How Much Do You Earn Per and Hour and Why It’s Important
October 3, 2014
You don’t know? Don’t feel alone. Many agents never think to even ask this question. Yet it’s important, as you’ll see.
According to About.com in an article called How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make? agents typically make between $35,000 and $45,000 a year.
If you work a 40 hour week you’ll work 2080 hours a year. Of course, there’s some variation, but it’s a figure we can work with.
If you divide $35,000 by 2080 you get $16.83 an hour; $45,000 annually would equal $21.63 an hour.
How many hours do you work a week?
Of course, most full-time real estate agents probably work more than a 40 hour week. Or to put it more accurately, full-time agents can easily find themselves working longer hours than salaried folks. Maybe not every day. In fact, one of the great things about being in real estate is you can take days off or afternoons off more easily than those working for others can.
It can be worth it to time your activities. If you don’t really know how many hours you’re working you’re likely to be inefficient and think you’re working when you’re not. That’s why I wrote Tracking Expenses Helps Real Estate Agents Deal With Uneven Income.
Obviously, in order to really understand how much you’re earning per hour, you need to know both what you’re annual income is and how many hours you work a year.
You can project with as little as a week’s worth of information just by multiplying. That will give you an approximate number which can be helpful for goal setting.
The same is true for part time agents. Discover how much you earn an hour by figuring out both how much you make and how many hours you really work.
Why it’s important
Knowing how much you earn at your job is important. When you have a salary, you pretty much know because you take home X amount of dollars every week or so.
When you’re on commission it’s easy to fool yourself, particularly about how many hours you’re actually working. Many think they are working more than they are, and many don’t realize how many hours they’re putting in. Figuring out how much you are earning an hour can help put your real estate job in perspective.
The truth is each of us has only 24 hours in a day. We need to spend a portion of many of those days working for pay so we can do the things we want to do. We want decent homes, good clothes and to care for our family. All that takes some money to do.
We also need time for ourselves, friends and family that doesn’t cost money, at least not directly. A walk in the park, coffee on the back porch, quiet conversation without the background noise of TV or the ‘net all count.
Exactly how much time you spend on any activity varies widely. Everyone has different needs and different goals. Since you’re in real estate, you have more flexibility in how you spend your time.
Obviously earning money is only part of the picture, but it is an important part. Being sure we’re earning what we need and want to earn is important. Figuring out how much we’re really earning an hour can tell us if we need to work more, work less, or work smarter.
Understanding how we earn and spend both our time and our money is part of making sure we spend our 24 hours a day as wisely as we can.
Do you know how much you earn an hour? Do you think it’s important to know? Let’s talk about it in comments.
By Anne Wayman
Before Anne Wayman became a writer she sold real estate in Southern California. She worked with her father who learned the business from his father. Not surprisingly she learned a few things along the way. Since then, she has been freelance writing for over 30 years – she is a grandmother, loves cats and writes about a wide variety of topics including real estate.