Corcoran agent nabs top REBNY residential sales deal of year

From left: Corcoran’s Jacqui Howard Sicignano and Halstead Property’s Senad Ahmetovic and Pasquale Strippoli

Jacqui Howard Sicignano of the Corcoran Group won first place at this year’s Real Estate Board of New York Residential Deal of the Year Awards and Charity Gala, held at the Grand Hyatt New York on 42nd Street tonight.

REBNY presented its top awards at the annual event, which had a casino theme this year and was entitled “Betting on New York.” Gala committee members entertained the crowd with details of the challenges this year’s winners overcame to sell properties.

Sicignano was awarded residential sales deal of the year for selling a townhouse that came with a unique set of challenges, explained Jeff Rothstein, executive vice president and director of sales at Prudential Douglas Elliman, who presented the award. To get the deal done, Sicignano contended with a horrible stench, “three vicious pit bulls on the third floor,” and a seller who had no money for the repairs demanded by the buyer, said Rothstein, co-chair of the Residential Deal of the Year Gala Committee.

Sicignano even worked out a deal for an elderly woman living in the garden apartment to lease back the space from the new owner, he said.

Senad Ahmetovic and Pasquale Strippoli of Halstead Property received the award for residential rental of the year, for a deal in which they dealt with a “control-freak condo owner” and drama created by a celebrity tenant, Rothstein said. Ahmetovic also won the award last year.

Roger Gillen of Brown Harris Stevens was named the residential rookie salesperson of the year. MacRae Parker of BHS won the Henry Forster Award, for outstanding achievement in the residential real estate market and outstanding ethical conduct.

Last year’s winner, Corcoran’s Tresa Hall, presented the award to Parker. She noted that the industry veteran, known for his “quiet reserve,” engages in anonymous charitable acts such as providing financial support to an elderly widow in his building, donating apple trees to a struggling farm family and supporting the Frick and Winterthur museums.

Proceeds from the event benefit REBNY’s Residential Member in Need Fund.

Other winners included:

• Residential deal of the year, second place: Carol Landon of Elliman and Lisa Snyder of Halstead

• Residential deal of the year, third place: Neoly Lika Williams of Elliman and Karin Posvar Picket of Corcoran