goals they may have. I think this makes us unique – most brokers will refer out rather than expand and adapt,” Jeannine said.
Though the team’s clients are diverse, approximately 50% of her business has evolved to servic-ing development projects throughout San Diego County.
“We’ll help developers find the dirt … we facilitate the underwriting on land, and we see what the residual is there to help developers acquire property. After that, they build, and we sell what they build,” she said. “It has really evolved to include an exciting and unconventional type of real estate.”
The results have been rewarding. In 2019, the Savory Group received lofty accolades, including qualifying for the Circle of Excellence, the 40 Under 40 award, the Recognition of Excellence Platinum Award, and the Commercial Transaction of the Year from the San Diego Association of REALTORS®.
Making an impact
The Commercial Transaction of the Year Award is an outstanding example of the drive and dedication that Jeannine and her team demonstrate.
“The project we earned that honor for was a complicated transaction that stretched over a few years. When I pitched for that project, I pitched against 14 other agents and was interviewed four times… it took five years,” Jeannine explains. “There was a restaurant involved that had closed years ago, and the owner wasn’t ready to sell. When the time was right, the family hired me to sell it.”
The far-reaching project has made a very visible impact on the community.
“It will change the fabric of the community going forward in the Hillcrest area. Before the pro-ject, the retail in the area was starting to suffer. It needed more density. My client and I assem-bled a group of experts and started the Hillcrest Gateway Council and took on a density preser-vation approach for two years to prevent the down zone of that area. We went to the city coun-cil, and they approved our plan to maintain density and potentially increase it by way of a spe-cific plan currently underway. It ended up being a very good project with so many variables that came up.”
Home Priorities
Away from work, Jeannine looks forward to time spent with her family, including her 16-year-old daughter, Jayden, and her 12-year-old son, Shane.
In their free time, they enjoy camping and traveling together, including taking train trips to Los Angeles, as well as an occasional trip to Hawaii. They also look forward to time spent with friends.
Jeannine also enjoys international travel and in recent years has enjoyed working on film pro-jects with a team.
“Filmmaking has been a great outlet for me. I needed a way to not take my work home with me. I had heard that trial attorneys take acting classes. Not because they want to act in the process of what they do, but because it helps them focus and get into character to deal with things objec-tively,” she says. “This is something creative that helps me focus and put on and take off what I do and not bring it home, so that I can be fully present for my children.”
For all of her achievements in business, Jeannine’s primary priority is her family.
“My life revolves around my kids and how they develop into adults,” she smiles. “I want to be remembered for how good of a mom I was above all else. In this industry, it’s easy to get caught up in the momentum of things, but 20 years have come and gone really fast, and the fires never go away. Keeping my kids the center of my world is what is most important to me.”
And that family spirit keeps going.
“I’m committed to supporting my kids as they become adults and go through different life expe-riences. And that commitment I feel goes on,” she emphasizes. “That translates to the way I am with my clients … I am their advocate, I’m always on their side, its who I am.”
