Image Source: Andrew Hannan

---

Written by Ethan M. Stone 

After rebuilding his life and business, the former franchise owner is using systems, sobriety, and mentorship to develop a new generation of Rochester agents.

Andrew Hannan now leads a nine-agent Rochester real estate team that projects more than 200 home sales and $65 million in volume for 2026. The numbers point to a busy, growing operation, but they do not tell the full story of how he arrived there.

Before launching The Hannan Team at REAL, Hannan faced alcohol addiction, the contraction of a business he had built in his twenties, and the collapse of an early real estate team partnership. His current career is rooted in what came after that low point: a decision to get sober, rebuild with greater discipline, and create a business around developing people.

An Entrepreneur Before Real Estate

Real estate was not Hannan’s first introduction to ownership. While still in college, he opened his first Subway franchise. By his late twenties, he had acquired three additional locations and was operating four franchises with more than $2 million in annual revenue before age 30.

That experience gave him a practical education in the less glamorous parts of running a business. He managed employees, tracked performance, built operating systems, and learned that growth depends on routines people can repeat consistently.

When Hannan entered real estate about a decade ago, he carried that framework with him. He began at Nothnagle REALTORS, then moved through RE/MAX Plus and Keller Williams Realty Greater Rochester, building experience in sales and client relationships before becoming an Associate Broker.

Learning a Relationship Business as an Introvert

The transition was not automatic. Real estate often rewards agents who can quickly work a room, maintain a large network, and keep conversations moving. Hannan describes himself as naturally introverted, which meant he could not rely on an effortless outgoing persona.

Instead, he developed the skills through structure and repetition. The same habits that had helped him run franchise locations became useful in a relationship-driven profession: following up, measuring activity, establishing systems, and showing up consistently for clients.

At the same time, heavy alcohol use was affecting his earlier business. A failed team partnership brought the strain into sharper focus. Sobriety became the turning point, giving Hannan the clarity and steadiness to approach the next phase of his career differently.

Building Around People

Hannan founded The Hannan Team at REAL, based on Monroe Avenue in Rochester, with a philosophy he calls “people over property.” In a business that can center heavily on lead flow and transaction volume, he views agents as professionals to develop, not simply producers contributing to a monthly total.

Within roughly two years, he personally recruited and developed all nine members of his team. His coaching extends beyond contracts, scripts, and prospecting. He works with agents on mindset, discipline, systems, and the practical habits involved in operating as business owners.

The approach reflects his franchise background. A sustainable business, in Hannan’s view, depends on repeatable processes and capable people who understand how to use them. The result is a team designed to help agents build careers with their own foundation, rather than depend entirely on a leader’s pipeline.

A New Chapter in Rochester

The Hannan Team ranks in the top 1% of real estate agents and teams in America. Hannan has recorded 445 career sales across Greater Rochester, while the team is projecting more than 200 homes sold in 2026. Those figures offer context for the model he has built, but his broader focus remains on the people behind them.

That focus has also brought growing industry visibility. Hannan appeared as a panelist at a Rochester Real Producers event and is building a media and speaking platform around entrepreneurship, sobriety, leadership, and business growth. He also plans to expand further into Rochester’s luxury market.

For Hannan, that next step follows a familiar pattern. His career has been shaped by building from zero, learning from what failed, and putting systems in place that support the people around him. The real story is not simply that he found success in two industries. It is that the principles behind his current work were forged through rebuilding himself first.