Some businesses are built through strategy. Saab Properties was built through family. For siblings Gina and Tony Saab, real estate was never part of some grand master plan. It came through life’s pivots, unexpected opportunities, and trusting what was right in front of them.

 

Born and raised in Denver, the brother and sister duo have built Saab Properties at Compass the same way they’ve built their lives—through family, community, and genuine connection.

 

“I love Denver,” Gina says simply. “My clients. And this city.”

 

That love has fueled Gina’s nearly two decades in real estate. Before becoming a REALTOR®, Gina attended the University of Colorado, where she earned degrees in Communications with a minor in English Literature. Later, she returned to school to earn her secondary teaching license and spent five years as a teacher (like most of her immediate family) before stepping away to raise her two sons, Emory and Jude.

 

During those years, she found herself drawn to houses in a different way. She had already fixed up and sold three of her own for profit, and what began as a hobby was slowly becoming something more. At the same time, she found herself at a crossroads.

 

“I was contemplating a career change and discussing it at length with my late father,” Gina recalls. “During one of our conversations, he asked, ‘What do you like to do for fun that is actually a job?’ and my response was, ‘Look at houses!’”

 

Once she thought about it, real estate was the answer that had always been there. “I had a passion for our city and helping people,” she explains. “My roots and so many of my connections are in Denver. It was a simple decision to make, and I’ve never looked back.”

 

Gina entered real estate in 2007 and spent the next decade building her business on her own before realizing growth sometimes means asking for help. She dug deep to figure out who could be the best person for her to work with, and the answer became just as clear as when she chose to enter real estate.

 

“It was my baby brother Tony!” she says.

 

For Tony, joining the business wasn’t an immediate yes.

 

Tony attended Colorado State University and earned a degree in Tourism Business. After college, he moved to Telluride, where he spent six years living the mountain life—working various jobs in the winter and serving as an outdoor educator and instructor in the summer.

 

Eventually, he moved back to Denver, met his wife, Leanne, and began a career in video production and cinematography. Then Gina approached him about joining her team.

 

“At first, I was very reluctant,” Tony shares. “I had a full-time job with great benefits and stable income, and the prospect of leaving that for a commission-only job was terrifying.”

 

He decided to enroll in real estate school to test the waters. While taking classes, he was unexpectedly laid off.

 

“This pushed me to take the plunge and I’ve never looked back,” Tony explains.

 

Tony officially joined the business in January 2016, and together, the siblings built Saab Properties into the top-performing team it is today—largely through referrals, relationships, and word of mouth.

 

Gina and Tony attribute part of their success to Compass, where they have been for the past several years. “Compass gives us the technology and modern marketing that helps us stand out in this competitive field,” Tony says. “The seamlessness allows us to focus on other parts of our business.”

 

Outside of work, both continue to center their lives around family. Gina’s two grown sons remain the joy of her life. Emory works in agent support for Compass, and Jude is an artist and glassblower. She and her husband, Nick, “the love of her life,” enjoy time between Denver and his native New York and love cooking and traveling together. They also enjoy spending time with Nick’s children, John and Hannah, ages 9 and 6, who live in New York but often visit Colorado. Gina has been traveling to see music, often the band, Phish, for 33 years, and that is how she first met Nick. She also loves staying active through tennis, weightlifting, Orangetheory Fitness, yoga, Pilates, hiking, camping, and snowboarding.

 

Tony and Leanne have two daughters, Ruby and Hazel, and love spending time skiing, mountain biking, rafting, traveling, and escaping to their family mountain home in Buena Vista. Tony is an avid mountain biker, snowboarder, fly fisherman, and guitarist. He’s also a self-described doom metal nerd whose musical tastes range from punk rock and surf rock to grunge and the Grateful Dead.

 

When asked what advice they would give to the next generation of top producers, both answers come down to authenticity, communication and connection.

 

“Be you,” Gina says. “Don’t conform to what you think you need to be as a REALTOR®. Be your true and genuine self and connect with people on a true and genuine level.”

 

At the end of the day, Gina wants to be remembered as “a loving mother, a supportive wife, a great friend, and a trusted advocate for her clients.”  Tony wants to be remembered as “a Denver native that fiercely negotiates for his clients, friends, and family.”

 

And together, as they continue building Saab Properties on trust, relationships, and family, they remain exactly what they’ve always been: Homegrown.

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THE TEAM

It all started in 2009 when Gina Saab and Maria Gallucci met at a previous brokerage. They quickly became trusted real estate allies and fast friends. They spent many years bouncing ideas off of one another and taking and giving advice from each other, often over a nice lunch and a glass of wine. Professionally, they have always been on the same page, even though they did not co-mingle as a team for many more years. In 2016, Tony joined Gina and also formed a close professional relationship with Maria. The three of them have worked side by side for a decade!

In 2017, Maria left to open her own brokerage, Uptown Realty. Tony and Gina joined her a year later. Then in 2019, they all made the leap to Compass, where they decided, after many years of collaboration, the natural next step would be to merge teams and make it official.  

Today, the three of them work closely, all bringing their own special talents to the team element. They are joined by teammates Theresa Caballero, Bryan Kolasa, Kim Addlesperger, and not pictured, Amy Olson, Jordan Bagus, Natasha Hess, and transaction coordinator Valerie Latham.  Each team member contributes to the group at large spending time brainstorming new and exciting ideas and supporting each other's businesses.