You don’t have to do everything alone—being part of a successful real estate team is a great way to jump-start your career or to take your career to the next level.
At some point, most real estate agents discover that to move forward with their careers, you’ll have to build a team. Usually, it’s when you realize that you’ll either have to turn down business or get help.
Hiring assistants and other licensees will enable you to grow your business without sacrificing customer service or a personal life.
But can you afford it?
One suggestion is to hire one person for every 50 transactions you do.
A slightly more sophisticated approach is to:
- Calculate your average net on each transaction.
- Estimate the cost of salary (plus Social Security and withholding, etc.).
- Determine how many more transactions you need to pay for an assistant.
Another even more complicated method is to:
- Look at last year’s tax return and review the profit you reported on your Schedule C.
- Divide that figure by the number of hours you worked last year. Let’s say you made $100,000 and worked 2,000 hours. That means your hourly rate is $50.
- Ask yourself: if all your activities are worth $50 per hour or whether you’d be better off hiring someone for $15 per hour to prepare listing packages and do mailings, etc.
Certainly, an assistant will free you up to spend many more of your working hours on activities that are worth $50—such as lead generation and negotiating contracts.
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