Kevin Sayre has come back to the Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s Lakewood office after a stint with David Bush Realtors. While he has enormous respect and admiration for Bush and his company, Sayre felt that the resources and brand awareness Briggs Freeman has, particularly now that they are teamed with Sotheby’s, was too much to pass up.
Sayre was one of the first Realtors at the Briggs Freeman Lakewood office back in 2014. He began his real estate career in 1996 with Whiteside Associates Realtors, an affiliation he chose because he liked the idea of working with a small boutique firm.
As fate would have it, Whiteside Associates was acquired by Coldwell Banker about a month later. For the next 18 years, Sayre would work with one of the biggest brokerages in the country. In the early days, he was an assistant with Laura Beazley, whom he credits for much of his success.
“I learned more working as her assistant for four or five years than I would have learned working 20 years on my own,” he says.
Sayre’s business soon began to grow, particularly in East Dallas. It’s an area that is near and dear to his heart. Sayre grew up in a small town outside of Rochester, New York. When his father got transferred to the Dallas area in 1981, his family moved to what was then the fringes of civilization near Campbell Road and Frankford Road. At the time there wasn’t much near his neighborhood other than a windmill at the end of the street.
One day when he was driving around on his own, he accidentally stumbled upon the Lakewood area. Immediately he fell in love with the big trees, mom-and-pop restaurants, and White Rock Lake. The neighborhood had a similar small-town vibe to what he remembered from his youth. He has called East Dallas home pretty much ever since.
“It’s more inclusive than exclusive,” Sayre says. “There are doctors, lawyers, hippies, artist, and restaurant folk. Everyone sort of lives together and I just love it.”
In 2014 when Briggs Freeman approached him about their new Lakewood office, he was impressed with the way they were going about establishing it. Instead of reassigning their agents from other parts of town, the firm specifically targeted people who knew East Dallas well and even lived there.
Sayre says that he’s the kind of person who thrives on being busy, which make real estate a perfect fit. He likes the freedom and independence that it affords him
“It’s a business that rewards longevity,” he says. “I sort of like being the master of my own destiny. My success or my failure is totally dependent upon what I do.”
Returning to Briggs Freeman has felt like coming home to him. He’s known office manager Angela Thornhill for ages and was excited to work with her again. So far, he’s been impressed with the team’s emphasis on collaboration over competition. Sayre says he’s been welcomed back with open arms and is looking forward to what the future holds.
“They say the grass is always greener, but come to find out, it isn’t all the time,” he said.
