Hoby Hanna, the CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services and Hanna Holdings, joined the RealTrending podcast this week to discuss his company’s approach to growth, technology and consumer offerings.
In an interview with host Tracey Velt, Hanna breaks down a selective approach to mergers and acquisitions while emphasizing cultural compatibility over rapid expansion.
He also delves into the company’s consumer-focused innovations — such as the buy-borrow bundle — and explains how artificial intelligence and data are influencing the future of real estate.
This conversation excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.
Velt: You were one of the few companies that kept acquiring during the past several years while others paused. How do you determine what makes a smart merger or acquisition — and what might be a distraction?
Hanna: We believe that there are a lot of culturally aligned businesses to Howard Hanna, Hanna Holdings, throughout our footprint and the expanded footprint we want to be in that are steeped in really understanding the brokerage business.
He also emphasized that as a third-generation family business, Howard Hanna continues to focus on what it knows best — real estate brokerage, mortgage, title and insurance services.
Hanna: We’re not trying to come up with a brand new model or takeaway. We’re looking at how we can advance technology and tools and the marketplace by finding those like-minded companies that the agents seem to assimilate to with that full-service quality, hands-on support for the client and customer. It’s about being customer-centric to their needs and supporting the agents in their needs.
He said that in some cases, Howard Hanna acquires firms whose leaders are ready to exit. In other instances, they partner with owners who stay on and continue to run operations.
Hanna: Over the last seven years or eight years, we found that some companies were looking to stay in leadership, stay aligned, maybe take proverbial chips off the table, to use the poker reference.
But instead of coming in and buying 100% of a company and having them get an earnout on the back end, in some cases, we kept those leaders in as partners, where they still own a significant piece of the company, not majority, but a significant piece, and run the day-to-day operations.
English (US) · 