Howard Hanna Real Estate Services

Michael Bishop, The Cooler Real Estate Agent with Howard Hanna Real Estate in New Albany, Ohio. Michael is an experienced real estate pro. With over 9 years in new home construction sales and 9 years as a licensed real estate agent, Michael helps clients: Buy Sell Have Fun & Know the Numbers.

So what is the Cooler Real Estate Agent about? That’s part of the typical gift for clients after closing on the purchase or sale of property – a large cooler usually containing some of the client’s favorite beverages. Plus some other “cool” stuff.

Whether you are a buyer or seller, Michael tries to provide data, stats, and numbers. It helps understand the range of values for similar properties. High. Low. Average.

Michael believes knowledge is the key to helping empower clients. Whether they are buying or selling.

What first inspired you to get into your line of work? And what motivates you to do the work you do still today?

My father was a WWII Navy veteran, and while he did not have more than a high school education, he taught me a lot. He worked as an electrician for the Rural Electrification of America (REA), which was bringing power to rural areas around Coshocton with no electricity. He could do heating, insulation, plumbing, roofing, auto/truck mechanic, and of course, electric. While I admit I often didn’t enjoy helping him, I now wish I had paid more attention and helped more.

However, I did learn enough to help me understand the basics of heating, plumbing, carpentry, and electrical components in buildings and homes. Add to that selling new construction and watching land turn into roads, with sewer and all utilities. Then watching the construction of homes. Dirt. Hole in the ground. Footers. Foundations. Decking. Walls. Then all the various trades to get to complete, and handing over keys to a brand new home. It’s all quite inspiring.

As a real estate agent I mostly now handle the purchase or sale of existing housing and an occasional new build. But the fatherly lessons, plus the 9 years in new construction make what I do… a joy and it’s particularly warming to me when these experiences help me assist my clients. My goal is to make my clients better informed, and more knowledgeable. Knowledge = Power, or Confidence.

How did you come to faith in Christ?

It started as a child, in Coshocton, Ohio, where my parents attended the Park United Methodist Church. The Pastor was Reverend Rahrig. I was young but I can still recall sitting through quiet, almost lazy sermons. Then the Pastor would get to the key points and the entire church, including the rafters, would be shaking with his powerful culmination of the message. There was no one nodding off!

Over the years in the Columbus area I’ve attended a few churches but none had that hometown feel until we came to the Johnstown United Methodist Church; led by Pastor Matthew Van Winkle. While his style is completely different, the messages of the Gospel, truth, the path to forgiveness, and belief are warm and inviting. The selection of older hymns is varied and sung by the choir, and, at times, guest members. It’s a warm community of worshipers.

How does your faith impact the way you do business?

The first thing to remember about real estate is the Fair Housing Act: “In the process of buying, selling, renting or engaging in other housing-related transactions, it is illegal to discriminate based on religion under the Fair Housing Act.”  With that said, it means discrimination should never be a part of the process. While I do not ask the faith of my clients, it is clear some have different faiths or none at all.

Some aspects of the real estate business, buying and selling, involve some opinion and judgment. While that is not completely avoidable, I try to use facts to guide clients. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I try to guide clients based on the numbers. I refer to this as “Know the Numbers.” This means looking at closed sales of largely similar properties in the nearby area. The goal with the data, numbers, and stats is to educate the client so they feel more knowledgeable about the decisions being made to buy, or sell.

In every transaction, I try to imagine the client was my own family member. They make all the decisions. In rare situations I feel they are not making the best choice; I’ll typically review the facts and make sure they are choosing with all information considered.

The goal is to always do what I believe might be the path Jesus would have followed.

What ministry/cause do you champion and why?

Undies. A recent cause my wife and I contributed to through the JUMC was undies. Underwear for people in need in West Virginia. The church collected donations for over a month and then delivered to very rural, poor areas in West Virginia through other ministries in the local area.