HGAR Awards Its Realtor and Affiliate Members of the Year for 2013

White Plains, NY, October 26, 2013 --(PR.com)-- At its recent Annual Meeting, the Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS® (HGAR) named Marcene Hedayati of William Raveis Legends Realty Group in Tarrytown as its REALTOR®of the Year for 2013. Irene Amato of ASAP Mortgage in Cortlandt Manor was named as Affiliate Member of the Year.

Other award winners included Philip Faranda of J. Philip Real Estate in Briarcliff Manor for the Spirit Award and Eydie Lopez of RE/MAX Benchmark Realty Group in Central Valley for the Extra Mile Award. In addition, HGAR President Katheryn DeClerck presented her President’s Award to Leah Caro of Bronxville-Ley Real Estate in Bronxville.

Finally, four Realtors were honored with the new Albert P. Schatz Legislative Advocacy Award:

- Albert P. Schatz of Albert P. Schatz LLC in Ossining
- Hank Fries of Henry W. Fries Real Estate in Bedford Hills
- Alan Yassky of Rockland Realty Commercial Real Estate Services in Nanuet
- George Kohl of Goshen, honored posthumously

Hedayati has been in the real estate industry for many years and is also a successful real estate broker. She has been actively involved with HGAR for the last 13 years, serving on its Legislative, Finance, Long Range Planning, Membership, Nominating, Broker/Owner/Manager, and Professional Standards Committees. She was also vice president of the former Westchester County Board Directors, and served on its Executive Committee. Since 2011, she has served as Co-Chair of HGAR’s Communications Council.

“Marcene has been part of our REALTOR® family for a long time and is always one of the first to volunteer to help out on everything, as well as attend our Realtor events,” said Richard Haggerty, HGAR CEO. “We are so pleased to present her with this prestigious award – she is more than deserving of it!”

As an affiliate member, Amato has been actively involved with the Association for many years and is always one of the first business owners to support HGAR events. She has worked in the real estate and finance industry for more than 25 years, and her business, ASAP Mortgage, has been serving the Hudson Valley area for the past 12 years.

“Irene has been a true friend and supporter of this Association,” added Haggerty. “Her generosity has been instrumental in the success of so many of our events.”

The Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS® (HGAR) is a not-for-profit trade association covering over 9,000 real estate professionals doing business in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Orange counties. HGAR is comprised of the former Westchester Putnam Association of REALTORS® (WPAR), Rockland County Board of REALTORS® (RCBR) and Orange County Association of REALTORS® (OCAR).