Harps came from Philadelphia to study chemistry at Howard University. But as graduation loomed, he realized that he would need a Ph.D. to be taken seriously as a chemist. Harps had come to Howard at the height of the depression. Although he had an academic scholarship, he had to wait tables nights and weekends to pay for room and board. There was no way he could afford graduate school.

Then a friend introduced Harps to John R. Pinkett, who owned the leading real-estate firm in the black community. In 1939 Pinkett hired young Bill Harps as a property manager and salesman. With Pinkett's blessing, Harps studied real-estate appraising in 1950. He felt he finally had found his niche. Like chemistry, real estate appraising requires a lot of mathematics.

His timing couldn't have been better. The federal government had begun the redevelopment of Southwest DC and was selling land to developers. Harps was one of seven appraisers selected to value the property; he appraised 27 blocks in Southwest slated for development.

After 44 years of working for Pinkett, Harps left to start Harps & Harps in 1983. The other Harps was Bill's son Richard.

Over the years Bill Harps has acted as a real-estate appraiser/consultant to major banks and corporations, including Prudential, Mobil, IBM, Pepco, and Bank of America. He also has lectured on appraising in universities across the country and was an instructor at American University.

One of his proudest accomplishments is that he integrated the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers in 1960 by convincing the membership that he should be admitted. "Some of the members said I'd get in over their dead bodies," Harps recalls. "They're all dead now."

Harps worked hard on AIRE committees and moved up in the organization. "I used to get angry but I never let it show," he says. He was elected president of the institute in 1980. In 1976, he was named president of the Washington Board of Realtors.

Harps credits John Pinkett, his teachers, his colleagues, and his wife Justine for contributing to his success.

"Everybody has to be helped by somebody," he says. "Nobody makes it alone."