Professional Profile: Ralph Precopio - 1973

Name: Ralph Precopio - 1973

Title: president & treasurer

Company: Ralph M. Precopio Realty

Location: Lewiston, ME

Birthplace: -

Ralph Precopio, president & treasurer of the Ralph M. Precopio Realty, Lewiston, ME., worked as a professional singer to help pay for his music education at the Boston Conservatory of Music, but romance turned his feet away from the bright lights and eventually into a highly successful real estate business. Precopio came out of Lewiston with a scholarship to the Conservatory, but additional living expenses still had to be covered, so he went to work for several talent agents who got him work in and around New England. The Korean conflict interrupted his career when Precopio volunteered for the draft, but after coming home, he resumed his singing. It was on a job in Me. that he met his wife, Lorraine, and decided that although he was doing well enough to support himself, he had found something which he appreciated much more than traveling. So, Precopio gave up his entertainment career and turned to other pursuits which eventually led him to real estate. He actually entered the field when he became familiar with a shopping center developer from whom Precopio rented space for his own automobile business. Knowing the developer promoted Precopio to take a course in real estate at the Univ. of Me. in pursuit of his broker’s license, even though he had no intention at the time time to follow through on the license. It was only three months before, almost as a lark, he sold some repossessed property for a bank. The sale launched Precopio into the real estate business. Within two years of oping his own agency, he gave up on residential sales and began specializing in commercial properties because he found that to be where the action is. A licensed broker for 11 years, he has not forsaken the professional aspects of being a Realtor. Precopio has been active in the affairs of the National Ass. of Realtors, serving on such committees as the Realtor’s Washington Committee. He holds membership in the Me. Assn. of Real Estate Boards and is a past president of that association. Precopio is also a past Me. chairman for the Commercial Investment Division of the National Institute of Real Estate Board. He has also been past president and director of the Androscoggin Valley Board of Realtors. All of which activity has convinced him that real estate offers a tremendous future for the right individual. He points to new educational programs and the large number of colleges which are promoting subjects in not only sales, but also appraisals. Precopio’s firm handles financing, appraisals, feasibility studies and development of commercial real estate. He firmly believes the commercial brokerage business is a tremendous state of change and that promotion of such business does not end at the closing. Accordingly, he keeps his firm available for consultation to clients even after a transaction has been completed. Precopio has always had the philosophy that to be active in commercial real estate means the broker should be completely aware of his market. Accordingly, he specializes in commercial appraisals because the brokerage and appraising seem to go hand in hand. Precopio and his wife, Lorraine, have three children, a son, 12, Ralph II, and two daughters, Mrs. Robert Dow and Miss Lee Precopio. Precopio still enjoys music and on occasion sings publicly, but his real hobby now is cruising the Me. coast in his 23-ft. cabin cruiser.