Born and raised in Carlsbad, California, real estate was just beyond the horizon when Daniel launched a mobile auto detailing business after attending the College of Business Administration at Cal State University, San Marcos. While owning and managing his successful company, Daniel was introduced to some of San Diego’s most prestigious communities and developed a passion for the industry. After 15 years, he sold his business and undertook a series of ventures—such as working as a construction manager and electrical engineer—that taught him the crucial aspects of real estate.
Well-prepared to succeed long before he ever earned his license, Daniel has a track record of exceeding his clients’ expectations. With his impressive background as well as his life-long interest in architecture, he can provide rigorous property assessments for buyers and sellers alike, guiding them substantially in areas of home improvement and associated costs. Those technical skills, combined with excellent negotiation tactics and the honesty and respect he shows his clients, make Daniel uniquely qualified to help buyers and sellers navigate the competitive Bay Area market.
Daniel loves spending his downtime with his wife, son, and daughter. He also enjoys engaging in outdoor sports, including mountain biking, hiking, fishing, surfing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and skateboarding.
★★★★★
"I can't say enough about how amazing Daniel has been.
I can't say enough about how amazing Daniel has been. There's no doubt that buying a house is one of the most stressful experiences a person can ever go through. But having Daniel as our Realtor has taken away the stress and anxiety, allowing us to fully experience the joy and happiness of such a milestone.
I first reached out to him through a generic link on a home search website late at night, fully expecting I might hear from him in a few days. Daniel responded within minutes and we set up a time to meet just a couple of days later. His quick and attentive replies have not wavered throughout the process... and I can relax knowing that he is always available if I need him.
Daniel listened to what we wanted when we started our search and he never deviated or tried to push us into something we didn't like. And more important, he never tried to push us into something we could not afford.
He was patient and we visited house after house after house, each time taking the opportunity to educate us about the houses on the market, the fixes a home might need, and the home buying process in general.
When we found the home of our dreams, he immediately took action and presented a strong offer which I'm so happy to say was accepted!!! :-)
Now I saw that Daniel's work was just starting. He has helped us with all of the paperwork, spoken to our lender, advised us of city requirements and restrictions, and provided us with tips and suggestions for how we can make improvements we want in the house.
Overall.... Daniel possesses a wealth of knowledge about construction and the home buying process and has been a tremendously strong advocate for us as we purchase our first home.
I can't say enough good things about Daniel. You can't go wrong if he's on your side!" - Road H.
★★★★★
"Daniel Smith successfully helped us to purchase a house and property in a smooth, professional manner. Daniel was our buyer's agent on a recent purchase in December 2018 on the San Mateo County Coastside. Daniel identified a property that matched our wish list, researched it, and brought it to our attention. Just when we thought we had seen all available properties. He surprised us with this great find of a house! He stood out from other Realtors because he found a property that had been overlooked on the market for some time. He took the detailed steps of researching the property with the city and county and found out the house was sitting on a double lot. All this, directly in the middle of the Christmas or New Years' holiday season. Daniel is super-responsive, patient, polite, and persistent. Come to find out, he was dealing with a seller's agent that was unconventional, and hard to contact and communicate with. He kept us informed throughout the process and on Christmas Eve our offer was accepted! His strategies worked, he had the upper hand and knew the area. He helped us decide on an aggressive offer-price, based on the property condition, additional lot, and recent sales in the area. Ultimately, he was able to negotiate the house for us $100,000 under the asking price, and with clean terms of sale. We are pleased to have worked with Daniel! Daniel has our highest recommendation and referral as a Realtor, based on our successful experience" - Love C.
★★★★★
"Daniel is a very knowledgable real estate professional and an amazing person to work with. As first-time home buyers, my wife and I were feeling somewhat overwhelmed and lost in our home search in the San Mateo County area when we met him in Jan 2019. But all that changed as soon as Daniel came on board. From our very first meeting, Daniel gave us the confidence we needed to be more focused in our search by helping us identify the areas that would best meet our requirements. His intimate knowledge of the San Mateo County market and business has made it a lot easier to scour listings in the area. When we finally did find a place we liked, Daniel was instrumental in helping us put together a solid offer and acted swiftly to present it to the seller's agents. In the end, even though our offer wasn't the highest among all, Daniel's ability to build strong relationships and his personal integrity allowed him to clinch the deal for us. Daniel was super responsive at all stages of the process and never late in sending us any updates throughout the transaction. His calm demeanor and confidence made the whole home-buying process much smoother than we had expected. We would certainly recommend him to anyone looking to buy property in the area!" - Viks K.
★★★★★
"I met Daniel six months ago in a context unrelated to home buying. Over time, we stayed in touch. When a few major life events descended on me, I started to ask Daniel more about the current housing market. Though it may have benefitted Daniel to steer more towards homeownership, he listened thoughtfully to my personal and financial situation and encouraged me to hold off on pursuing a new home for at least a few months. He discouraged me from dumping the majority of my life savings into a home and suggested I build a more comfortable cushion before buying. In the meantime, at no financial gain to himself, Daniel reached out to several rental agents on my behalf and helped me get my rental application to the top of the stack. It is this kind of selfless service that has won my loyalty and makes me excited about the idea of working with Daniel when I am ready to purchase my first home. Thanks, Daniel you're a good man!" - Matthew F.
★★★★★
"Daniel was referred to us through our neighbor who was selling their family's longtime home. We were wanting to sell our home and to purchase something bigger as our family is growing! We feel so fortunate to have found Daniel. He helped us through the process of coming up with the right listing price for our home. He answered every question we had promptly and professionally. We were able to sell our home in 3 days for over the asking price! It's was a dream process. After that came the next step of finding a new home for our family. Daniel was so patient in helping us find what would fit our family. He took the time to show us many houses and helped us through the financial process. It is so refreshing to find an honest, good person who wants to help. I would recommend him to anyone looking to buy or sell any type of real estate. Our process couldn't have been smoother." - Leila S.
★★★★★
"We worked with Daniel for about a year to look for our first home. As first-time homebuyers, we changed our mind a number of times about what we wanted and which areas from San Mateo County down to Santa Clara County. Nevertheless, Daniel was patient and understanding with us and helped us think through the pros and cons of 1 bedroom condo vs 2 bedrooms vs a townhouse. I trusted his opinion and expertise when it came to looking at a property and evaluating its fit for our goals and lifestyle. He was responsive and flexible trying to accommodate us when possible. He would check in with us without being pushy. He was consistently dependable and I appreciated his diligence and work ethic when it came to writing offers sometimes on a very tight deadline. While we had a longer home-buying journey than expected sprinkled with major life events in between, Daniel never let us down and stayed positive and motivated. I also appreciated that I felt like Daniel was on our side. I can't speak to other agents, however, Daniel made the effort to understand the seller's situations and the levers we could push to submit an enticing offer. In the end, we were able to buy a home without entering a bidding war and paying well over the asking price, a pattern we had been seeing for a while. Post-purchase, Daniel also stayed engaged and helped with finding contractors, deciding on the most impactful renovations, and thinking about Do it yourself home upgrades. Daniel is reliable, honest, and trustworthy." - Adri C.
★★★★★
"Daniel was our buyer agent on our first home purchase. He was courteous, respectful, professional, and super-responsive from day 1 till the end of the buying process. He seems to know the San Mateo county area fairly well and ended up recommending the location that we ultimately bought in. During the scouting process, if there were listings that we liked and wanted to see in the middle of a weekday, Daniel would respond immediately and be on location in under half-hour to facilitate the walk-through. We wanted a nearly move-in-ready place for our first home purchase. Daniel gave us good ballpark inputs on the time and cost required to do different types of renovations as we did walk-throughs of different properties. This helped us a lot in figuring out which properties were move-in ready vs. not. Even post-closing, Daniel helped in putting us in touch with inspectors, contractors, etc. to do some minor renovations. One thing I would recommend is that he provides more fine-grained recommendations on an offer price that is data-driven and property-specific rather than just basic comps in the area. While winning a bid is great, winning a bid at the right price is even better. I don't know if many agents are really data-savvy, but that would take his service to the next level. Happy to recommend Daniel to buyers in the San Mateo County area!" - Vijay S.
★★★★★
"My wife and I had been looking for a home in San Mateo County for a while and not had any success working with another agent. We contacted Daniel and Joe at Keller Williams after reading some very positive reviews online. Daniel was extremely professional and committed from our very first meeting. He took the time to understand our requirements and advised us on where to focus our search in the housing market. He also made sure we were well informed about the various neighborhoods and the prevailing market conditions in each of those areas. Once we found a home we liked, Daniel personally inspected the property and gave us confidence about the value of the home. He was instrumental in helping us put together a compelling offer in quick time and presenting it to the seller's agents. Daniel was very thorough in his work and easily reachable at all times for any questions or concerns we had. He was always on top of things and made sure we were updated on all matters related to the transaction. We really enjoyed working with him, and would highly recommend him to anyone looking to buy property in the Bay Area." - Buyer.
★★★★★
"Daniel was so amazing in helping my partner and me purchase our first condo. We worked with him for about a year and a half, and since we did not know much about the home buying process, Daniel answered all of our questions and helped us to understand the bay area market. He clearly is an expert on the market and always gave us great, honest advice. He walked us through the process step by step with such patience. We flipped flopped a lot on where we wanted to end up and what type of property we wanted and he was always supportive and understanding. In addition, he was always very quick to respond to any questions or set up a tour of a property. We closed on our home on New Year's Eve and, even during the week of Christmas and New Year's, Daniel was always available and ready to help us and answer questions. He is an awesome agent, especially for first-time buyers! We highly recommend him!" - Olivia R.
★★★★★
"My husband and I can't thank Daniel Smith enough for helping us buy our first home! Daniel is personable and has great customer service. His hard work and dedication helped us purchase our first home in the Peninsula Bay Area in less than 60 days! We met Daniel at an open house in October or November 2019. My husband and I were not ready to buy a home financially but wanted to learn what step we needed. Daniel understood our situation and was very informative and gave us good advice. Long story short, we picked Daniel to be our realtor because he was experienced, trustworthy, and punctual. We started looking for homes in Jan 2020 and were ready to make offers. We lost an offer one week but the following week we won on our next offer to our current home now. Thanks again D. Smith for all your hard work and for making us Homeowners. We are on our way to building wealth.!" - Dara S.
★★★★★
"Daniel was recommended by a former colleague who’s been in real estate for 15 years working with top industry professionals as the realtor to go to for Pacifica, where we had focused our home search. He lived up to that rave recommendation by answering all of our questions and quelling concerns as first-time home buyers. He instilled a sense of calm in the process while acting with the urgency required by the Bay Area’s competitive market and low inventory, especially during a pandemic. His knowledge of the market, ability to establish great relationships and thoughtful strategy led to our dream home, from research to closing in just over a month. His advice went above and beyond the purchase; Daniel was also incredibly helpful with local contractor recommendations, which was fantastic and even checks in with us post-move-in. Wonderful experience all around." - Candice C.
★★★★★
"I chose to work with him first because every suggestion he made was no-pressure and in my interest. I felt very comfortable as a first-time homebuyer. He was always extremely responsive. The purchase process for my home was several months because it was a probate sale and there were many, many complicating factors. When the previous tenants wouldn't leave, he worked with the seller's realtor to resolve everything. The list of other twists and turns is too much for this review, but he was there at my side or at the front for everyone. He went above and beyond. My review just can't do justice to the amount of help and insights that he provided over an extended time. He went way beyond and above. I hope to work with him in the future, and I highly recommend him." - Kevin D.
★★★★★
"Daniel helped us get our dream home in an extremely competitive market. He went all-in with 110% effort and strategy every step of the way, from understanding our initial needs to identifying both on and off-market listings to closing the deal. Daniel was always available to us, incredibly flexible with scheduling showings, and quick to respond to questions. Daniel is easy to talk to, provides clear analysis and comps, and explains the details clearly and thoroughly. He has great patience and determination too. All this, combined with his great knowledge of the area, makes him an excellent agent. Highly recommended." - Mike K.
★★★★★
"Daniel is an absolute professional with extensive passion and knowledge for what he does. He always provided candid feedback, explored a wide range of options, and he always responded to calls, texts, and emails with an impressive speed that is not often seen anymore. You always get the sense that he is working in your best interest. He spent an extensive amount of time offering no-pressure options to fully understand our goals and interests." - Buyer
★★★★★
"Daniel was a great help during our home search and buying process. Being our first home purchase he helped us understand and navigate the process, resulting in us having an offer accepted in the first place we fell in love with!" - Adam S.