Howard Hanna Real Estate Services was founded in 1957 and remains one of the industry’s most recognized family owned independent brokerages.
Not to be outdone by the array of younger, tech-driven, venture-backed brokerage upstarts, however, Howard Hanna also knows the benefit agents can bring to their practice when powered by innovation.
Last week, the company officially committed further to its relationship with Lone Wolf Technologies with a move to onboard the proptech’s transaction system, advance the use of its digital marketing products and adopt its business performance suite, according to a joint statement issued May 3.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Howard Hanna, one of the biggest and best real estate companies in the U.S.,” Kyle Hunter, GM of Franchise for Lone Wolf, said in a statement. “Combined, these solutions offer Howard Hanna’s agents and brokers a real estate experience like no other, which in turn helps them do the same for their clients.”
Lone Wolf has become a major technology player in real estate, building that reputation lately through a flurry of acquisitions of niche companies in marketing, lead generation, customer relationship management and transaction management, among other critical categories in the space. However, Lone Wolf’s ability to secure its current industry position ultimately rests on its own, early success in providing technology to real estate agents.
Howard Hanna’s agents already benefit from at least a few of those recent deals, namely the absorption of HomeSpotter, whose Boost, Connect and Spacio empower the brokerage to better execute online marketing and lead generation, digitally manage and control open houses and communicate in the mobile environment with active clients.
Lone Wolf acquired data analytics firm Terradatum in 2021, and has clearly wasted little time with integration.
Its chief product, BrokerMetrics, will now be used by Howard Hanna. The software aggregates licensed data from an office’s local MLS and translates it into real-time analysis on market share, market growth, market dynamics and pricing analysis for brokers. It helps measure how agents are performing and provides insights often hidden in the day-to-day minutia of running a real estate office. It will become a core component of office operation and growth plans for Howard Hanna’s leadership.
Howard Hanna will use the zipForms edition of Lone Wolf Transactions to speed deals by enabling automated absorption of listing data and party names and providing e-signature capabilities and comprehensive broker reviews.
The collective adoption of these tools, from online lead capture to open house management to transaction facilitation and long-term business analysis, should help Howard Hanna further automate its entire practice.
As each step of the sales cycle becomes faster and less entwined by manual processes, the easier it is for buyers and sellers to interact with the company. It should also augment Howard Hanna’s ability to recruit and retain effective producers.
The RISMedia Power Broker Report found that Howard Hanna is the largest privately held brokerage in the U.S. and the fifth-largest brokerage overall, with more than 125,000 transaction sides in 2021 and $36.5 billion in sales volume.
Howard W. “Hoby” Hanna, IV, President of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, said Lone Wolf’s offerings are in his opinion unmatched by the rest of the market.
“Our partnership with Lone Wolf has already yielded significant results, and I’m confident it will continue to give our agents and brokerages a competitive edge in the marketplace in the years to come,” Hanna said.
