History matters as Howard Hanna looks to tackle 2025

The past year had its fair share of ups and downs Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. The family-run real estate firm posted some legal wins and losses, developed new tools for agents and clients and experienced one of the slowest years for home sales in nearly three decades.

According to Hoby Hanna, Howard Hanna’s president and CEO, the company did this by leaning on its rich history.

“The biggest lesson this year was really just a reinforcement of something we already knew. The company has been around since 1957 – as we always say: we are a multi-generational company and that is not just a marketing phrase,” says Hanna. “This year has really touched us and strengthened us even more that even with all the headwinds, when we look back on our history and the culture of the company, we can see the pillars and mission points that have already carried the company through so many challenging cycles have driven. .”

Hanna said this has been exceptionally helpful this year in navigating the changes in business practices happening in the National Association of Real Estate Agents (NAR) settlement agreement for retainer cases and the challenging regulatory environment in general.

“During the trials, I saw many leaders act as if there had never been any regulatory change in the industry, or that there had never been any turmoil or challenges beyond your control,” Hanna said. “So many people say the last few years have been the most challenging real estate market ever – and that’s true even if your company has only been around for ten years – but I had to lead through the Great Recession. And then as a company we got through the early 80s with 18% interest rates, so we’ve been there and seen challenges like this before.”

To meet the challenges of 2024 for the real estate industry, Hanna said he and other leaders refocused on the company’s six pillars. This ensured that the actions they took in adapting Howard Hanna to the new environment were aligned with the company’s overall mission of having the best brokers in the industry.

Hanna said this has led the company to revamp some of its agent training. A buyer representation certificate for agents was created. It also leveraged technological tools and worked on creating innovative solutions such as ‘Buy & Borrow Bundle’. This service allows homebuyers who work with a Howard Hanna agent to close their mortgage Howard Hanna Mortgage Services to receive a credit of up to $10,000 (or 0.5% of the loan amount) at settlement to be used toward closing costs.

“The program really gives agents a level of comfort and confidence in their value proposition when working with a buyer and trying to get a buyer agency agreement signed,” said Hanna. “To date, it has delivered more than $1 million in savings for our consumers, and that’s just since August on closed transactions.”

The strong response from Howard Hanna’s agents and clients to the program confirmed Hanna’s belief that if the company stays true to itself and its innovative spirit, it will continue to thrive even in this new era of real estate. Hanna hopes that these innovations will lead to more growth in 2025 and beyond.

“We are really focused in the coming year on capturing more market share and growing in our existing footprint,” said Hanna. “Part of it is attracting more agents and part of it is giving our existing team the tools they need to be more successful.”

That said, Hanna noted that the company is not ruling out mergers and acquisitions. This is especially true in markets on the fringes of its footprint, or in areas where broker clients are moving to or from.

“You look at the Florida market in relation to our footprint, and there is a strong migration flow between New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and even North Carolina into Florida. On paper it makes a lot of sense to be active in that market, so we are looking at some possible acquisitions in such markets,” says Hanna. “But if someone in California hasn’t heard of us, that’s fine. We want nice, steady growth, because we want to do this for a longer period of time.”

Although Howard Hanna has growth goals like other companies, the approach to this growth is slightly different because it is a family business.

“I report to shareholders who are family members – which sometimes leads us to ask if we can’t talk about this at Thanksgiving. But I don’t report quarterly earnings per share and I don’t have people saying, “Where’s the return on my investment?” Why isn’t my stock price going up?’” Hanna said.

“We don’t make decisions based solely on short-term dividends, share price or profitability; we look at the long term and what we can do to maintain the company. If we don’t increase our footprint in the next year, but still have a hugely successful year, that’s OK, which isn’t the case with every company.”

According to Hanna, the family business and the company’s long-term focus have made it possible to create a real estate agency that offers agents and brokers consistency.

“We have people who have been with us for a while, or people who are coming back to us, and they always say it’s because they can count on us as a safe haven and they know we’re going to help them get through this. ”, said Hanna.

Hanna said that by 2025, much of this help and guidance will come in the form of taking the company back to basics.

“It seems cliché, but it’s okay to go back to the things that are tried and true and that you know will work,” Hanna said. “So we ensure that the entire organization focuses again on getting more listings and increasing turnover.”

While some of this will be done the old-fashioned way — including through open houses — Hanna says the company also plans to leverage technology and the data now collected on homebuyers through settlement-mandated buyer agencies.

“Thanks to the buyer agency agreements, we have a little more data on buyers that we can use to cross-market and try to match buyers with sellers so that buyers can get a home they like and sellers can sell their homes faster,” Hanna said.

As Hanna looks to 2025 with renewed confidence in his company’s mission, he is confident.

“I think we will come out of this year with more positive energy,” Hanna said. “If we as an industry stop looking in the rearview mirror and arm-wrestling over issues – and get back to just focusing on the customer and providing the best service – I think ’25 can be a great year for everyone.

“Regardless of everyone else, we remain positive. There are many Americans who need shelter. We sell something that everyone needs and the more we can provide that with great service, I think we can have a very strong year.”