Pittsburgh Realtor® named finalist for Realtor® Magazine’s 2017 Good Neighbor Awards

Pittsburgh Realtor® Howard W. “Hoddy” Hanna, III has been named one of 10 finalists for Realtor^® Magazine’s 2017 Good Neighbor Awards for his efforts with Howard Hanna Children’s Free Care Fund.

Howard Hanna Children’s Free Care Fund helps fund healthcare for children at hospitals without insurance, or whose insurance does not cover treatment. Howard Hanna also sponsors four Family Houses in the Pittsburgh area, which provide lodging to families of people receiving treatment at local hospitals.

“It’s a great honor,” said Hanna, of his nomination. “I am very excited. The efforts of all of the Realtors® in our company have really supported our children’s relief fund.” Hanna is chairman of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, the third-largest residential real estate brokerage in the United States. In 1980, he took over the family business his father had founded in 1957.

“My dad taught my sisters and I to be good Realtors^®. My mother taught us to give back when we have any successes in life,” said Hanna.

Hanna said he began helping patients waiting for a transplant who needed housing in Pittsburgh, based on the city’s advanced medical hospitals, in the 1980s. “To this day, you don’t know when transplants come through, and we needed a place for people to stay in Pittsburgh when they are high on the list. It’s difficult for the average person to have the financial ability to come to stay at a hotel for that many days,” he explained.

“So, we developed the Family House for the patient and their family to stay before and after the surgery. We started off with one house, we took an old house and redid it and added on to it, so there are roughly 35 suites. The atmosphere is wonderful, it is not a hotel environment, we have common areas, a kitchen and living room. You come back from a day at the hospital and there are people there you automatically relate to. It becomes a communal effort,” he explained.

Additionally, staff at the 241 Howard Hanna offices, compete each year to raise funds for the Howard Hanna Children’s Free Care Fund. Last year, they raised more than $1 million, and hope to exceed that amount this year.

“We now support 10 different children’s hospitals from Ann Arbor to Virginia Beach, and almost every place in between. It’s amazing, and the energy and enthusiasm is incredible,” he said.

“Sometimes, you have to start small. We have a wonderful cause. People don’t realize not everyone has health insurance, especially with critical care. The cause is so great, it makes it easy. I think really it’s the fact that we get so much participation from our sales associates. This is the one event the whole company gets behind, from the newest Realtor®, to people who have been there  for 40 years,” he said.

Voting will remain open until Oct. 2. The three Good Neighbor finalists who get the most votes online will receive an additional $2,500, $1,250, $1,250 donation to their cause.

“I am honored,” said Hanna. “There are a lot of great Realtors® out there doing a lot of great work. We are all certainly committed to our community. I am very proud. It’s very meaningful and part of what I do every day as a Realtor®.”