Richard Harwood

Richard Harwood was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He worked in the trucking and transportation industry for 25 years and served on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Trucking Association and Birmingham Traffic and Transportation. Richard's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have all been lawyers, judges, and in politics. Growing up in this environment shaped Richard to be the hardworking, people-person he is today. Richard does not meet a stranger, and it is not uncommon for someone to come up to him and say, "Hey, I know you!" wherever he goes. The decision to become a Realtor was not planned or expected. During the pandemic, Richard's son was in a terrible accident. Because of the pandemic, they had trouble finding people willing to work in home health, so he and his wife, Kim, had to take the role of caregiving themselves. After 6 months of Richard and Kim working together every minute of everyday caregiving and changing wound dressings twice a day for their son, the idea of them working together in real estate came up. Kim said, "Your gifts are not being used working behind a desk, your gifts need to be put to use working with people." Leaving an industry of 25 years was a big change to consider, so Richard decided to look to his friends and family for their opinions. After receiving so much encouragement and positive feedback, including a lot of "You should've done this 20 years ago!", he decided to sign up for the real estate class and get his license.