Growing up in the Bronx, Gino Bello learned the importance of community. The son of two Italian immigrants, Bello learned those values from an early age. Often, his house would be the gathering spot for the neighborhood kids.
“So, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie Bronx Tale. That’s basically how life was growing up when I was in the Bronx. Everything was about family, everything was about friendships, and loyalty.”
Bello’s desire to be in a family-oriented business grew from his upbringing. But his path to being a real estate agent wasn’t clear cut. He attended Fordham University, where he studied accounting. After graduating in 2000, he got a job in New York City.
While working in New York, Bello experienced the events of Sept. 11 firsthand. That day, Bello’s father-in-law was in the city, and he was able to get Bello out of Manhattan. But it was a wake-up call that shifted his path forward.
“At that point, I really decided that I wanted to make a shift in my life in regard to what I did with my career. Not because I didn’t like accounting or because I wasn’t good at it, but because I wanted to do something that was more the American dream, because of [9/11].”
Soon after, Bello decided to pursue his real estate career. He wanted to make a difference in the community, and he felt that sitting at a desk didn’t give him enough opportunity to do that. Real estate was always a passion of Bello’s. The idea of selling the American dream had long been something he’d thought about. But when he walked into an office for the first time, he didn’t know anyone and he had no experience.
So, in his first few years, he focused on learning instead of selling.
“I jumped on a team, I actually jumped on a couple teams, and I took in a lot of experience from them,” Bello said. “I took pieces of good and bad from each one, and I tried forming the best possible outcome that I could for our clients.”
He began his real estate career at Rand Realty, which is now part of the Howard Hanna family. Rand provided the training and support Bello needed to get on his feet. But it wasn’t always easy at the start.
“The Rand family had a great training program, but I will say the first thing everyone should be aware is that the first few years in real estate are financially hard,” Bello said. “I was fortunate enough that my wife was working as a teacher. It didn’t have a big salary, but it helped cover us for the first few years of getting through that.”
Just as his years of learning came to a close, Bello and the rest of the country once again went through a major event: the 2008 financial crisis. But Bello was set up for success because of his patience. While many agents struggled, he was able to capitalize because he was used to taking a different approach.
For a span of almost five years, many agents struggled. But Bello’s approach put him in the perfect position to sell. These years really helped to develop him as a real estate agent. But something was still lacking. Something he could only find with Howard Hanna: the sense of family.
Four years ago, Bello’s path finally led him to the company, and his reasoning for making that jump was simple: it’s a family company.
“As I said from the start, family is everything to me. And in a world where everything is sort of corporate today and everything is so AI, I think people are lacking that personal touch,” Bello said. “Working for a family-owned company [is so important] because it gives you the ability to talk to leadership on a daily basis and make decisions with them.”
That personal touch is what separates Howard Hanna and what helps Bello thrive. In both New York and Ohio, Bello believes success comes with a responsibility to give back to the communities that support his business.
“Community-based services are always very important to me, in New York we contribute a significant amount of funds towards little league teams, the police department, local hospitals and local charities,” Bello said. “Because if we’re making our sales and our money off the community, we should be giving back to those communities.”
Bello ensures that his team is always giving back, from sponsoring picnics to making sure the community has help when it needs it.
That shared commitment to community is one of the reasons Bello believes Howard Hanna was the right fit. Looking ahead, he’s also excited about the company’s continued growth. He feels that the Hanna’s have a strong vision of where they’re going in New York City, a place that obviously holds a special place in his heart, and everywhere else the company expands to.
In order to ensure that growth is steady, Bello wants to be a guiding figure for others who are like him. People who are looking to become something more and create a career with Howard Hanna.
“I think it’s important for a new agent to join with someone and get underneath someone’s wing, because real estate has a lot of ups and downs,” Bello said. “Howard Hanna will support you, teach you and give you the fundamentals.”
For Bello, success has always been about more than buying and selling homes. It’s about building relationships, investing in the communities that have supported him, and helping others achieve the American dream. At Howard Hanna, he gets to bring those goals to life every day.
About Howard Hanna
Howard Hanna Real Estate Services proudly provides real estate, mortgage, title, and insurance services across 15 states. As the largest family-owned and -operated real estate brokerage in the United States, Howard Hanna operates more than 500 offices with 15,000 sales associates and staff. The company’s proprietary Hanna Success System helps its agents achieve 53% more business than agents at the top 1000 brokerages nationally. Learn more at www.HowardHanna.com.
