Upon entering college, Rick began to focus more on business. He graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Tennessee. In 1981, Rick moved to Jacksonville Beach, Florida, to begin a position as a Project Manager for a construction firm. For the next few years he built single family homes while attending the University of North Florida in the evenings. In 1983, he received his Bachelor of Technology degree in Construction, with a minor in Real Estate. He later returned to the University as an Adjunct Professor in the Construction Department.

     In 1985, Rick became a Certified Residential Contractor, and two years later, upgraded his license to that of a Certified General Contractor. In 1986, he became a Licensed Real Estate Salesman, and in 1988, he earned his Broker's designation. A few years later, he acquired his Mortgage Broker's license.

     Over the course of his career, Rick has managed the construction of over 200 single family homes, with values ranging into the millions of dollars. He has also completed numerous commercial and remodeling projects, including but not limited to Retail Shops, Restaurants, Dental and Medical Facilities, Office Buildings, Warehouses, and others. His activities as a Real Estate Broker/Associate encompassed Marketing, Sales, Leasing and Property Management. As a Mortgage Broker, he primarily specialized on Private Lender funding, originating numerous Investor loans. All of his licenses are currently inactive, since Rick now concentrates on acting as a principal in every transaction he's involved with.

     In 1993, Rick began purchasing his own Investment properties, and he joined a local Real Estate Investment Association in order to learn more about that particular aspect of the business. His various areas of expertise were quickly recognized, and he was elected to their Board of Directors, where he remained for five years, one of them as Vice-President.

     RWC Properties, Inc., a Florida for-profit corporation, was founded in 1995, to acquire Investment properties for their own account. At one time the Company bought or sold an average of 2 - 4 properties per month. Most of these properties were resold to owner/ occupants, but a few were held as long-term rental properties. Since its origination, the company has bought or sold nearly 200 homes in the Jacksonville, Florida area.

     Shortly after starting RWC Properties, a nationally recognized Real Estate Investment training company offered Rick a position as Consultant. In that capacity, he initially managed their "Real Estate Hotline" department, a service for customers to call in to discuss practically any question or type of Real Estate transaction.

     He later was enlisted by the firm to instruct Workshops, Seminars and Advanced Multi-day Training events on a wide variety of subjects across the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. Since that time, Rick has spoken before tens of thousands of participants at hundreds of events. Some of the topics he's discussed include:

• Wholesaling/Retailing of "Ugly" Houses;
• Creative Financing and Lease/Options;
• Commercial Properties;
• Land Development;
• Business Management;
• Business & Entity Structuring ;
• Negotiating;
• Marketing;
• Notes, Mortgages and Paper transactions;
• Private Lending;
• Property Management;
• Tax Strategies;
• Foreclosures;

     Since getting started in the Real Estate Investment business in 1993, Rick has had the pleasure of working with and learning from most of the biggest names in the business, many of whom are household names to anyone involved in Real Estate Investing. Some of those include:

• Ron LeGrand - World's best at "Quick Turning" houses;
• Robert Allen - One of the originators of "Nothing Down" and "Multiple Streams of Income" strategies;
• Dan Kennedy - Top notch Marketing GURU;
• Jeff Kaller - "Mr. Pre-foreclosure";
• Kris Kirschner - Creator of "Selling Your Houses on Auto-pilot" system;
• J. Scott Shields - One of the Nation's leading authorities on Commercial properties;
• Robyn Thompson - The "Queen of Rehabs";
• Kathy Kennebrook - The "Marketing Magic Lady";
• Barney Zick - Member of Creative Real Estate Hall of Fame;
• Shawn Casey - One of America's foremost Asset Protection Attorneys;
• Ernie Kessler - Top Foreclosure Instructor;
• Bob Leonetti - Nationally recognized Mortgage & Note expert;
• George Yeiter - Tax Strategy & Business Planning authority;
• Al Lowery, Richard Powelson, Louis Brown, and others.

     In February of 2005, Rick and his company were retained by a national Real Estate Investment firm to review, analyze, negotiate, entitle, and market numerous Commercial Projects submitted for potential Joint Ventures from all across the U.S. and Canada. Since that time, he has personally reviewed over 2,600 Commercial Project submittals, several of which are now being developed or completed.

     Palm Valley Consulting, LLC, is a Florida limited liability corporation Rick formed in 2006 to provide consultation to both companies and individuals on a wide variety of Real Estate Investing matters. Drawing from their vast experiences, he and a team of industry experts presented a live training Workshop to provide the attendees with a thorough, detailed analysis of the various aspects involved in reviewing and sorting through Commercial Real Estate Investment prospects.