Just some odd and ends on a friday evening ?

[Ray Miller]

Just some odd and ends?????

Reading June Manufacture Home Merchandiser tonight: MFG home manufacturing is down from it all time high by 70%.

Three to four years before the conventional site-built housing industry will have worked out their multi-level crisis.

This would suggest that while our recovery in the factory-built housing industry usually comes one to two years in advance of the site-built housing sector for a plethora of reasons, our immediate future also looks pretty bleak, at least for those retailers not willing to make the necessary adjustments.

The big question after reading the following I have for appraisers is can you say yes to this. Do you really know?

“You can be profitable in any market as long as you are prepared to operate within that market, you know hat your fixed overhead is and you know how much you need to sell in order to “breakeven” and ultimately make a profit.”

Your real fix overhead, not cutting any corners, running your business as a business, not a cottage industry. How many really know. We have just finished up our mid year budgets for the business and for our personal.

My fixed cost for the appraisal business is 300 fox pelts for the rural area I cover now before income and taxes is added to it. That is not cutting any corners by using my home office, my family car or truck, carrying the correct commercial insurance, as well as health insurance payments, retirement, office expenses, marketing, CE cost, memberships, auto repair and replacement, vacation pay, holiday pay, sick pay, dues and membership, non-family computers, soft-ware cost, hardware replacement and the other business expenses.

Would you mind sharing your real fixed cost with the rest of us?????

 

[Farm Gal]

Ray:

Not throwing rocks here but what then are you considering 'fixed costs' or did I misread?

That is not cutting any corners

Sounds like you are NOT including the 'normal operating' system you have in place? or were you saying you DID figure in those costs?

Frankly I am not sure what hubby's biz has for fixed appraisal costs - I just shut my eyes and sign checks for the costs and tell him not to spend any money on ANYTHING if the bank balance is low. I went and got a job elsewhere because we were going under trying to have two people as full time fee appraisers. It was obvious that we were gonna go down for the third time when I did that last set of calcuations you mention - no more assets to sell and no end in sight to liabilities... I saw no wave coming that would lift us back onto an even keel... that was 3 years ago and I haven't looked back. Moving into non-fee work was the smartest thing I could have done.

Hubby moonlights in several other areas (under the corporate umbrella) to keep that biz above water, so I don't really know what costs are pure appraisal and what is 'other stuff'.

I sincerely doubt if there are more than 20 people on this forum who could explain their fixed and variable costs for this type of work. I used to know -- now I don't WANT to know.

 

[TC]

Just some odd and ends on a friday evening ?
Reading June Manufacture Home Merchandiser tonight: MFG home manufacturing is down from it all time high by 70%.,

Ray,

It's Friday, take a frickin' break, you'll get a lousy assignment on Monday.


TC