Born and raised (yes, sometimes in a barn) in Paducah, Kentucky.
Started at the University of Kentucky in 1973 and enjoyed it so much that I finished in 1980 when I made my parents very happy by graduating with a degree in business. I started as a pre-vet student and took a couple of detours that did not always make my parents so happy. I was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and a huge Wildcat fan.
During one "detour," I earned my real estate license (at age 20). I also earned a broker's license making me the youngest broker in the state (not sure if that record stands). I worked for my father's small real estate company for two years. At Dad's office, I learned that when your family's name is on the sign the business defines your reputation in the community. Your character and integrity is held to the highest of standards and every transaction involved a personal commitment.
When I hired agents in multiple states during my tenure in corporate relocation, I preferred family owned and operated firms for those reasons. Today, the McEnearney name on a sign signifies the same degree of trust and excellence for me.
When I returned to UK, I was a little older, wiser and much more motivated! I continued to work in real estate in Lexington, at the largest Century 21 franchise in Kentucky. Oddly enough, working made me a much better student and I graduate in 1980 (I had enough credits by then in the three colleges of pre-vet, forestry and business to have had several degrees!)
I moved to Washington, D.C. to work for Equitable Relocation in early 1981 - It was a huge move for me and I think I considered it a temporary move . . . sort of to get a taste for the big city while I was still a young man. I was hired to initiate a buy-out of transferred employee homes, and then re-sale them. This was an extremely hard task to do in a bad economy. Adverse selection took on a whole new meaning and there were great challenges to selling these vacant homes. My experience at Equitable had a profound effect on me. I learned how to work and sell homes changing from a seller's to a buyer's market. Oh, I also met my wife, Katie, who worked at the company.
Katie is a D.C. native and loves the area. I loved her and that made the move a permanent one for me. We were married in 1985 and have two children, Cheston and Carlie.
A couple of years later, I was hired by the Employee Relocation Council (ERC), a professional association that represents the corporations, government and military, who regularly transfer their key employees, both domestically and internationally. Members were typically the human resource managers who administered the relocation benefits to their company's employees. ERC also had vendor members the included 6,000 of the nation's top real estate companies. I was hired as the expert on real estate issues that affected the home sale process.
During my tenure I was responsible for the standardization of the appraisal, real estate broker and home inspection reports and still used today. I also contributed to the instructional guides and hosted regional training sessions on how to use the reports and interact with the transferred employees in their stressful time of transition. All relocations aren't voluntary, or enjoyed, by the entire family unit.
Now I am back where I started--in residential real estate--a job that I always loved and stayed involved in via my corporate careers. And the past thirty years have given me more than just gray hair. At 60 I have special expertise that I could never have acquired if I had stayed in residential real estate. My Dad taught me how to sell, but I owe my ability to see the bigger picture and understand multiple markets to my years at Equitable and ERC. I have worn many hats in our community since I moved to Alexandria in 1983. Some people know me as a soccer coach, where I coached both Cheston and Carlie for more than 15 years, or just a parent at George Mason and TC Williams High School functions.
