The Family Shawn & Dee Built
PHOTOS BY EMILY PLANK AND DAVEY DICKEY JR. | DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH S&D
The woman affectionately referred to as “Momma Dee” by dozens of agents can often be found pacing her driveway, conversing on the phone with one of her team members about the precise strategy needed to help a buyer or seller navigate the inevitable challenges of modern day real estate.
The man who this tireless leader calls the “ying to her yang” may at the same time be driving a truck filled with everyday essentials to drop off at a local nonprofit or a neighborhood reeling from the effects of a
natural disaster.
Shawn McDonough is the “S” and Dee McDonough is the “D” in S&D Real Estate Services, a Lakeland-based and locally focused business that has grown from a dream that began at the couple’s dining room table into a well-respected company of almost 100 realtors that functions more like a family.
Shawn and Dee are proud of their 4.9-star Google Review rating that encompasses more than 230 reviews, but if you spend any amount of time with them you will quickly realize they are most satisfied with how they have built their business, not just the tactile outcomes.
Dee, who has more than 35 years of experience in real estate—including co-founding Chandler & Co. in downtown Lakeland and growing it from four agents to 21 before selling the agency, and who was named the Lakeland Association of Realtors Realtor of the Year in 2003 and 2005—knew from her vast experience what she did and did not want S&D to be when the business opened in 2014.
“They were all about agent count…hire as many agents as you can, we don’t care what their ethics are, their morals are…if they’re breathing, hire them,” Dee recalls about one company she served as broker for years ago. “So [Shawn and I] just started talking about how if we ever opened our own company we wanted to work with our friends and people with the same moral and ethical compass as us, and who loved our community as much as we do.”
Sitting together in the S&D Real Estate office off of Edgewood Dr., where the couple knows it did well to snatch up the Lake Bentley property a decade ago, Shawn shares what makes Dee a successful leader.
“[Shawn and I] just started talking about how if we ever opened our own company we wanted to work with our friends and people with the same moral and ethical compass as us, and who loved our community as much as we do.”
“The way she expresses herself and cares so deeply for other people, just by building on that foundation you know you have the right ingredients…and even though she was happy with a company of around 25 agents, I don’t have a number on what she may bring our company to one day,” he says about his wife of almost 19 years.
Dee admits she has long been afraid that growth would mean she wouldn’t be able to build deep relationships with her agents, but because of her deep commitment to the close-knit culture of the business and the very selective process S&D has of bringing on new realtors she has managed to stay in her sweet spot.
“Not every agent who wants to join us is able to. If you’re just interested in making a commission check, S&D is not the place for you,” she says. “If you’re interested in helping families with their needs then S&D may be the right place for you.”
Anyone who stopped by their office recently would have walked by a large room at the front that resembled more of a food pantry than business space. The couple has always made giving back to the community a top priority, and the S&D team became helping hands for those near and far to assist families recovering from the effects of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
In early October, agents made an assembly line as they tossed goods all the way to a large trailer that Shawn drove up to tiny Kite, Georgia, a town the McDonough’s have a second home in.
When Milton passed through, the S&D family did exactly what it’s been doing for 10 years—“wrapping arms around more local needs of charities” to support neighbors, as Dee puts it.
To celebrate its 10th Anniversary Shawn and Dee created the “10 Acts of Kindness” campaign for S&D agents to bless local nonprofits like One More Child, Pace Center for Girls and Combee Connection, but that act of generosity will now be part of their 2025 calendar so they can remain focused on helping with hurricane relief.
That mentality of locking arms extends to how S&D onboards new agents into its culture. Nearly five years ago, Dee created the Mentor Program. For the first eight transactions of an agent’s career at the McDonough’s company a realtor works in tandem with an S&D veteran, as well as either Shawn or Dee, with a shared vested interest that enables solid sales opportunities as well as ensures the credibility of the
S&D brand.
“When you’re out wearing a S&D shirt, my goal is for people in the community to go, ‘That’s a good agent,’” Dee says. “They might not know who the person is, but they’re wearing a S&D shirt and trust them.”
A mention of the logo on the S&D apparel makes Dee smile. Her 32 year-old-daughter Rachel Keller, the founder of Keller Creative, created the brand almost eight years ago, and to this day is her mom’s first call for social media and marketing strategy. The couple’s 36-year-old son, Matt Chandler, is a licensed realtor for S&D, and their niece, Kristina, is their trusted office administrator. Whether at work or with their family—which includes their five grandchildren—the McDonough’s are intentional about cultivating healthy relationships for themselves and others.
Shawn and Dee McDonough founded S&D Real Estate Services in 2014 with the goal of making clients feel valued and respected and building a business that prioritizes giving back to the community.
Neither Shawn and Dee are strangers to the curveballs of life. Both were raised in military families and went through waves of highs and lows in their careers; Dee also raised three children, including as a single mom for a spell prior to marrying Shawn, and she has had to learn what it means to be a present leader at home and at work.
Dee prides herself on spending countless hours educating her team members on ever-changing real estate law and industry trends, and she looks at the constant change as opportunities for her agents to really shine for their buyers and sellers. While she is known more as the face of the business whose warmth fills up a room, she is quick to acknowledge S&D would not be what it has become without Shawn.
“He’s the anchor, and he’s always encouraging us that ‘we can do this’ even as we grow close to 100 (realtors) and when he shows up at a meeting he cuts up and laughs with people and is just a solid piece, while I’m a little bit
more mushy.”
“When you’re out wearing a S&D shirt, my goal is for people in the community to go, ‘That’s a good agent.’”