Physicians are an obvious example, with room in their profession for general practitioners, specialists in internal medicine and doctors who focus on one particular organ or disease.
Attorneys represent another profession where specialization is considered the norm.
Closer to home, real estate brokers are very often specialists, limiting their practice to such narrow areas as industrial properties in a well-defined market area, single family homes in a particular neighborhood, or mobile home parks across a wide geographic area. Specialization is seen in many professions to be a mark of success and those practitioners who specialize are among the most-well respected and financially successful members of their field. Many appraisers are also specialists of one type or another, offering valuation services for single family homes or industrial buildings, or specializing in tax appeals, partial interest valuation or eminent domain. However, most appraisal specializations are rather broad, owing to the historic relationships between appraiser and client. Many of our clients are generalists, and in a business where ongoing professional relationships are often the key to success, offering a wide array of services to a small client base has long been a successful strategy for many independent appraisers.