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An Introduction to Real Estate Investing
There are a great many books and web sites devoted to real estate investing out there, but most of them concentrate on one specific area of investing. It's often hard to find a general description of real estate investing, one that lists the various...
Investing As A Sport?
I said last week that money doesn't generally buy happiness, but the lack of it can buy absolute misery. This, by the way, is not just my personal observation. It is the conclusion of some of the most respected happiness researchers (Yes,...
Investing in the Czech Republic - Outside of Prague - Part 1: Brno Property
Imagine if you had bought property in Prague 8 years ago....
Brno property has been getting a lot of exposure lately. And for
good reason. Attractive deals in Prague are getting harder to
find. Attention is beginning to turn elsewhere.
...
Is Tax Lien Investing Still Profitable?
Tax Lien Investing is not the secret of the wealthy anymore. Do
to late night infomercials and high priced investment seminars
that tout buying tax lien certificates as a high yielding
investment, more and more people are buying tax liens. As...
Real Estate Investing -- Motivated Buyer?
What's the first image that comes to mind when you hear the term
-- motivated seller?
You probably think of someone who is desperate to sell his
property, as quickly as possible, for well below the market
price - right?
Well, sometimes...
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How To Realistically Set Your Fees - Part 1
We all know there are 52 weeks in a year and 40 working hours in a week. Therefore, we can bill 2080 hours per year, right. Wrong. Too often this is the trap that many new service businesses fall into.
The first step in calculating your billable hours is to define a realistic working year. If you were employed elsewhere, you would expect or want at least two weeks vacation time, one week sick time, one week personal time and paid holidays. So, where does that leave us - 52 weeks minus four weeks leaves 48 weeks minus about 10 paid holidays, or a total of approximately 46 weeks per year.
OK, you say, that means I can still bill for 46 weeks times 40 hours per week or 1840 hours per year. If I charge $25 per hour that comes to $46,000. Not bad, that is more than I was making on my previous job. Wrong.
What you have just established is a realistic working year, not the number of billable hours. You still need to account for marketing time, administrative time, bookkeeping time, equipment maintenance, continuing education, etc. You also need to calculate in equivalent time for self-employment tax, local business taxes, etc. In many locales, this can add up to an additional 20% or so in time or money.
If we assume approximately one hour per day for marketing and one hour per day for administrative, etc., (and this is a very conservative estimate, then we need to subtract: 46 weeks times 5 days per week equals 230 days at 2 hours per day equals 460 hours, from 1840, for billable time left in a year of 1380 hours. Now
subtract approximately 20% for the above taxes or 276 hours and that leaves you with 1104 billable hours in a year. And this may still be high, but at this point, you can see to earn that $46,000 per year you will need to charge $46,000 divided by 1104 hours or about $42 per hour.
There are many factors which need to be examined in setting your fees. We'll look at those items that need to be taken into account, such as business expenses, insurance, pensions and profit margin, in upcoming articles.
Hopefully, this article has at least pointed you in the right direction.
Next article we'll take a more in depth look at the role expenses play in setting your fees.
Copyright 2003, DeFiore Enterprises.
Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 17 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our FREE "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com
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