Howard Hanna takes a ‘middle ground’ approach to pre-marketing 

As the industry has become more divided over private listings, many advocates and opponents have taken increasingly uncompromising positions. But Howard Hanna President and CEO Howard "Hoby" Hanna IV believes his company's latest initiative creates more of a middle ground.

Howard Hanna Real Estate announced this week that it is launching HannaList — a "strategic listing initiative" to help sellers gauge buyer demand and build momentum before rolling their listing out to the broader marketplace. Hanna teased the program during an interview with Real Estate News in January, noting that "a big change is coming" that would "cause listing firms to be even more at the center of the transaction in a tight inventory market."

HannaList will make listings available internally to thousands of agents across the brokerage's 500+ offices, while abiding by the rules of local multiple listing services, Hanna said. If an MLS requires a listing to be entered within 24 or 48 hours of being marketed, the firm will meet that deadline, Hanna told Real Estate News, emphasizing that it is not a private listing network.

The official rollout of HannaList will begin in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania in April. Hanna expects it to be available companywide this summer — possibly by June.

'It's not a closed marketplace'

HannaList is optional for sellers, who are free to elect the traditional route of immediately listing through the MLS. But Hanna believes around 80% of sellers will see the initiative as a benefit and choose to participate.

While HannaList's phased listing approach provides a heads-up advantage for Howard Hanna agents who might have an interested buyer, Hanna believes the benefits also tilt in clients' favor — something Compass has emphasized when promoting its own private listing strategy.

In addition to moving away from a one-size-fits-all listing exposure policy, HannaList gives sellers a chance to understand buyer demand, make adjustments and build momentum before their listing publicly launches, Hanna explained.  

"At its core it's a seller marketing strategy, but it's not a closed marketplace," Hanna said in a March 12 interview. "It does, we believe, prioritize the agent-agent connections of our brokerage marketing channels… matching their buyers with sellers, matching buyers that are pre-approved for a mortgage so that they can buy today."

A Compass clone? 

When asked how HannaList differs from Compass' "3-phased" strategy — which starts with marketing a listing as a private exclusive — Hanna said it's the partnership with MLSs. 

"We're taking an attitude that the MLS would have a place," Hanna said. "The concept of compensation has been eliminated, but it is a centralized database. It's a B2B system for brokers to share their data with each other when they're ready."

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, on the other hand, has been openly critical of MLSs, proclaiming last year to an audience of agents that organized real estate is "trying to end the Compass 3-phased marketing strategy" and enforce rules that "interfere with your client relationships."

Hanna doesn't see MLSs as adversaries. "We agree with Compass in the sense that a seller should still have choice," he said. "But we also are working within the framework of the MLS. At least from where I sit, [Compass'] 3-phased plan seems to be like… 'We don't need them.'"

Innovation 'within Clear Cooperation'

At least some of the MLSs Howard Hanna works with, such as Ohio-based MLS Now, are on board with the HannaList concept.

"MLS Now values innovation that works within established MLS policy and supports transparency for consumers," said Garry Marsoubian, president and CEO of MLS Now, in a news release. 

"Howard Hanna's approach shows how brokerages can introduce new strategies while continuing to operate within Clear Cooperation and the broader MLS framework," Marsoubian added.

Compliant with Zillow listing standards?

While Hanna believes the new initiative represents an opportunity to find some common ground amid the divisive private listings debate, it's unclear whether the industry — and particularly Zillow — will see it that way.

Last April, Zillow announced new listing access standards — a policy barring listings that have been marketed publicly but not widely distributed via the MLS — in an effort to "create an even playing field" and ensure an open and transparent marketplace, the company said at the time.

The standards have caused some Compass listings originally marketed as private exclusives to be blocked from the portal's sites. Compass sued Zillow over the policy in June.

Could the same thing happen to properties marketed via HannaList? Hanna, for one, isn't worried. While he has previously said Zillow is "overstepping" with its policy, he doesn't think HannaList will conflict with Zillow's listing rules — and he expects the portal will end up adjusting its policies rather than going against the MLS framework that Hanna is following, noting it wouldn't be in Zillow's best interests.

"We're looking to work within the whole housing ecosystem, which includes Zillow," Hanna said.

Real Estate News has reached out to Zillow about its position on HannaList and whether it complies with Zillow's listing standards.