Realtor Profile: Sherman McDaniel

Name: Sherman McDaniel

Company: Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

Address: 5028 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20016

Phone: 202/236-9188

Fax: 202/237-0771

E-mail: smcdaniel@cbmove.com

Web site: www.cbmove.com/sherman mcdaniel

Year started: 1997

How did you get started in real estate? When I retired as deputy director of the Department of City Planning and Codes Administration for the city of Norfolk, I brought to a close a very public career spanning 27-plus years in service to local and state government focused on helping communities ensure the continued availability of decent, safe and sanitary housing at all income levels. My work was done from a distance in a bureaucratic system. I had been encouraged by Realtors for years to join their ranks but felt I was cut out for public service, not sales. After my retirement I learned that most successful Realtors sell nothing. Real estate has given me the freedom to provide my clients with my own personal brand of what I call “Totally Outrageous Customer Service.”

How long with the current company? Since 1997.

Licenses and designations: Real estate sales in the District, Maryland and Virginia; graduate, Realtor Institute; nationally certified building inspector, plumbing inspector, mechanical inspector, electrical inspector, one- and two-family dwelling inspector, fire prevention inspector

Associations: National Association of Realtors; Northern Virginia Association of Realtors; Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors; International Code Council; instructor, Coldwell Banker’s Foundations for Success training program for newly licensed Realtors; board member, Coldwell Banker Cares Foundation.

Awards: Coldwell Banker top producer; Circle of Excellence, overall customer care, 2003; Coldwell Banker’s Silver Society, 2003. President’s Circle every year since 2005; top team for Chevy Chase office, 2007.

Greatest accomplishment in the past 12 months: Learning to manage my blood sugar without the aid of medication! I’ve not totally succeeded, but the progress made over this past year gives me encouragement that I can manage my diabetes through diet and what for me passes as exercise.

What is your area of specialty? Working with families who are experiencing the trauma of relocation

Highest-priced home sold: mid-$800,000s

Most memorable house: A fantastic old Victorian that had been virtually untouched. All the original gingerbread was still in place, inside and out, and the house was being sold by an estate. My client and I had been looking for her “dream” house for more than a year. She wanted a “sad, painted lady in need of TLC, but with a story.” We certainly found the house, but without “a story” as far as we could tell. It was offered through the estate and all seemed fairly straightforward. Every feature of the house appeared original except for the very back room on the second floor. For some reason, that room had plywood laid for the flooring; the walls had been sprayed with textured (popcorn) plaster and the light fixture wasn’t the original brass, but a cheap work-room fluorescent. The “story” came to light only after settlement as my client got to know her neighbors and one by one they began to share with her their version of what was behind the modernization of the back room. Seems a former tenant met an unpleasant demise in that room and the floor, walls and fixtures had to be covered to obliterate the damage. My client got her “story,” and it was far more exciting than even she had hoped for. She’s no shrinking violet and found the story exciting.

Worst experience: My own house, I’m afraid. I tell all my clients that in spite of all our knowledge, education and caution, buying a home is 100 percent an emotional experience. I know first-hand how true that is. I so totally fell in love with the kitchen and master bath that no one was going to talk me out of buying that house. Not only am I a licensed Realtor, I am a certified building inspector, who hired another certified building inspector to inspect the house before I bought it and still, within three days of moving into the house, we had burst pipes, water pouring through the ceilings, falling plaster and one horrid mess. In our defense, neither one of us ever could have seen the marble chips; plaster clumps and general debris that had fallen into the drain line during rehab. It wasn’t enough of a blockage to keep the toilets from flushing; but just enough to serve as a dam for about three days worth of use. When the dam broke, it wasn’t pretty. That’s when we discovered that the new plumbing hadn’t been vented properly, either, and that the floors had not been reinforced to carry the load of the marble floors and walls that made the master bath so drop-dead gorgeous. I use my experience to help my clients understand that there is only so much we can do to inspect ourselves into a degree of comfort; but nothing is 100 percent.

Family: Married, one daughter, three grandsons

Pets: Cat named Tux

Education: Public Administration degree program, Norfolk State University, 1991-1994; graduate, Management Excellence Program, University of Virginia Darden School of Management, 1993; certified professional code administrator, 1982; combination one- and two-family building inspector, 1981; certified instructor-code administration and enforcement, 1983.

Last book read: “Caravaggio: A Life,” by Helen Langdon

Community affiliations/community service/outside interests: Theater, the arts and participating in the numerous programs offered through our contributing member subscription to the Smithsonian Institution. My husband and I also enjoy spending as much free time as possible with our three grandsons and filling in the rest of our down time exploring foreign countries.

Last movie seen: “The Counterfeiters”

What kind of car do you drive? 2007 Ford Freestyle

What is your personal dream house? I certainly want everything on one floor; a huge kitchen; have to have a media room and no phones.