6 minute read
IN HONOR OF A FALLEN BROTHER
BY MELANIE ROBITAILLE, SR. STAFF WRITER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Two brothers once chose two very different paths, one a real estate professional, the other fire and emergency services. Since finding EXIT Realty, Vincent Esposito, now Franchisee of EXIT Riverside Realty, is realizing a much greater connection with his brother than he ever could’ve imagined. It goes much deeper than the obvious safe passage meaning that connects these two professions through an exit sign, and this story may trigger, as it was set in motion over 20 years ago after one of the most tragic events in recent U.S. history. Vinny, as he's lovingly known, started his birthday like any other day, but it wasn’t just any other day, it was September 11th, 2001. It’s also the day his brother, Frank responded to the call, and became one of the many heroes who fell along with the World Trade Center.
“I was working on the conveyor belt at FedEx in the Atlantic City building at the time, when someone said a plane crashed into the Twin Towers. We all thought it was a sight-seeing tour that had an accident. We finished sorting all the packages and then I drove up the Garden State Parkway to my first stop of the day, Radio Shack,” Vinny recalled of that terrible morning, but it was a blur after what he saw on the TV’s in the store. “When I walked in, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. Another plane had hit, and these were no small sightseeing planes. I think I stayed in that Radio Shack for over an hour. I didn’t care about anything except what I was watching. When I finally left the store and started delivering packages God only knows how they got to the right places. I was completely numb. It never even dawned on me that my brother and cousin would be in the city that day, but unfortunately, they were.”
A New Yorker to the core, Vinny’s sense of duty was intense, and his patience wearing thin after waiting days to hear news of his brother he explained, saying, “I think it was September 13th that I tried to go to work and they sent me home...Then on what I think was September 14th, my brothers and I and some of their friends donned construction clothing and hard hats and went to Ground Zero.” He worked on “The Pile” for days, arm-in-arm with so many from all over. He still remembers the echo of silence, the faces caked with dust, and is brought back to that shocking experience to this day by certain smells. The following year, as a gift in his brother’s memory for his birthday, Frank’s widow gave Vincent his brother’s prized 1980 Triumph TR7 that he began restoring before he passed.
As hard and unfair as it seems, life continued as it usually does. Resiliency eventually gave way to normalcy again, and Vinny took a transfer far from his beloved New York to Ocala, FL, retiring soon after. Not quite ready to simply settle down, he tried his hand at several different jobs, which eventually led him to an independent real estate office nearby, and onto a new career path.
“After getting my first listing, I was told, ‘Fake it ‘til you make it,’” he recalled of the day he quit and started looking at several other real estate operations. “Once I saw there were no gimmicks, no empty promises, and plain simple truth, I signed on with EXIT. The 10-7-5 Formula of residual income didn’t hurt either.”
While there, a few agents were flirting with the idea of opening their own office. Vinny listened and learned, and when they didn’t take the leap, he decided to see what it was all about. Just like that, the pieces started to fall into place. He came into some money and was looking to invest in something that would benefit his three kids long after he was gone, so he reached out about franchise opportunities via joinexitrealty.com.
After meeting with EXIT Southeast Regional Owners, Stacy Strobl and Kenny Lynn, he signed on the dotted line, and then found the perfect spot for an office.
“I knew I wanted to be in Dunnellon, FL. The town is really amazing. Everything revolves around nature and the Rainbow River, but it’s the people that got to me,” he said. “I found a spot that’s right on the main road just up the street from where tubers exit the Rainbow River; hundreds, if not thousands, a week. The owners were willing to finance, so to say this was meant to be is an understatement.”
In honor of his brother and their now shared TR7 passion project, EXIT TR7 Partners LLC and EXIT Riverside Realty were born, and then, on Frank’s birth date, Vinny received the official state approval to open for business. Out of the ashes of 18 years before, Vinny would open his doors on September 11th, 2019. The brokerage has since grown to 14 agents strong, and Vinny has recently achieved his five-year goal of owning his office space outright. These days he tries to live his brother’s legacy of kindness through his business.
“Remembering him I can tell you honestly that my brother, Frank was a very caring guy. He would go to schools with a puppet to teach kids about the dangers of fire. He was also pretty generous, and I think I do a lot of my charity fundraising and gift giving to those who need it in his spirit,” he shared of office initiatives like sponsoring a local little league team and taking pizza and donuts to the local COVID testing site.
Vinny confessed that, although he’s pretty much the same guy, just with a heavier heart since 9/11, he does think about what others are going through more often, admitting that you never really know. And while no others in the office share a story of loss from that day, they’re all aware of the extraordinary, humbling origins behind the office. They give Vinny the space to honor his fallen brother every year on the anniversary, which he starts by watching the morning commemorative news, being silent in those moments, and it’s not until he hears the names of his cousin and brother read aloud that he goes out into the world to also celebrate his day, and the anniversary of his new real estate journey with a drive in the pair's now fully restored Triumph TR7.
