Yeah, it is.
Howard Hanna firm rises to 5th in nation
Friday, May 05, 2006
BY DAN MILLER
Of The Patriot-News
Central Pennsylvania has the most promising residential real estate market anywhere in the state, says the man behind the nation's fifth-largest brokerage firm.
Howard W. "Hoddy" Hanna III, chairman and CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate, was in Harrisburg Wednesday to tout that the Pittsburgh-based company had moved from sixth to fifth on an annual list of the 25 largest full-service brokerage firms nationwide.
The list is based on 940 firms surveyed by Real Trends, a company that monitors residential real estate.
"If we are going to rise to fourth in the country, we are going to do it here," said Hanna, whose company operates throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia.
Hanna said the Harrisburg area is drawing a greater percentage of new move-ins than anywhere else in Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. People are coming here from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., he said.
Housing and the cost of living are cheaper than in urban areas, Hanna added. Eventually, he predicted, the area will begin to draw major corporations.
Last year, Howard Hanna opened four midstate offices by acquiring its Harrisburg-area affiliate, Howard Hanna Detweiler Realty. Next month, the company will open a Derry Twp. office across from rival Coldwell Banker HomeSale Services Group.
Later this year, Howard Hanna will open offices in Carlisle and Lancaster, perhaps through acquisitions. Howard Hanna also is scouting in the Gettysburg area.
In contrast, Coldwell Banker HomeSale Services won't open new offices in the Harrisburg area this year. Instead, the company proposes to double business in each of its offices over the next two years, said Douglas W. Rebert, a principal of the company.
"Larger offices covering larger areas is more where the industry is going," Rebert said.
Lancaster-based Coldwell Banker came in at 21st on the Real Trends top 25. It is the company's first appearance in the top 25, Rebert said.