While many of us were waiting for an official turning of the calendar page to start celebrating the new beginnings offered by a new year, the Hewitt + Saucedo Realty Group of Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate was busy enjoying their big head start.
On Dec. 17, the No. 1 real estate group in North Oak Cliff and Kessler Park (formerly known as Hewitt Habgood Realty Group) made a Facebook post announcing a baton pass. Longtime industry advocate, agent and Founding Partner, Steve Habgood, was handing off to his highly capable and proven next-gen associate, Jason Saucedo. The transition has been a long time in the making, and will enable Habgood to focus more on clients and enjoying life.
“We couldn’t think of a better time to do it,” says Managing Partner Kathy Hewitt. “In the middle of the festive holiday season, having recently passed $1 billion in sales, with another record-breaking year behind us… it just felt right!”
The hard-charging team, whose tagline is “InTown | UpTown | DownTown | AroundTown,” had amassed $1,033,758,024 in career sales by year-end, representing 2,869 units sold. So yes, they can be forgiven for an early celebration.
Team Past
Kathy Hewitt received her license in 1987 and was quickly drawn to Oak Cliff. Her broker and mentor was Dean Faas, the go-to agent in Kessler Park at the time. After 10+ years as an independent agent, she had lunch with her good friend, Steve Habgood, whom she met volunteering at Black Tie Dinner, AIDS Life Walk, and other charities. Steve had been running his own marketing firm at the time and was considering getting into real estate. He made the switch, and in 1999 Hewitt Habgood Realty Group was formed. They quickly became the No. 1 team in Kessler Park.
Twenty years ago, Oak Cliff was not the hot spot it is now, but it was chock full of character homes, which became Hewitt Habgood’s bread-and-butter. At times they would go to extreme lengths to get buyers and their agents to “cross the river.” On more than one occasion, they chartered a bus and gave North Dallas agents a tour of Oak Cliff to help expand horizons. They have been a huge part of the evolution of its key neighborhoods, and through their marketing efforts, helped Kessler Park move from one of Dallas’s best kept secrets to one of the most popular neighborhoods in town.
Team Present
Fast forward to 2016, when Jason Saucedo joined the team.
After 10 years running his own business as a brand manager for several men’s luxury sportswear brands, Jason quickly established himself as a top producer. He maximized his deep ties to Dallas (Jesuit graduate!), and a passion to provide the very best service to his clients. Eventually he leveraged his business and marketing background to greatly enhance the team’s presence on digital and social media platforms. In 2019 – and for the first time in their 20-year history – Hewitt and Habgood brought Saucedo on as a partner to continue to evolve the brand.
Saucedo also began to take over marketing and leadership responsibilities for Habgood so he could travel more and not be so tied to the office as he was while building the business. By 2020, those responsibilities were entirely his. And after successfully leading the team through an unprecedented pandemic and enjoying two of their most profitable years to date, it was clearly time to pass the torch with an official name change.
Team Future
Hewitt + Saucedo Realty Group currently offices in the Quadrangle – a nice, central home base that allows them to service all of Dallas’ dynamic neighborhoods, including their key areas of Kessler Park, Stevens Park, North Oak Cliff, Oak Lawn, Uptown, Turtle Creek, Park Cities, Lakewood, the M Streets, Bluffview, Preston Hollow, and North Dallas.
“The vision moving forward is to build on the foundation Hewitt Habgood created, while evolving to serve a new generation,” says Saucedo, who is now a Managing Partner. “Just because we have enjoyed success, does not mean we cannot continue to get better. We have several savvy and experienced agents who joined us recently. Like us, they operate with the professionalism and excellence that comes from a tireless work ethic, and it’s something we all take pride in.”
“We each abide by the motto ‘People First,’” continues Saucedo, “Which is why we love being associated with Dave Perry-Miller and the Ebby Halliday Companies. We will go out of our way to make sure we provide the best experience possible. Our goal is to make a difference in the lives of the people we are fortunate enough to serve, and our commitment to excellence allows us to do this at a very high level. We find that if you take care of people, they will take care of you, and that has been the foundation of our success and will continue to be for years to come.”
