Howard Hanna Real Estate Services of Pittsburgh, one of the largest real estate companies in the nation, plans to open a Toledo office March 2 with a Perrysburg man at the helm.
Michael Aughinbaugh has been named office manager of the new location. He has worked in the real estate business in Northwest Ohio for nine years.
“The Toledo real estate market experienced fantastic growth in 2014 with the outlook being brighter for 2015,” Aughinbaugh said. “As an office, I believe we stand to gain on this momentum by offering programs and incentives that no one else does or can.”
Expanding west into the Toledo market has been a vital piece of the company’s development goals for the past few years, said Howard W. “Hoby” Hanna IV, president of Howard Hanna’s Midwest Region.
“We’re excited to be finally opening in the Toledo real estate marketplace,” Hanna said in a news release. “Our spirit of integrity has helped us to grow to the fourth largest real estate company in the United States and we are bringing this spirit to Toledo.”
Aughinbaugh said the company began recruiting agents in October and already has 14 agents for the Toledo market with more coming on board soon. The Toledo office will be one of the 12 Howard Hanna offices in its Ohio West Region.
The firm will open a 2,800-squarefoot temporary office at 3214 Briarfield Blvd. in Maumee. Aughinbaugh said they plan to open a 5,000-square-foot permanent office in that area later this year that will accommodate 50 agents.
Howard Hanna is the top real estate firm in Ohio, ranking No. 1 in homes sold for the past eight years with a 44 percent market share, according to the company, which is also No. 1 in Pennsylvania.
Aughinbaugh will serve as a non-competing manager who does not list or sell properties, which is part of Howard Hanna’s philosophy. He joined the company’s Fremont office in 2012, where he worked with his mother Kim Wood. He has had his Ohio Real Estate License since 2006.
“They talked to me about going into management and I’m very excited to be opening this office in the Toledo market,” Aughinbaugh said.
Aughinbaugh earned his business degree from the University of Toledo, but he grew up in the real estate business. His grandfather, Ed Zitzelberger, owned a Century 21 franchise in Pennsylvania and knew Howard Hanna II, who founded the real estate firm in Pittsburgh in 1957.
Howard “Hoddy” Hanna III now serves as CEO and his sister, Helen Hanna Casey, is president, supervising the firm’s residential real estate business.
“The Hannas are all down to earth and very hands-on. They know all their agents,” Aughinbaugh said of the family-owned business.
“When we open the permanent office in Toledo, they will be here to meet the local agents, customers and media,” he said.
The company specializes in residential and commercial brokerage services, mortgages, closing and title insurance, appraisal and insurance services, land development, corporate relocation and property management.
Aughinbaugh said they will eventually expand into commercial real estate in the Toledo market. The firm is big in the relocation business, working with more than 600 corporations. He said they are already working with some local companies for relocation services in the Toledo market.
For more information, visit www. howardhanna.com.
