We started this series three weeks ago with the newest broker on the roster. This week it lands on the other end of it.
Shawnna Donovan was Southern Illinois Realty Experts’ Top Producer for 2025 — the highest thing this brokerage hands out, and it goes on results. Over the last three years our records have her at 271 transactions and more than $43 million in volume, working both sides of the table.
The part that is easy to miss, and the reason these two share a week: she and her husband, broker David Vaughn, work every deal together. One file, two brokers, two phones. Her profile puts it plainly — a team that shares the professional life and the personal one.
🏠 Shawnna Donovan — Broker · 2025 SIRE Top Producer
Specialties: Residential · new construction · land · multifamily · manufactured homes
Designations: CRS · ABR® · e-PRO® · GREEN · At Home With Diversity
Office: 1201 W. Main St, Marion
Direct: 618.694.5678
Email: sdonovan@sirealtyexperts.com
Hours: Monday–Saturday 9am–5pm · Sundays by appointment
🏠 David Vaughn — Broker
Specialties: Residential · buyers and sellers · investment property
Works out of: the Marion, Herrin and Carbondale offices
Direct: 618.925.8485
Email: dvaughn@sirealtyexperts.com
Hours: Monday–Saturday 8am–6pm · Sundays by appointment
What Two Brokers On One File Actually Gets You
The honest answer to “why does a team matter” is usually about availability, and that part is real here: Shawnna works Monday through Saturday from 9, David from 8 until 6, and both take Sundays by appointment. Between them somebody is reachable across a working day and most of a Saturday, which is when houses actually get looked at.
But the more useful answer is that their specialties diverge exactly where this market diverges. Look at what each one carries.
Shawnna’s side: residential, new construction, land, multifamily, manufactured homes, and the lake. She is a Marion native and an SIU Carbondale alumna, and she holds the Certified Residential Specialist designation from the Residential Real Estate Council along with the ABR®, e-PRO®, GREEN and At Home With Diversity certifications.
David’s side: residential, buyers and sellers, and investment property — with S.I. Property Management’s 750 managed units under the same roof, so a client can buy a rental and hand off the management without leaving the building.
Why That Split Matters More Than It Sounds
Two findings from our own reporting in the last three days say why.
📊 The Two Ends of This Market Are the Two Ends That Need a Specialist
On Friday we pulled every active house in Carterville and found the newest and the oldest stock both sitting, for opposite reasons. The five houses built since 2020 had been listed 76, 86, 117, 126 and 246 days. The eleven under $200,000 — median year built in the 1960s — had a median of 137 days.
Those are two completely different problems. A new build that is not moving is a pricing-and-builder conversation. An older, cheaper house that is not moving is usually a condition-and-financing problem, and the buyer who can actually close on it is frequently an investor.
One of these brokers carries new construction and builder relationships. The other carries investment property with management in house. On the same file.
And yesterday’s post turned up something that matters specifically because Shawnna lists manufactured homes: Illinois’ down-payment assistance programs exclude manufactured housing entirely, and exclude any property on five acres or more. A buyer looking at a manufactured home is a buyer who cannot use that assistance and needs somebody who already knows how those purchases get financed. That is not a hypothetical around here — it is a normal Tuesday.
One Thing Worth Saying Plainly
A brokerage is not the two names at the top of the leaderboard. That is the whole reason this series exists, and it is why it opened with our newest broker rather than our best-known one.
But when the top of the leaderboard turns out to be two people splitting one workload, it is worth pointing at. 271 transactions in three years is not a solo number. It is what two brokers who talk to each other every day can carry, and the client on the other end of it gets both of them.
👤 Want Shawnna and David On Your Deal?
Buying a first house, selling to move up, building new, looking at the lake, or running the numbers on a rental — tell us which it is and we will put you in front of them. You get both of them either way; that is how they work.
Search Marion Listings With Our Team
Live listings, newest first — the same feed Shawnna and David work from. Both of them are out of the Marion office at 1201 W. Main Street.
📱 Got a Question About This Market? Text Greg.
Buying? Selling? Not sure where to start? Text Greg Holthaus directly — just tell him you saw his blog. He'll help you think through your decision, match you with the best broker for your situation, and point you in the right direction. He's open to a text any time.
Text Greg · 618.925.8654
Who is Greg Holthaus?
Greg Holthaus is the Owner and Designated Managing Broker of Southern Illinois Realty Experts, with 25+ years in Southern Illinois real estate and more than 10,000 transactions closed. He leads a full-service operation — home sales, mortgage, title, and property management under one roof — with offices in Marion, Herrin, and Carbondale. Meet Greg ›
About this post: Every fact about Shawnna Donovan and David Vaughn comes from their own broker pages on this site — sirealtyexperts.com/brokers/shawnna-donovan and /brokers/david-vaughn — read on September 27, 2026. The 271-transaction and $43 million figures are Southern Illinois Realty Experts’ own record of its own broker over the three years to date, not an independently audited count, and the 2025 Top Producer award is this brokerage’s internal honor. The Certified Residential Specialist designation is awarded by the Residential Real Estate Council. Carterville time-on-market figures are from our September 25 pull of local MLS listing data for ZIP 62918; the down-payment assistance rules referenced are from the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s own all-programs matrix as covered in our September 26 post, and both are summarized here rather than restated in full — follow those posts for the sourcing and the caveats. Listing counts in the search below come from live local MLS listing data and change through the day. Nothing here is an appraisal, a loan offer, or a rate quote. Southern Illinois Realty Experts is an Equal Housing Opportunity brokerage.