Dave MacFarland

DRIVING A PATH OF PURPOSE

By Jane K. Asher, Ph.D.

Photos by Stylish Detroit

Photos taken at Cranbrook Custom Homes – Montcaret in Northville

Dave MacFarland possesses an enlightened sense of selfagency and is extremely cognizant of the consequences of his actions. “Everything that happens to us in life can be traced back to a single decision or to a series of decisions we make,” he said. “Having clarity on that is power — placing blame on others is for people who aren’t willing to hold themselves accountable.”

Throughout his life, Dave’s propensity for situating himself in the driver’s seat empowered him to shape his own road forward in his career. And although he did not pave that road overnight or encounter some detours along the way, he eventually found his professional stride and perfect career route in real estate.

After graduating from Livonia Stevenson High in 2002, Dave went away to college where he studied to become a physical education teacher. After spending three years in college, Dave wasn’t certain that he was on the right career path, so he decided to take a full-time position with his brother’s construction company. By 2007, 23-yearold Dave had saved up enough money to purchase a nice brick ranch in Redford but decided to hold off and continue to watch the market. Then, as the market was bottoming out in 2009, he seized the opportunity and purchased his first home: a foreclosure with 80 feet of canal frontage on Cass Lake in West Bloomfield.

By 2013, Dave, who was no longer happy working in construction, told his girlfriend-now-wife, Maureen, that he was contemplating selling his house and using the profit to start a new venture. “She reminded me how it always bothered me that I didn’t finish my last two semesters of college, and within three months of that conversation, the house was sold, and I was a full-time student again,” he said.

After graduating with honors with a bachelor’s in communications and a minor in health education from Eastern Michigan University, Dave began to hunt for the perfect career. “It was during this time that the agent I’d used in the past called me on what I know now to be a routine prospecting call — we chatted about what I was going through, and he suggested that I consider real estate,” Dave said. “We had the same conversation when I was 20 and again at 25, but I wasn’t ready. Then, at 30, I was ready to bet on myself — I was licensed within four weeks of the conversation and haven’t looked back.”

Today, Dave is a lead agent and president of MacFarland & Company Home Sales at Keller Williams Advantage and has achieved a career volume of $48 million — $12.4 million of which he generated in 2020. In addition to earning the title of Hour Detroit Real Estate All-Star, Dave was named Rookie of Year at KW Advantage in 2015, as well as KW International’s Silver status in 2016 and 2018, Bronze in 2017 and Triple Gold in 2019 and 2020.

“I am most passionate about understanding the shifting market landscape so that I am fully equipped to best help my clients make smart decisions about what’s likely to be their largest asset/ investment,” Dave said. “My greatest reward is keeping in touch with past clients and seeing them at our appreciation events — we are working to build a community rather than a database.”

MacFarland & Company Home Sales includes Operation Manager Beth Mancuso, who has been working with Dave for the past year. “We are a perfect team because she does what I’m not excited to do at an extraordinarily high level and vice versa,” he said. Dave also relies on the support of showing assistants and is looking forward to bringing new dynamic talent on board as his business continues to grow.

Dave says that his route in both business and in life is paved with accountability and goal setting. These values stem from his parents — they were both educators who taught Dave to value not just the act of knowing but also of understanding the world around him. “My parents also instilled in me a strong sense of accountability and guided me to realize that nothing happens by accident,” Dave said. “There is a lesson to be learned in every life experience — good, bad and indifferent — and the people who can identify these learning opportunities and grow from them are the happiest.”

Throughout his life, Dave relished countless long car rides to the family cabin with his dad, whom he describes as “a true Renaissance man.” “For three and a half hours each way, I’d fire off as many questions as I could think of and try and sponge as much from his answers as I could,” Dave said. “If my dad didn’t knowsomething, he’d learn it and was happy to share his experience and advice with anyone who needed it.” Dave is also grateful for his mother’s ongoing commitment to his personal growth and development. “I’m not a naturally organized person — it’s something I’ve always struggled with,” he said. “Ever since I was a child, my mom offered me what I now know to be ‘systems and leverage’ to help address my shortcomings, so I could focus more on my strengths.”

Dave was also greatly influenced by his hardworking and extremely driven brother John and by the years he spent working alongside him in the construction industry, as well as by Mrs. Judy Berjeski, his high school global education teacher who stressed “the why” over “the what” and encouraged Dave to “think global and act local.” More so, Dave is thankful for his wife, whom he calls his perfect match. “Maureen understands me better than anyone I’ve ever known, and I’m incredibly lucky to have met her,” Dave said. “We just welcomed our first child, Rose Marie, into the world in March of this year, and we are head over heels for her and having a blast watching her learn something new every day.”

Given all his wise and stimulating mentors, it’s not surprising that Dave’s fervor for teaching and learning extends into his career. “I have a passion for teaching, and real estate allows me to teach my clients about not only buying and selling their home but also basic home construction and maintenance,” he said. Additionally, Dave teaches multiple classes at his office’s market center every year and enjoys the many opportunities he has to help new and experienced agents grow their businesses.

Dave wants to be remembered as the individual who his parents raised him to be: a man who acts purposely and lives by design. This goal resonates in his spirit now more than ever after experiencing the death of both of his parents this past year. “Life and business are going to have ups and downs, some of which is outside of our control — what we can control is how we react, respond and learn,” he said. “My parents were both extremely proud of who I am and who I’m working to become; if I used losing them as an excuse to take my foot off the gas, well, that would piss them right off.”

And so, without hesitation, Dave continues to drive forward on the road that he has shaped throughout the years, holding himself accountable for his decisions in business and in life … and with each deliberate turn, Dave doesn’t just continue his journey; he reflects on the road that he has traveled, on the knowledge he has acquired and on the goals he has set — and actualized — along the way.

“We are working to build a community rather than a database.”

Dave MacFarland - Agent on the Rise