Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 367: From Cubicles To Closings: Building Community Through Elite Realty

• Skip Mauney 7 Savannah Price • Episode 367

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Ready for a real estate conversation that puts people before transactions and data in service of real decisions? We sit down with broker Savannah Price of Elite Realty, who turned a “you’ll never make it” moment into a career helping hundreds of families buy, sell, invest, and plant roots across East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. From first homes to new construction, multifamily, commercial, land, and renovations, Savannah brings a calm, practical approach that keeps clients focused on what matters most.

We dig into persistent market myths, including the idea that a housing crash would make buying easy again. Savannah breaks down why price dips rarely arrive without painful trade-offs like job losses and tight credit, and why growing regions like Knoxville continue to build equity. Instead of waiting for perfect conditions, she offers smarter paths: full pre-approval, realistic must-haves, strategic negotiations, and rate tools like buydowns and potential future refinances. For sellers, she shares sharp advice on pricing, presentation, and planning the next move before the first showing.

Savannah also gets candid about challenges—being young and female in a construction-heavy space—and how deep knowledge wins respect on job sites and at the closing table. Her “cruise ship director” mindset keeps the fun parts of home shopping afloat while the engine room—title, lending, inspections, and repairs—runs on schedule. Along the way, we trade local intel, from Smokies outings to Sevier County holiday magic, because community context shapes better choices than headlines ever will.

If you’re exploring a move, investment, or sale, you’ll leave with clear steps, grounded expectations, and a reminder that real estate is about life transitions, not just line items. Connect with Savannah at soldwithsav.com or call/text 865-640-6507. If this conversation helps you think differently about your next chapter, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to support more neighbor-to-neighbor stories.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Marty.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. So today I am very excited to have a very special guest in our studio for the first time, and we're thrilled to have them and excited to learn all about them and their enterprise. And I'm sure you will be as well because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Miss Savannah Price, who is with Elite Realty. Savannah, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello, hello. I'm happy to be here.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we're like I said, we're absolutely thrilled to uh to have you here and to learn all about you and uh your business. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about Elite Realty?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Um, so I am a residential and commercial broker with Elite Realty. Um, I've had my real estate license going on a decade, and I've been full-time in the business for eight years. So um absolutely love every aspect of it. We work um with residential properties, um, commercial, multifamily, new construction. Um, we work with renovations, investors, um, different projects, you know, small scale, large scale, um lot and land listings. Um, there's nothing too small or too large that we can't handle.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go. And wow, 10 years, you don't look old enough to have been in the business for 10 years.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I appreciate that. I was I was knocking down the door to get license 10 years ago. So there you go.

SPEAKER_02:

Got an early start. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

Very cool. Well, speaking of that, uh tell us about your journey. How did uh how did you end up at Elite Realty?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so um my so my mom's been a real estate agent for going on 40 years, but she's only 29. Um, you know, so it's it's just been it's been great to get to grow up alongside her and watch her and her business. Um, she had just said, hey, even if you don't do anything with it, get your real estate license. It's just it's great to have it. Um so I got my license at 18 and I started going to college and I also worked full-time for a couple of different organizations, um, nonprofit, and then I also worked in the corporate setting. And I just remembered thinking there's gotta be more. There's gotta be more options, more opportunities to get my boots on the ground, to help people, um, to really make a difference in the community, rather than just sitting in a cubicle. And so um a couple years of that, uh kind of wrestling with that, I had a boss that um was honestly just very discouraging. He was like, you know, it's just it's safe to to work a nine to five, it's safe to do this, it's safe to do this. And so I finally told him, I said, hey, I don't think this is gonna work out. I really, really think that I can be a full-time entrepreneur. Um, and you know, passion is a great motivator, but so is being told that you can't do something. And so as I left that that job at the end of my notice, he said, Well, you know, best of luck, but you'll never make this. You'll come crawling back. That was what he said to me. And I can proudly say, eight years later, um, I drive by his office a lot um throughout showings and closings and all over town. And I've never once come crawling back. And I've gotten to change the lives of hundreds of families in the community. I've gotten to help educate, I've gotten to help walk through some of the most exciting times of their lives and some of the hardest times of their lives. And, you know, I I hope that he's very happy in his business and passionate about what he does. Um, and I'm very passionate about being an entrepreneur and getting to help people in real estate. So so yeah, that kind of sums it up.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, that's awesome. You should uh you should you should stop by and see him sometime and give him a gift and say thank you for motivating me to be successful by telling me a kid.

SPEAKER_00:

I've I've thought about it. I've thought about it several times. But you know, I I think the end of the day, um, I actually ended up we had a billboard um on one of the major um the major roads, and and I made a joke one day, you know what, maybe he'll drive by it one day, maybe he'll look at it. And and honestly, even if he doesn't and he doesn't even remember who I am, that's perfectly fine. So I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be and doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and uh that's all that matters.

SPEAKER_02:

Amen. So uh tell us what I'm sure there are plenty of myths and misconceptions in the real estate business. What are some that come to your mind?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, let's see. Especially in the past year, um, the housing market's gonna crash. That's my my favorite one. Um, and it's just too hard to own a home right now. And I understand both of those. Um, you know, I understand what people are thinking, watching the market, watching the economy, the prices of housing, or you know, people are like, oh, I just hope the market crashes. Um, so I can buy a house for$60,000 like my parents did. And unfortunately, while that would be great in theory, um, the other economic factors that contribute to a housing recession would make it just as difficult to buy that house at$60,000 as it would be at potentially$250,000 to$300,000 right now. So, you know, it's great that our our area is growing. It's great that we're expanding homes, you know, are building in equity. The homes that people bought five years ago have doubled in value almost throughout the area, and that's wonderful. And it's just going to keep growing. And that's something to be excited about and not discouraged about whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. It helps that the feds just dropped the rates again. That's gonna help a little bit.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, they did, and so I think they're supposed to drop them three more times by May of next year. So hopefully it will be an exciting 2026.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely, I'm sure it's going to be. So realtors work a lot. I know your schedule isn't set by any means. Uh, I've had lots of friends who are realtors, so I totally get that. But hopefully there's some time off. Uh, and if there is, what do you like to do for kicks and giggles?

SPEAKER_00:

I I love just getting to explore the new places that open um in the area. I love getting to go to the smokies. I love getting to, you know, take my family to do things in the area, especially around the holidays. Um, there are so many different places that have opened up with like Christmas lights, or um, you know, I know Severe County does a ton. Um, and so just getting to kind of explore the area we call home, that's that's what I like to do for fun. Now, it might be at nine o'clock at night, but we still get to do it. So that's okay.

SPEAKER_02:

That's okay. That's all the time.

SPEAKER_00:

It is and cold, but it is beautiful, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And cold. That's right. That's right. Well, gotta take the good with the bad. So um let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've worked through and that you're you were better off having gone through it? Does anything come to mind?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Um, I would say honestly, um, being so young in this industry, starting out, um, and I still get it. I I do. Um, and it's it's always fun to have that conversation of, well, you don't look old enough to be able to sell my house. Okay, I understand that. I I appreciate that. But do you want someone that looks like too old to sell your house? Or or what are we? It's it's a fine balance. And so um I definitely get that. I I work a lot in new construction, and so that's always exciting to get, oh well, you know a lot for a girl. Um, and so that's that's been a fun conversation. My my dad's a retired builder, developer. Um, I work for a builder, I have um, you know, construction background personally, and then also my family has construction background. Um, and so I mean, I I stand out there and I know how to drive a bobcat just as much as the next guy. So it's it's definitely something that makes me laugh at this point in my life. And that's what I tell other people in my shoes. You just have to laugh.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and it's and it's funny that that um um it's definitely a compliment to you to to be accused of being too young to do something. That's hang on to that. There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

I I tell them when I start hearing like, ooh, how long have you been doing this? When it doesn't feel like a compliment anymore, I'm gonna I'm gonna try a new skincare routine. That's the goal.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go. So um if you could, Savannah, think of one thing uh that you would like our listeners and viewers to remember about you and about elite realty, what would that be?

SPEAKER_00:

This isn't just a transaction to me. Um, I take this so seriously what I do um when I list or sell a home because this is one of the biggest decisions that these listeners will ever make. Um, and it is one that I don't take lightly. I work for them, I help them navigate. I'm kind of the cruise ship director. Um, you know, I make sure that we've got the fun stuff and make sure we've got the innards of the ship working well. And that's my goal is just to bring it all together and help it go smoothly. So whether it's um buying a home, whether it's selling a home, whether it's navigating investment properties, new construction, um land, anything in between, um, this is not just a number to me. Um, I take all of this very seriously because this is my home just as much as it is theirs. So I I want to create lasting generational change in East Tennessee. And I want to be the reason that someone says, wow, I really love living here. And thank you for the work that you did and the information you gave me to help me fall in love with it even more.

SPEAKER_02:

That's an awesome thing to remember. Very good. And let's say some of our listeners, viewers are um intrigued and uh interested, looking to move to the Knoxville area or move across town, looking to buy or sell a property or invest in a property. How can they learn more?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Well, um, you're more than welcome to reach out to me on social media. Um, you're welcome to reach out to me on my website. You can even just Google Savannah Price Elite Realty. It pulls up Google reviews, pulls up all of my contact information. You can give me a call. Um, it's 865-640-6507. That's my cell phone number. I I have an office line, but you can call or text me. And I'm more than happy to meet, uh, more than happy to walk through your property and uh more than happy to help however I can.

SPEAKER_02:

Awesome. Very good. And what was that website again? Savannah Price.

SPEAKER_00:

So you can just Google Savannah Price Elite Realty, but my website is soldwithsav.com. So nobody's gonna ever be able to spell Savannah, so I just shortened it and it's Sav S-A-V.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Smart thinking. I understand, understand. Well, Savannah, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time and you uh telling us all about what you do, and we appreciate all that you're doing for the community. That's a very important thing, and uh so thank you for that. And we wish you, your family, your clients, and your company all the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. It was a great opportunity to get to talk to you. Thank you so much, and I look forward to hopefully getting to do more in the future.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. I was gonna say uh we'd love to have you back sometime.

SPEAKER_00:

Anytime.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, sounds great. You have a blessed rest of the day.

SPEAKER_00:

You as well, and a Merry Christmas.

SPEAKER_01:

Merry Christmas. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Tri-Dash Cities dot com. That's GNP Tri-Dash Cities dot com or call four two three seven one nine five eight seven three.