For 30 years, looking at the world through a windshield was a way of life for Mike Hartke, a top producer for Howard Hanna Real Estate in Buffalo, NY. These days, you’ll often find him looking at the world from homes atop the rolling hills of Franklin, TN, and on the tranquil harbor of Nantucket Island, MA. 

“In Buffalo you hear firetrucks, ambulances, city noises of a bustling downtown,” Mike says. “But in Franklin, the only thing you hear might be a train rolling through the valley. Their horns in the distance at night are better than a rain machine for getting to sleep.” The couple’s home on Nantucket also gives them a secluded summer getaway to relax and unwind.

In the top percentile of Zillow agents for both New York State and the nation, Mike spent 30 years driving an oil tanker for his family’s transport business, with the last 10 years of them driving at night and working real estate during the day.

“I was the oldest of four and at the time the responsible one,” he says of his career behind the wheel, one he still occasionally finds himself missing.

His driving days were numbered after moving to Buffalo in 2001 from the Colden area and making his first real estate investment, a seven-unit apartment building on Richmond Avenue, which he then called home for a while.

A friend suggested that getting a real estate license might be helpful if he planned to keep buying investment properties. Mike did and has since helped a myriad of clients buy and sell homes as well as strategically helping investors build their portfolios. He and his husband, Ken, have also purchased a considerable number of investment properties themselves. 

“Clients can get stressed and when people get stressed, they may make hasty decisions,” he says, adding his job is “to make sure every buyer and seller is completely informed about the transaction at hand.”

As a Realtor, he says being understanding, empathetic and friendly keeps the working relationship not only professional but fun. “Many of my clients have become my closest and best friends, and for this I am blessed.”

Over the years, Mike has represented some of WNY and Buffalo’s most iconic properties, most recently the well-known Castle at 21 Mayfair Lane in Buffalo, built-in 1880 in the style of an old English castle.

A particular area of expertise for Mike is apartment buildings. “As a seasoned investor myself, it’s important to locate the right properties for my client’s particular investment strategy. This is crucial because each investor has individualized goals.”

He and Ken have owned multiple apartment buildings through the years, providing their own property management for 200 units at one time. Through years of firsthand experience, he has developed relationships with the best businesses for maintenance, leasing, marketing, finance, legal representation and other services, resources he’s more than happy to share with investor clients.

“My goal is to get the best property for the client, period.”

His years of experience also help clients avoid potential mistakes, some of which he made early in his investing career. One of those is investing in a property only to sell it a few years later because it’s simply too far away to properly maintain and manage, usually only an issue when clients are just starting to build their portfolios. “My goal is to make sure people are methodical and steadfast in their investments.”

He says he and Ken’s Buffalo investment properties are typically within 15 minutes of each other and when working with investors, he focuses on target areas he knows are in their comfort zones.

A native of the Colden area, he remembers growing up with “so much snow and cold that what we get now is nothing. People laugh on cold days when they see me out in shirt sleeves.”

As an idea of how rural the area was, he says, “When the school bus dropped you off every afternoon, you didn't see anyone again until the next day at school. If it was Friday, you didn’t see anyone until Monday.”

Those days have long gone. When they’re in Franklin, Mike and his husband love to take advantage of live music and local honky-tonks in Nashville, about a half hour up the road. They are also big supporters of animal rescue shelters and have designated a percentage of their profits for that cause.

He also recently received his Tennessee broker’s license and has begun expanding his career in both Davidson and Williamson counties there.

“I know it may sound corny, but I believe in being an honest, ethical person,” Mike says. “It’s the only way you're going to do it right. I work hard, make people happy and make a nice living at it, God bless.”