25 Over Fifty-Five 2019 Award Winner
SALLY E. LAPIDES | CEO and president, Residential Properties Ltd.
For Sally E. Lapides, founder, CEO and president of real estate company Residential Properties Ltd., a key to success is staying connected to your community.
“That’s always been my mantra in this business. You get by giving back. When I interview a potential broker for my company, that’s one of the questions I ask. Not just how many houses have you sold, but what have you done outside of the office. You’ll never make a living by just going from your house to the office and back again,” Lapides said.
She practices what she preaches, and over the years has been on the boards of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Roger Williams University, Smith Hill Center, Trinity Repertory Company, Providence Country Day School, The Gordon School, the Newport International Film Festival, and GAIA (Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS). She has worked with Rhode Island Foundation, Year Up Rhode Island, Habitat for Humanity and more.
“She gives back to the community in multiple ways, and she’s been doing it forever,” said Libby Isaacson, Residential Properties chief operating officer.
At the same time, Lapides built her company into a multifaceted operation with 200 agents, 25 support employees, a relocation division and a commercial real estate division. Isaacson said Lapides is a great negotiator with a keen sense of the Rhode Island market.
Real estate is “a relationship business,” said Lapides, and even though she no longer sells houses herself, she has clients from 20 or even 30 years ago call looking for referrals for themselves or their children.
Lapides received a bachelor’s degree in art history from Boston University, and originally planned to work in a museum. Her mother, Myrna Lapides, was also a Realtor and when an early art gallery job fell through, she suggested her daughter try selling real estate.
It turned out she was a natural.
