Is Hardy Realty Worth It? An Honest Review

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By Jessica Johansen Updated April 11, 2024

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Traditional Broker Real Estate Review

Overall rating | Customer experience | Agent quality | Brand visibility and reach | Service value | Locations | Methodology

✍️ Why trust us: We strive to provide objective recommendations and advice. Learn more about how we research.
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Hardy Realty is a full-service real estate brokerage headquartered in Rome, Georgia. Founded in 1925, the company now has 50 agents and 3 offices and provides basic services to buyers and sellers in the northwestern counties of Georgia.

The company is the oldest and largest independent brokerage in Northwestern Georgia with experienced, high-quality real estate agents.

Bottom line: Do we recommend Hardy Realty?

Hardy Realty is a decent option if you are buying or selling in Northwestern Georgia and only need basic services.

Hardy agents are experienced and high quality. And the company has a strong local network that it’s built for decades, which means the agents can connect buyers and sellers quickly and easily.

We always recommend looking for the best agent for you over the brokerage, no matter how well established it may be. You can interview Hardy agents to find the best fit before you make your decision. Don’t settle for an okay agent, especially if you are going to pay the same fixed commission no matter what.

🏡 Compare agents, save money! Try Clever’s free agent matching service. Choose from top local agents from the best brokerages, get built-in savings. Learn more.
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Hardy Realty: Our in-depth breakdown

Reputation and customer experience

📊 Our rating: 3

  • Mostly positive reviews on agent service
  • Plenty of negative reviews on rental management
  • C rating on Better Business Bureau
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Despite the mediocre Google rating, most of the reviews about Hardy Realty agents are positive. The negative reviews are about property management, not real estate agents.

Hardy Realty has a 3.47 average rating out of 283 Google reviews. Most regional brokerages of the same size have between 4 and 4.5. But most of the negative Hardy Realty reviews are about the property management side of the business. The reviews about agents were fairly positive.

We ran the 283 reviews through a program that identifies emotional language, and we found that the negative sentiment almost all revolved around rental property management. The positive reviews mentioned agent quality and guidance, as well as how it is to work with Hardy Realty.

Hardy Realty does have a C rating on their BBB profile, which is not great. The company closed two formal Better Business Bureau complaints over the last three years.

Agent quality

📊 Our rating: 5/5

  • 25-year average agent experience
  • 50 agents
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Hardy Realty agents are extremely experienced.

Of the 12 agents who listed experience on Realtor.com, the average agent had 25 years of experience. That’s more than triple the industry median of 8 years.

The company has over 50 agents in a well-established network. Chances are you will have a knowledgeable, experienced agent with lots of local connections.

Hardy Realty agents seem exceptional, but we still recommend interviewing each candidate thoroughly. Sit down with your local Hardy agent. Ask them how many years they’ve been working in real estate, how many transactions they complete per year, and for references from past clients.

Brand reach and visibility

📊 Our rating: 4/5

  • Decent web traffic
  • Strong presence in Northwest Georgia
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Hardy Realty has great brand reach and visibility for a small, regional brokerage. It also has a strong local reputation, as the oldest and largest real estate brokerage in the area.

"Hardy Realty" and other branded terms get over 5,400 Google searches each month. The company’s main website has 18,502 active listings and receives roughly 7,200 visits monthly. Those numbers are pretty good, considering the company's size.

The brokerage also has a strong presence near its headquarters in Northwest Georgia. Hardy Realty has 50 agents and 3 locations in the region's largest towns, Rome and Cedartown.

Service value

📊 Our rating: 3/5

  • Basic services
  • No extra services
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Hardy Realty has all the basic services to buy or sell a home in the area, but it doesn’t offer much more than that.

Hardy Realty agents help buyers find houses that meet all the criteria. They can also alert potential buyers when a suitable home is about to be listed on the market.

For sellers, the company’s services include


  • MLS listing and syndication across major real estate websites



  • Pricing assistance and CMA



  • Marketing strategy (including social media)



  • Open houses



  • Assistance with negotiations, contracts, and closing


Most comparable regional brokerages offer extra services, like professional photography, virtual tours, or an online platform to review buyer offers — all for the same fixed commission.

For reference, here’s the average commission in Georgia:

» MORE: Average Commission Rates Across the U.S.

💰 Top agents, big savings:

Clever’s free service matches you with top local realtors from the best brokerages (like Hardy Realty) but negotiates big savings.

Sellers list for just 1.5%. Buyers can get thousands in cash back after closing.

Additional info about Hardy Realty

General contact info (corporate office)

📍 Address 1609 Martha Berry Blvd. NE, Rome, GA 30165
☎️ Phone (706) 291-4321
📱 Social media Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

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Hardy Realty local offices and contact information

Office location Phone number
Hardy on Broad

440 Broad St.

Rome, GA 30161

(706) 291-4321
Cedartown Office

407 Main St.

Cedartown, GA 30125

(770) 748-5380
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Other Hardy Realty services

For this review, we focused on the real estate agents at Hardy Realty. However, we wanted to list two other services that Hardy Realty provides:

If you’re interested in rental property or commercial real estate, Hardy might be a company to consider working with. Before you make a decision, however, we would recommend shopping around. Another company may offer you a better rate or more value at the same price.

Next steps: Start interviewing agents!

To ensure you find the best agent for you, we recommend interviewing at least 2 to 3 (ideally from different brokerages). We also recommend that you look past big brands and companies and evaluate agents on an individual basis. For guidance on how to interview and choose agents wisely, you can read our guide on how to choose a real estate agent.

When you’re ready to start finding agents, Clever can give you a headstart: our free agent-matching service will put you into contact with great agents in your area (and you might save some money in the process, too).

🚀 Ready to get started?

Sign up below to get matched with top-performing agents in your area! Compare options, choose the best fit, and save money.

  • Sellers get pre-negotiated 1.5% listing fees (avg. seller savings is $9,600.)
  • Buyers can get 0.5% cash back after closing ($2,000 on a $400,000 house)

Clever is 100% free with no obligation. Give it a try today!

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Rating methodology

We evaluate brokerages based on four core criteria we think will help readers make informed decisions. We broke those criteria down into discrete metrics so we could make the score as objective as possible. Here’s a quick breakdown of that criteria and methodology:

Customer experience

Do most people who work with this brokerage have a generally positive experience? Are there any red flags?

What we looked at:

  • Average customer ratings across various third-party review sites, like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Google
  • The content of those reviews, via sentiment analysis tools and manual reading, to pull out key positive and negative themes and summarize key risks and benefits
  • The Better Business Bureau profile for formal complaints

Overall agent quality

How strong is the agent team? What are the chances of ending up with a solid realtor that will meet different needs, preferences, and availability?

What we looked at:

  • Total number of agents vs. offices to gauge how wide the selection is
  • Average experience of the entire team, based on public agent data on sites like Realtor.com and Zillow
  • Average annual transactions per agent, sourced from RealTrends or brokerage-provided data, compared with the industry average

Visibility and reach

How much "brand power" does this brokerage have? Does it increase awareness and get more eyes on your listings, more showings, or quicker offers?

What we looked at:

  • Social media presence across all major consumer-facing social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram)
  • Online audience size through web traffic volume and monthly Google searches for the brand name
  • Marketing reach, like listings on all major MLSs and populator listing sites like Zillow and Realtor.com

Value and service quality

How does the brokerage compare with other conventional brokerages? How does it compare with the market rates for commission (~3% listing fees)? Are you getting too little, the right amount, or more service for the tentative fee?

What we looked at:

What we consider "full service" for a real estate brokerage:

  • Professional home valuation
  • Advice on how to stage your home
  • High-quality professional photography
  • Listing on a multiple listing service (MLS) and home-buying websites
  • Open house management
  • Negotiation
  • Assistance with paperwork

Authors & Editorial History

Our experts continually research, evaluate, and monitor real estate companies and industry trends. We update our articles when new information becomes available.

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