Roseann Paggiotta, Associate Broker with eXp Realty Yonkers office, is the State Liason for the New York State Women’s Council of Realtors. A longtime member of both the local and state WCR organizations, Paggiotta served as secretary for New York’s WCR in 2017 and treasurer in 2018.
It was back in 2008 when she first got involved with the Empire Local WCR Chapter in Westchester, at the insistence of her current Houlihan Lawrence branch manager Terri Crozier.
Paggiotta is also celebrating over 22 years in real estate. She earned her license in 1997 and joined Nick Wolfe Century 21, where she spent about five years. Her next stop was Century 21 Mancuso, where she served as the administrative manager, and in 2005, she became manager of the firm’s Yonkers office.
Later she moved over to Prudential Rand, where she became the manager of its New Rochelle office, but then decided to go back into sales. She joined Houlihan Lawrence’s Yonkers office in 2017 and is now with eXp Realty as of October 2022.
However, Paggiotta’s path to real estate was somewhat of a winding road. She actually began her career in Manhattan, where she worked as an administrator and office manager for a textile company for more than 21 years.
Later, she found herself working in hospitality for Formula 1 race cars. With her new position came many perks like traveling to Canada and Mexico, as well as throughout the U.S.
By 1990, Paggiotta decided to give sales a try when she opened “Roseann’s Lingerie and Boutique” in Yonkers. Her aunt had operated the former “Fanny’s Lingerie” in the same location, but the store closed in 1989.
The store was in operation through 1997, and Paggiotta took classes for mastectomy fittings and alterations to add more options for her customers.
However, the introduction of larger chain stores created more competition, and she was working longer hours and six days a week. “It became frustrating because you have to buy all of the stock and there was a lot of money hanging on the walls,” she said.
What finally piqued her interest in real estate was shopping for farm properties with her partner, Bob. Shortly afterward, Paggiotta was working towards getting her real estate license.
Looking back, Paggiotta admits her career decision was challenging in the beginning. “It’s totally different than running a retail business. People would come into the store and just buy what they wanted, but when you’re selling homes it takes a lot more time,” she said. “Until the sale closes, you have nothing.”
Over the years, though, Paggiotta has become not only a successful Realtor, but a well-known horse rescuer throughout Dutchess County. It all started when Bob retired, got involved with farming, rebuilt a milk house on their property, bought some cows and actually won first prize at the Dutchess County Fair.
They raised five generation of cows before selling them, then got two Clydesdale horses. When Roseland Ranch went out of business, the couple rescued 11 horses. Today, they also operate Robert’s Ranch, where they board horses for others, while continuing to care for rescued horses.
