Oregon Depreciation Schedule: Fill & Download for Free

On a month to month basis, it will usually be cheaper to rent. But don't fail to look deeper. If you just go along renting forever, it's possible to get priced out of your city over time and to forego wealth accumulation.In the US, it varies significantly depending on the market, how long you expect to be there and your personal financial situation. Because of the fixed costs of getting a mortgage and selling a place, you typically want to be in there for a few years to break even. In a hot market, though, one year of 10% appreciation and you've broken even. In this case, it's a matter of timing and location.Even if you move in a couple of years, you may very well keep the place as a rental. This would be especially true if you expect the market to continue to appreciate.In most areas, rents from a property won't pay the mortgage by themselves, though this is just part of the picture. The price of homes also factors in tax deductions and some factor for expected appreciation--in many markets, this appreciation factor can be very large.In other areas, like Detroit or Buffalo, you can currently buy a house for next to nothing--$1 in some cases--though you will likely be looking at a significant outlay to improve the property.Mortgage interest, property taxes and physical improvements are deductible from personal income. This can be significant. The higher interest rates are, the bigger the write off, though this comes with a higher mortgage payment offset to varying degrees by a lower purchase price.For rentals, for the owner, the property can be depreciated on a 27 year schedule. So, if you were to buy a duplex, which can be a good play if you can swing it, you can rent out half of it and deduct your expenses plus your depreciation associated with that unit, and you deduct a % of mortgage interest, property taxes and physical improvements from the portion you live in. Rental income varies as a % of your basis in the home depending on the market, but it's possible to have enough deductions that you wouldn't pay income tax on the half of the duplex rented out.In Portland, Oregon, home prices have at least tripled in the last twenty years, so long term it's undoubtedly been the case that ownership is better. You have to speculate on what will happen in the future.But month to month, for my money generally the best all around bet financially--in a stable or appreciating market where you plan to stay for a while--is to buy a building with more than one unit in a good location and live in one of the units. The cash flow is good from day one and the long term prospects are good, too. Then hire a CPA to get your taxes right. This does take more cash obviously and comes with the work of ownership and being a landlord.

I believe these three points qualify as an Uber driving myths, they are important facts I rarely see mentioned online:City/Market Population - Rideshare driving gross income will be higher in a city/market with more people taking more rideshare driving trips. In a city with smaller total population rideshare drivers should probably think about earning “extra” income not about earning “X income per hour.”Vehicle Expenses - Driving in Denver, CO (population 2.8 million) my take-home-pay is considerably more than minimum wage and that’s accounting for all my out-of-pocket expenses; estimated future vehicle maintenance; and replacing the depreciated resale value of my Toyota Prius which I purchased used with 100k miles on the odometer. Rideshare drivers with vehicles that are more expensive to own again should probably think about earning “extra” income not about earning “X income per hour.”Rideshare Driver Quit Rate - Another thing I don’t see mentioned enough is the fact that most drivers (about 75%) stop rideshare driving before they have 90 days on the road, many stop before 30 days (about half.) Think about these statistics for a second, this means at least some of the content we read online is being written by drivers who “gave it a try” but don’t mention that they did not drive for very long.Rideshare driving is a business and profitability means maximizing gross income and controlling expenses, primarily vehicle expenses.Why do most Uber drivers and Lyft drivers quit soon after they start… I believe it’s exactly because of the myths about rideshare driving and the missing information.Earning average hourly take-home-pay less than minimum wage after expenses is possible… in a city/market with lower total population and/or driving with a more expensive vehicle (newer so higher resale value depreciation; lower mpg; more expensive to maintain/repair.) Or because new drivers don’t understand how to maximize their income, they give it a try for less than a month; they don’t keep good records; no one taught them the math to calculate take-home-pay; and on and on.If these realities don’t appeal to someone then maybe it doesn’t make sense to be a rideshare driver, go get an hourly paid job?I hope I’m not sounding negative here, but there is a lot of negativity online about being a rideshare driver and a lot of drivers complaining in online forums and a lot of websites presenting information that is simply not true and/or missing important facts.Some people will be better off getting a job at a fast food restaurant, big-box retail store, or something else, however for some people these jobs are either not available or don’t make sense to the individual.Some people might be ok with earning less than minimum wage for a “job” with huge flexibility and no boss?Tell you what, it is definitely not a myth about rideshare driving that no boss is pretty darn cool!I don’t think anyone should feel like being an Uber driver and/or Lyft driver is a “bad” decision… which is very possible when reading negative or misleading information online, I think people should be informed with quality information and make informed decisions.Also true, there are rideshare driving-focused websites that make it sound like it makes sense for anyone to be a rideshare driver without talking about the effect of city/market population and the reality of controlling vehicle expenses. These websites typically generate more revenue when people choose to become drivers, maybe they believe it’s not in their financial interests to fully educate the people who land on their sites?I’m sorry Roseburg, Oregon (population 22,000 and no where close to a more populous city/market) if the Roseburg city council ever works out their issues with the way Uber and Lyft do business everywhere else in the United States… one rideshare driver at a time might make some money provided the good people of Roseburg decide to download the Uber or Lyft applications and start requesting trips?If my team at RidshareGuide reads this Quora Response, me mentioning Roseburg, I’m going to hear about it (and I don’t like sounding like I’m picking on anyone online) but this one has been dragging on in the news cycles for months.NYC population 20+ million didn’t get fingerprinting… Austin, Texas population 2 million didn’t get fingerprinting… I’m thinking it’s unlikely Uber and Lyft are going to bend on fingerprinting drivers for a city with 22,000 people?Anyway, I believe these are some of the biggest myths.Also not a myth, there are a lot of benefits that come with the “gig.”For example my driving schedule revolves around my personal life, mostly my time with my kids, sure driving during the busiest times will result in more passenger trips, so more income, but that doesn’t mean I’m not generating income when I drive during less-busy hours?Rideshare driving is a viable way to earn interesting income but it’s not a traditional job and it just doesn’t make sense to think of having your own rideshare driving business the same way we would a traditional job.~ YFor more meaningful answers to rideshare driving questions check out my Quora Profile to see what we are up to at RideshareGuide.

You will need to calculate the maximum output of your investment which will depend greatly on your longitude and latitude. It will fluctuate on season and cloud cover. In addition you will need to determine what level of efficiency you want to get from your panels. The greater the efficiency, the higher the price. Currently the maximum achievable efficiency from solar panels is about 25 percent but this is only achieved at enormous price. You would have to run depreciation models at 5, 10, 15 percent efficiency to determine your cost/profit potential. You will also need to determine the price per kilowatt hour for electricity in your area. For example, the price for electricity in Boston is about 23 cents per kilowatt hour. You will have to determine your run rate cost and amortize your fixed cost over a schedule and depreciate your equipment and factor in repair.At 40 degrees latitude ON AVERAGE it requires 10,000 square meters to achieve 500 kilowatt hours. There are roughly 21,000 square meters in five acres but you need to calculate the rows and borders and subtract that from the total available space, perhaps as much as 20 percent. Then you can calculate your power output and the price you can achieve from the utility based on local conditions.The following information from a University of Oregon college class on Solar Power may be of use to you.Basics of Solar EnergyThe Sun isAlways there; lots of EnergyWhat Makes the Sun Shine? Nuclear FusionHow many photons (energy) reach the surface of the Earth on Average?The energy balance in the atmosphere is shown here:The main components in this diagram are the following:* Short wavelength (optical wavelengths) radiation from the Sun reachesthe top of the atmosphere.* Clouds reflect 17% back into space. If the earth gets more cloudy, assome climate models predict, more radiation will be reflected back andless will reach the surface* 8% is scattered backwards by air molecules:* 6% is actually directly reflected off the surface back into space* So the total reflectivity of the earth is 31%. This is technicallyknown as an Albedo . Note that during Ice Ages, the Albedo of the earthincreases as more of its surface is reflective. This, of course,exacerbates the problem.What Happens to the 69% of the incoming radiation that doesn't getreflected back:* 19% gets absorbed directly by dust, ozone and water vapor in the upperatmosphere. This region is called the stratosphere and its heated bythis absorbed radiation. Loss of stratospheric ozone is causing thestratosphere to cool with time.* 4% gets absorbed by clouds located in the troposphere. This is thelower part of the earth's atmosphere where weather happens.* The remaining 47% of the sunlight that is incident on top of theearth's atmosphere reaches the surface. This is not a real significantenergy loss.Cliff Notes SummaryHow much energy from the sun reaches the surface of the Earth onAverage?Note that we measure energy in units of Watt-hours. A watt is not a unitof energy, it is a measure of power.ENERGY = POWER x TIME1 Kilowatt Hour = 1KWH = 1000 watts used in one hour = 10 100 watt lightbulbs left on for an hourIncident Solar Energy on the ground:* Average over the entire earth = 164 Watts per square meter over a 24hour day* 8 hour summer day, 40 degree latitude 600 Watts per sq. meterSo over this 8 hour day one receives:* 8 hours x 600 watts per sq. m = 4800 watt-hours per sq. m which equals4.8 kilowatt hours per sq. m* This is equivalent to 0.13 gallons of gasoline* For 1000 square feet of horizontal area (typical roof area) this isequivalent to 12 gallons of gas or about 450 KWHBut to go from energy received to energy generated requires conversionof solar energy into other forms (heat, electricity) at some reducedlevel of efficiency.Efficiency of PV Cells DemoPV cells are quite low in efficieny!Collection of Solar EnergyAmount of captured solar energy depends critically on orientation ofcollector with respect to the angle of the Sun.* Under optimum conditions, one can achieve fluxes as high as 1000 Wattsper sq. meter* In the Winter, for a location at 40 degrees latitude, the sun is lowerin the sky and the average flux received is about 300 Watts per sq.meterA typical household Winter energy use is around 3000 KWHs per month orroughly 100 KWH per day.Assume our roof top area is 100 square meters (about 1100 square feet).In the winter on a sunny day at this latitude (40o) the roof willreceive about 6 hours of illumination.So energy generated over this 6 hour period is:300 watts per square meter x 100 square meters x 6 hours= 180 KWH (per day) more than you need.But remember the efficiency problem:* 5% efficiency 9 KWH per day* 10% efficiency 18 KWH per day* 20% efficiency 36 KWH per dayAt best, this represents 1/3 of the typical daily Winter energy usageand it assumes the sun shines on the rooftop for 6 hours that day.With sensible energy conservation and insulation and south facingwindows, its possible to lower your daily use of energy by about afactor of 2. In this case, if solar shingles become 20% efficient, thenthey can provide 50-75 % of your energy needsAnother example calculation for Solar Energy which shows that relativeinefficiency can be compensated for with collecting area.A site in Eastern Oregon receives 600 watts per square meter of solarradiation in July. Asuume that the solar panels are 10% efficient andthat the are illuminated for 8 hours.How many square meters would be required to generate 5000 KWH orelectricityeach square meter gives you 600 x.1 = 60 wattsin 8 hours you would gt 8x60 = 480 watt-hours or about .5 KWH per squaremeteryou want 5000 KWHyou therefore need 5000/.5 = 10,000 square meters of collecting area