Graders - How much $ do they make?

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

How much do graders at PSA, SGC, GAI, you name it, earn per year?
How many graders (not employees, graders) work at each company?
How many weeks a year do they work?
How many days per week?
How many hours per day?
How many cards per hour?
What training do they get before going to work?
How long before they burn out?

Who here would want to be a grader?

Just wondering.

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Posted By: Jerry Hrechka

Over on the CU forum, PSA is advertising to hire a grader. In the thread it states that graders make between 35K to 75K per year - depending on experience.

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Posted By: Dave F

I saw that over there Jerry. But I would have to think the "big name" graders make more than that. 75k wouldn't go too far in Southern California or in the Northeastern U.S.

I would imagine Bob Luce doesn't have to live from paycheck to paycheck.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

Doesn't count the bribes though. A truly enterprising grader could make so much additional income that it would be better than being a politician.

I'm kidding; this should not be taken in any way as a slur against politicians.

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Posted By: Mark T

actually $75,000 is pretty decent money for the Northeast.
I live in CT and that salary would get you a nice Condo or a decent house here with extra $ to boot...

Now i agree with your statement on Southern Cal. I have never lived there but i heard a very small house and land goes for $500,000.

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Posted By: Dave F

Mark..then I'm wrong. I was always told it was pretty pricey to live in the NE. I'm in Atlanta...where 75k can be decent. I'm 30 miles north of downtown...but 200k is what I paid for my house here and its a 4bed 2 1/2 bath with a basement (that i've been told I need to finish). I was under the impression 200k wouldn't get that up there.

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Posted By: Mark T

you would get a very small run down house in a bad area of CT.

Not that there are many bad areas in CT, it all depends on the school system here. The town i live in has the highest ranked school system in the state. And boy do we pay for it. I own a decent colonial with 1 acre in a very nice area and paid over $500,000 for it. Our taxes are pretty low i do have to say. I only pay $5,000 a year in taxes. 70% of our town budget goes to the schools and i can see why. The teachers are top notch and my son loves everything about school and learning. Thats worth all the money in the world.


Edited for spelling errors..

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Posted By: Dave F

Mark...so then how could someone make it comfortably on $75k a year there if that is the top range for the top teir graders? (which I still can't believe is)

$500,000 in atlanta can put you in the same neighborhood as some of the braves and falcons....well, some.

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Posted By: Mark T

I may have worded it wrong. The town i live in is expensive and most in CT are NOT. My wife and i make 4X over the state median income so we choose to live in a expensive town.

A average condo is $110,000-$120,000 (coming way down in price now). Average house is $160,000-$200,000. Now these are just averages, you get a decent house for that in a bad area and a not so good house in a good area. So a mortgage on a house depending on how much you would put down would be $900-$1,100 including taxes. So you end up with extra $ if you make $75,000 a year.

It all depends on what town you live in, the best schools which is very important to us "YANKEES", are in towns which have very high house prices....



I have a friend that lives in Atlanta, i think the town is Alpharetta...

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Posted By: Ed

Whatever they make, I hope they are not given volume incentives.

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Posted By: Mike

The Twin Cities is one of the most expensive places for us average folks to live. We are also the third highest tax state. In most respects. An "average house" is about $225,000. And I do mean average....Minnesota has suffered from poor leadership for about 70 years. So Minnesotans have no one to blame but themselves. If a married couple with a couple kids, isn't dragging in at least $100K around here, you won't be going to too many movies. or anything else for that matter. other Minnesotans will vouch for me on this. People talk about how expensive Hawaii is. When my wife and I recently went there, the homes for sale were less than they are here. I just had 6 homes go up right behind me, and they are all over a million Bucks, Ah.....the American dream...Being in debt up to your eyeballs...

Edited to add, in the twin cities $225,000 will get you a small city lot, two bedrooms, one bath, and a single car garage. Very small house. If you are renting around here $800-$900 a month will put you in a rats nest. Average rent is about $1,100.

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Posted By: Paul S

I saw that thread over at CU yesterday. My interpretation, as well as another's, was that the person who answered the original topic-poster made the statement about 75K/p-yr in a tongue-in-cheek manner. He actually wrote it out, including how many cents.

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Posted By: Dave F

Mark, Alpharetta is a bit more on the expensive side in metro Atlanta...most areas arent as high...but it is in North Fulton County (the county Atlanta is in) everything in North Fulton is pretty high dollar...my house in Alpharetta would probably have been $350k-400 with the basement...

As far as the schools down here...well, my parents made me do a couple years of catholic school when I was a kid...won't put my kids through that torture...public shool all the way

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Posted By: Kevin Sauicer

To give you an idea...

I live right in SoCal actually on a strip of land considered the city of Los Angeles, about 7 miles from any one of several beaches. I have a small 3 bdr house in a nice quiet neighborhood. A couple 3 doors down just sold their house, maybe a bit bigger than ours (but not by much), for $800K.

Unless you bought a house 10 years ago, which I might add was expensive for the time, I just don't see how a young family couple could afford to buy a house.


...glad to find out Minnesota is still a state.

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Posted By: JimCrandell

Whaddaya know--Dave and I are neighbors--practically. I knew there was a reason we saw things similarly.

Think my house has gone down in value since buying there however.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I suspect Atlanta is flat and wide so you can easily move outwards if you need more housing. In Seattle, there are geographical constraints that help prevent this. Where I grew up, it was flat, not overpopulated, and you could build outwards. $500,000 in today's money would buy you a mansion on an acre of land in a ritzy neighborhood. I grew up within the city and my family's yard was 2-1/2 acres (when my parents bought the house it was outside the city, and the city expanded past it). In Seattle, they'd divide that into about 20 plots.

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Posted By: Dave F

What do you mean Dave and I are neighbors Jim?

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Posted By: peter ullman

this degradation/derailment of threads is becoming quite the norm these days. WTF?

pete ullman in mn

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Posted By: JimCrandell

I own a house not too far from where you live.

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Posted By: jeffdrum

My rotting little shack is in Suwanee, not far fron the fair climes of Alpharetta.

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Posted By: David Smith

Boxingcardman,

Bribes?? I think the BIG money would be from the graders taking cards and altering or trimming them. I mean they WORK for a grading company and KNOW what can and can not get through. It wouldn't take too many cards bought cheap and then altered to make a nice, supplemental income.

I am in no way saying this is happening but THAT is what I would worry about.

David

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Posted By: Bob

One of the fastest growing States is Arkansas. A $175,000 house here is comparable to a $850,000 house in California based on several people I have talked to who have moved here. It is a beautiful state, much like Oregon although we are still light years behind Oregon when it comes to being a green state and protecting the environment. Southern states have gotten a bad rap over the years as being red-neck, hillbilly places but I can tell you that racial tolerance has greatly improved over the years and the people here are as kind and hospitable as anywhere you'll find in America. The pace may be a little slower and it takes a while to get used to the drawl but it is a wonderful place to live. The meth invasion has changed what was once a place where you could safely live without much fear of crime and locking your doors and that is a shame and has happened all through the midwest and south. One caveat-it can be a cultural wasteland if you live away from the major cities but sacrifices have to be made. The rivers and streams are fishing paradises and the mountains and trees in the northern and western parts of the state are beautiful. Near Mississippi, in the delta part of the state, things are not quite so beautiful IMHO, but all in all, a very affordable and beautiful place to live, just ask Bill and Hillary...

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Posted By: davidcycleback

My opinion is overpriced housing is a bad thing. Whether you can afford a mansion, or are poor or middle class, it's unhealthy for the overall community. I think housing as Bob describes is a healthy situation.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I won't even tell you what it costs to live in Brooklyn- it's obscene.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

$850,000 in Manhattan will get you a one bedroom apartment of about 700 square feet. Maybe two bedrooms if you don't mind Harlem.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

Jeff- should we break these guys hearts and get into some NYC real estate numbers?

i own my 350 SF (you read that correctly, 350 square feet) studio apartment in a nice prewar doorman building on 34th & 9th...it is worth about $1000 a square foot...that is close to $350,000 for you guys without calculators.

it would be very difficult to rent or own in Manhattan on a $75,000 salary.

MVSNYC

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Posted By: MVSNYC

Jeff- we once again posted a similar post at the same time...weird.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I know Michael- as bad as Brooklyn is, Manhattan is just plain ridiculous.

My three bedroom apartment is rent stabilized, so we live here for next to nothing (explains why I haven't moved in 33 years) but if it were put up for sale I think 700-800K would be in the ballpark. And it needs work.

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Posted By: JMPKCP

Kind of like how it is where I live, Sonoma County, Wine Country, California. You are looking at a half million for anything that is on land, but closer to a million for any decent size house. Cheapest condo you can find that actually has living space, $300K.

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Posted By: Dave F

Yeah...the top graders have to make more than that...

And I'll stick to my Atlanta suburbs home of 2600 sq ft plus a full basement for $200,000....wow

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Posted By: davidcycleback

There are some non-financial costs one must take into consideration. For example, an apartment in Wisconsin may be cheap, but you likely will be surrounded by Packers fans.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jeff- we won't even get into the east end of Long Island. You have to see some of the prices to believe them.

Dave- to give you a comparison my house on Long Island is a little smaller than yours- and it hit a million at the peak of the market. But things got soft out there and I stopped paying attention a long time ago. I don't even want to know now.

But the mansions out there keep skyrocketing.

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Posted By: Mark M

I'm saving for a glass house.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

I'll be out there for the month of August in Bridgehampton. I have never seen real estate in the world like there is out there. It has to be seen to be believed.

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Posted By: leon

I was very fortunate to make decent money (not lawyer money but decent) a few years ago and build a house on 6 acres right outside of Dallas but basically connected.....It was a little less than you mentioned for 700 sq ft and depending on who is measuring it, is about 5k square feet.....I can barely see any neighbors and it passes my litmus test....I can walk all the way around the house and pee anywhere and not have anyone see me.....

my builder has it as an example on his site which is where this is from...I don't take pics of my own house....

as for the topic....I agree...my guess is graders probably start in the 35-40k range and go up to 100k ish....

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Posted By: Jimmy Piccuito

house prices here are crazy and salaries just are not enough and I am an engineer full time making around 75,000 - if graders make more than that, I am surprised. Maybe that will be a goal of mine to be a grader or work for a large auction house in the future when I am older.

Jimmy

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Posted By: barrysloate

Since Jerry Seinfeld is so popular on this board:

Seinfeld bought a house on the east end of Long Island for $30 million, then tore it down and gutted it. His new house now won a contest as the best home on the East End.

But it's not the biggest. That belongs to Ira Rennert, who built a 110,000 square foot home on the ocean with 29 bathrooms and a 24 car garage. It was very controversial and had the neighborhood up in arms!

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Posted By: barrysloate

Leon- if you could move your house to Bridgehampton it would be worth about $5 million!

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Posted By: Mark T

They should have the Nationals at your house next year. :>)

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Posted By: MVSNYC

luckily i have a few friends who have homes out east (south hampton, montauk, jamesport, etc)...so all i do, is bounce around from home to home during the summer, and bring plenty of wine & food!

p.s. to answer the original question...my guess is graders make between 40K-90K...and do 9-5 m-f work weeks.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Leon that's a nice house, private, on a large piece of land. In Noyac where Barry's house is that goes for $2.5-$3 million. The land alone would go for millions.

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Posted By: peter chao

You can't buy 6 acres in the Bay Area, except for maybe the unincorporated area of Woodside. With that nice house of yours, Leon, it would cost you more than $2.5 million in Woodside.

My little house in Palo Alto already costs a million.

Peter

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Posted By: barrysloate

Noyac is one of the slightly more affordable towns out there, because it has a lot of old timers who still own their original home.

East Hampton, Southampton, Bridgehampton, Sagaponack, don't even think about it. It's a miracle I bought something out there before the prices skyrocketed.

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Posted By: James Feagin

Am I the only one who thinks that 50K is still a pretty decent salary? I guess perceptions between working class and white collar is VERY different.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Leon, but if you sold the house and lived in the woods, think of the cards you could buy.

When I was in college I knew a strange student who lived in the woods. During summer school, he didn't want to pay rent so he moved into a city park. During normal conversation, a friend of mine asked him where he lived and the guy matter of factly said, "In the woods."

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Posted By: S Gross

Interesting hyjacking, but Bruce, I'm guessing "graders" are just normal 9 to 5, 40 hour/wk, 3 week vacation, sick leave, group insurance, etc. workers. It would be interesting to find out their training program, and "quotas," but I doubt any of them are gonna' come here and let us know. Of course there's burn out, bad days, good days, my boss is a jerk, etc.........


BTW, bought a abandoned cottage in downtown Savannah four years ago. Redid it, rest of street has taken off, and I could sell it for 3x+ of what I have in it. Just got lucky (like getting a grader on a "#%&*@ this job, everything gets a 7 today" day .............)

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Posted By: E, Daniel

I'm thinking you mean collar....


Daniel

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Posted By: Eric

Prices in NJ aren't much better. To live in Union County, for what my wife and I make together, there were basically 3 cities we could live in: Roselle Park, Orange, and Plainfield. School districts suck, auto thefts are high, and crimes are so-so. These are the "Better" of the bad communities (we obviously eliminated Newark, Irvington, Hillside, Elizabeth, etc). It's OK if you don't have kids, and you don't plan on having kids for a while. A very small house of 1200 sq ft. cost us 300K. Taxes are $6400 a year. Now if we wanted to move over a couple towns to the really nice communities (and we're talking about 5 miles from where I live), the little fixer-uppers start at 800K and taxes are about 12K a year. The average cost of a house in that town is 1.2 million.

Ah, but I love my ghetto. And so does our Doberman. She barks a lot

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Posted By: Dave Haas

I live outside Gainesville ,Florida (Go Gators) and you can still buy 5 acres of nicely wooded land for $60-80,000. Put a 2000 Sf house on it with amenities for another $175,000 and you got a nice place for $250k. $75000/ yr here is a pretty decent wage.

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Posted By: Dave F

No wonder so many northerners are moving to Atlanta!