I would charge $3,500,000/hour.


i would retire after my first hours worth of work. mainly because the chances of getting paid for a second hour are even more slim than teh first hour:-)

In this instance you might consider switching the client to a "daily rate" similar to the following:

(1 day) $500.00 per day or part thereof, plus expenses with a $1,000.00 retainer in advance.

(2 days) $500.00 per day or part thereof, plus expenses with a $1,500.00 retainer in advance.

Whatever day rate you establish add the same amount for expenses as shown above. This may prevents a client, to some degree from using your services for 1 hour per day and stretching the retainer out over a long period of time and have you at his beck and call.

Important Notice: This information is provided as basic educational information by the author and is not a substitute for the advice of an expert and/or the advice of a lawyer. There is NO representation as to legality, accuracy, correctness of the herein information and the reader is strongly urged to consult a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction to ensure accuracy before acting on this information .

Hmm.. I've never done hourly work on a sales basis, but I have been an expert witness and I billed $150 per hour, which is reasonable given my experience and what you can make doing sales over consulting. I don't know that I would do sales via hourly rate, but in this market I'd be making more if I did! :)

Joe

From an agent cost perspective I have been doing some research to see what local agents would work for on an hourly basis. Here are my findings:

Full-time agents employed by broker on salary: $14.50/hr. plus beneifts

Full-time agents employed by broker w/o benefits: $18/hr.

Broker - work by hour intermitently - 2 hr. minimum: $25/hr for marketing-type, showing-type services and $50/hr. for negotiation and contract services

Raleigh, NC area

@broker - Not sure how you're doing your survey, but I wouldn't do what I do for that amount of money.

Broker - i think your calculator is broke.

Those pesky zeros dropped off the end of his numbers. Or he was crunching them so hard that one just popped right out!

Seriously. No less than $100/hr. We are a business, not an individual - think about the overhead in each hour (fees, education, insurance - of all sorts!, dues, gas, car, office, electricity, ink, paper, etc.) and you will soon see that those working for $20/hr are losing money. They just don't know it, but will figure it out about the time they decide to let their license go inactive.

Those figures I posted are accurate. I spoke with dozens of agents and brokers. You may not work for those fees but many will.

The broker hourly figure was provided by them not me. In an industry as easy to get into as this there is bound to be competition when markets slow.

some will also rebate commission, we will see what happens when the smoke clears. this is a business. ask your doctor for a rebate to put toward your next bill and see what happens. after paying expenses and being 1099'd what would you make off of 20 bucks an hour? rofl!

Broker:

You may have got those rates from some agents who should be asking "You want fries with that?" We operate a business and the business has lots of expenses that need to be covered before it will break even; what is paid the agent is only a part of the equation.

Let me use a comparison to an automotive repair shop where you take your car and get charged maybe $60/hr for service work. The mechanic that did the work might get $15/hr and he doesn't have to deal with licensing, C.E., E&O or many of the other expenses that real estate agents pay as part of their cost of being in the business.

To make money at this on an hourly rate basis you have to factor in the business costs, not just the personal compensation.

Mr. Foreclosure

does anyone have a figure for all dues licensing fees and everyting worked up with approx vehicle cost(maint., gas, etc...) broken down into what your expenses are per hour? people would be shocked, i should know, but dont have the time to find those numbers because finding them does not make me money!

I can go to prior year tax returns to find my costs, the hard part is knowing how many hours to calculate a rate.

I know some question if these are real figures or not but I can ensure you they are. The fact is there are far more agents then business and some will work for a steady paycheck... and some don't need to do it full-time or make 100K because they have a spouse that supports them.

The experience range was from 2 years to 22 years... and one broker currently has their own firm with 3 agents and will chuck that to work for $18.50/hr.

Reality.

18.50------- w-2'd or 1099'd?

I'm just going to repeat what I said above about this industry having evolved to provide service to the greatest number for "free" using the compensation that has been (or might be) received from the "few".

There is no way that any of us would hustle as we do, or work sometimes 75 hours, or more, per week if we were routinely paid on an hourly basis. Wage and Hour Laws would prevent it; the personalities of the people who fill these ranks would be far less aggressive; and the Public would go wanting for the quality and quantity of service it now receives gratis.

When Eric originally asked this question, I thought he was discussing how a rate is established for some occasional consulting activity; not a ccomplete revision of the way our business is structured, and its particpants are motivated.

Hourly compensation would just turn us all into a bunch of lazy bureaucrats.