Howard Hanna, Myers Real Estate join forces in Fayette
The quality of life in Fayette County looks so good to one major company that it is partnering with a local firm that is gong to add 10 to 15 new jobs to grow its business. Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has “branchised’ with Myers Real Estate in Fairchance, a jointure that gives it a long-wanted presence in Fayette County.
“Branchising is the Howard Hanna version of franchising,’ Ron L. Dishler, director of licensing for Howard Hanna said.
“But it’s not a franchise. We license a pre-selected real estate firm to use the Howard Hanna services and brand name. The Myers agency will still be independently owned and operated,’ Dishler added. He said the company plans to have other locations in Fayette County.
Keith Myers, who owns the agency, is a Fairchance native who has 17 years of work in the real estate business.
“This is a nice partnership. We have been waiting for some time to do this. It will give quite a boost to this area.
“We are growing in this region thanks to the new highways and companies moving in. We will have to add staff in order to do this effectively.’
Myers Real Estate currently has about 10 workers. Myers said that will grow from 20 to 25 over the next several years.
“The recruiting will be done from this area and through our Pittsburgh office,’ Dishler said, adding that some of the people will be those who are originally from this area who are currently employed by Howard Hanna.
Myers, who started his agency in 1991, said there will be substantial growth to support the increase.
“A lot of it is already happening from the highway (the Mason Dixon Link that will connect the Interstate 68-Morgantown area to Pittsburgh via the Mon-Fayette Expressway).
“We have already dealt with small manufacturers buying up some of the property. They are coming out of West Virginia,’ Myers said.
“We hope to see that market trend spill up this way from Morgantown.’
However, the primary focus, he said, is on residential sales. “It’s the heart of the business.’
“Fayette County today has a stronger need than ever for quality real estate services. Howard Hanna focuses on consumer need and features many exclusive programs to benefit Fayette County’s many homebuyers and sellers,’ Myers said.
“Myers Real Estate is a great addition to our family. Together we are looking for great growth in housing, development and expansion in the next decade. We are predicting Fayette County to be the fastest growing residential community in southwestern Pennsylvania,’ Howard (Hoddy) Hanna III, president and CEO of the firm, said.
“One of the things that attracted us to Fayette County is the employment that is coming into this area. It’s a slow trickle but it’s amazing,’ Dishler said.
“We think Fayette County is a dynamic market that will realize growth over the next several years,’ Dishler said.
“We see this area as an extension of the Pittsburgh market,’ he said.
“It all evolves around the quality of life. You don’t have to live where you work today. It’s the local barber, the local shoe store, the local schools that are important.
“What I think is starting to happen is that instead of trying to create jobs in a community and compete with other parts of the region, we are saying let’s look at it on a regional level. If we can get the people to live in our community they can work somewhere else,’ Dishler said.
“That’s what Howard Hanna is all about, selling the region as a place to live.’
The primary focus of branchising, Dishler added, is to “take what is a small to mid-sized company can’t afford to do for itself so it can now offer services and programs that would not be available.’
One of those is Howard Hanna’s 100 percent money back guarantee program.
“Anyone who buys a home through us who is not happy with that home within one year of the purchase, we will buy that home back from them at the original purchase price and find them another home,’ Dishler said.
“To my knowledge, Howard Hanna is the only real estate company to offer this.’
It’s available to the 10,000 people who buy homes through Howard Hanna’s 50 residential real estate offices in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Another Howard Hanna service Myers will use is placing local properties on the Sunday Showcase of Homes aired on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. The program features 45 homes providing interior and exterior photos.
In addition to the partnership with Howard Hanna, Myers is also completing renovations to the 1850s era structure at 20 S. Morgantown St. in Fairchance that houses the agency and several other Myers-owned businesses, including a tobacco store, beauty and tanning salon, catering business, takeout pizza service and others.
“This was once a Union Supply Co. store and had been a craft store before we bought it,’ Myers said.
The Myers Agency in 1997-99 and in 2001 was named the best real estate office in the county in the Herald-Standard’s annual Community Choice Awards program.
While Myers is the broker/owner others involved are sales associates Kevin Mitchell, James Corcoran, Christine McCann, David Dursa, Joanne Thorn, Kenneth Rozzell and Keith Myers Jr.
Howard W. Hanna Jr. founded the business in a single office in 1957 in Shadyside. The senior Hanna has ties to Uniontown that he sees coming full circle with the opening of its first branchise in Fayette County.
“I was secretary of the Uniontown Chamber of Commerce from 1948 to 1950. And I even managed the Coal Barons minor league baseball team for a while,’ he said.
While Hanna started the firm, much of its growth has come under the tenure of his son. The company has 66 offices in 42 counties in four states and employs more than 1,500 sales associates and staff. More information is available by visiting its Web site at www.howard-hanna.com.