A.K.A.: Ricardo Small
My nickname is Ricardo, because I was born in Colombia, South America in December 1946. I speak, read and write Spanish.
My parents brought me to Tucson in 1959, when I was 12 years old. I attended Palo Verde High School and graduated in 1964. Then I completed bachelor's and master's degree programs in wildlife biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
In the early 1960s my father developed Desert Palms Park, a residential housing subdivision, on Tucson's east side. This is where I began my involvement with residential real estate, although my initial experience was sweeping up Dad's construction sites, chopping weeds and watering large date palms on the main street.
After attending college, I worked as the executive secretary of the Arizona Wildlife Federation in Phoenix for a couple of years. Then I worked for the University of Arizona Alumni Association in Tucson, also for a couple of years. My first small business adventure was a financially disastrous small book store, where I averaged $500 a month for the eleven months I owned Sixth Street Books & Periodicals in Tucson.
In late 1976 I became a real estate sales agent and initially worked for ERA Winston Company in Tucson, then for Realty Executives and finally formed Rich Small Realty. I no longer have a real estate broker's license, because I only work as an appraiser.
I began my appraiser "slave" time (known as the trainee time) in 1990, working for a commercial real estate appraiser. After a couple of years as a trainee, I formed Rich Small Appraisals in April 1993.
My number one professional objective is to provide honest appraisal reports that you can rely on to help make important financial decisions that influence your life and the lives of your family, friends and clients. My second professional objective is to help enforce the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice to reduce the pervasive amount of appraisal fraud in my profession.
My hobbies include: (1) photography (I shoot a Nikon D70S digital.), (2) day hiking national parks and forests ... particularly the Grand Canyon and Southern Arizona mountains, (3) the Appraisers Forum on the Internet and (4) reading (I am a bookstore junky).
I have been maried to Mary since March 1987. We have three children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren, as well as a whole bunch of great family members who live in Arizona, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, California and British Columbia, Canada.
