What will I be doing?

Real-estate appraisers check local real estate records, inspect and measure property and calculate value based on local and industry guidelines. There are more than 30,000 real-estate appraisers in the U.S. and many of them operate from home. A real-estate appraiser gets paid for defining the value of specific real estate and may specialize in commercial real estate, residential homes, farms and acreage or industrial property.

What will I need to start?

Surprisingly, most states don't require a real-estate appraiser to be licensed as are real-estate sales brokers. However, the industry still relies on professionals who have developed credentials through training and experience. Without facts and credentials, an estimate is just a guess.

So, to be a successful real-estate appraiser, you'll need training and experience. Some appraisers were formerly real-estate brokers or agents while others came from the mortgage side of the business. A few come from unrelated backgrounds and take college courses in real-estate appraisal and marketing.

There are handbooks and computer CD-ROMs that can help you analyze market value of property. Some guides are national while others are regional or local. Your community college, local mortgage lenders, real estate board or professional bookstores can help you find the resources you'll need.

Who will my customers be?

Potential customers for your real-estate appraisal service are property sellers, buyers, agents, lenders, insurers and others who need to know the value of a property. The actual value depends on the customer. A seller or buyer wants to know the market value while a mortgage banker wants the lending value, a more conservative figure.

Based on your background and training, you may decide to specialize in one or more types of customers or properties. Or you may find there are already too many appraisers in one area--so you focus on another where competition is less and opportunities are greater. Once you've selected your prospective customers, you can more easily find a way of telling them about your services--through advertising, telephone calls, association membership and referrals.

How much should I charge?

A real-estate appraiser typically uses a rate of $40 to $80 an hour to calculate the pricing of his or her services. In most cases, though, the price is actually quoted by the estimated time it will take to do the job. For example, a lender's appraisal that usually takes you 2.5 hours at $50 an hour can be priced at $125. It may take slightly more or less time, but that's the average that you use for pricing.

How much will I make?

Once established, your appraisal service should be able to bill for 70 to 80 percent of your time, or 28 to 32 hours of a 40-hour work week. Overhead expenses for a home-based appraisal service are 15 to 35 percent of sales. So a one-person appraisal service can bring the owner a net income of $35,000 to $60,000 a year or more.

How can I get started?

You'll need credentials to compete with other appraisers. Your licensing requirements will depend on the state in which you'll be doing business. Read the ads for appraisers in your local telephone book and real-estate section of area newspapers. You'll find out what associations they belong to, how much experience they have and how they attract prospective customers. You'll need a telephone with an answering service and a beeper. Or you can use a mobile phone to take your calls wherever you are.

Contact The Appraisal Institute (312-335-4100) and the National Association of Real Estate Appraisers (602-948-8000) for more information.

The SIC code for real-estate appraisers is 6531-16.

How can I use computers to increase profits?

Today's real estate appraiser doesn't use a notebook. Instead, it's a notebook computer. Portable computers can not only make recording property information easier, but they can also access databases (CD or online) of public records, appraisal tables, and other resources. When done, the appraiser can print the report on the spot – or email it back to the lender.