im getting into giving chess lessons, what would be a reasonable hourly rate? im in the US, and these are face to face with some light travel involved.

I've never given lessons, so take this with a grain of salt, but this is what I've seen browsing ICC vendors and various other coaches.

NM and below: $20-$30 for a random NM, but an established teacher can charge more. Dan Heisman is something like $80 or $85, I can't remember.
IM and FM: $30-$50, the range depending on how well-known they are
GM: $50-$75
Famous teacher (Kaidanov, Heisman, etc): $75+

The figures above are just ballpark estimates, of course it will vary from person to person. Plus, the stuff above is based on online lessons. Everyone charges considerably more for in person lessons to factor in travel time. Here are some links that might give you an idea.

Kaidanov - http://www.kaidanov.org/lessons.html
Heisman - http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~...hess_Fees.html
Sam Shankland - http://www.samshankland.com/Services.htm
Akobian - http://akobian.com/lessons/

Here is a link to coaches of all levels on chess.com that might help you come up with a rate also.

http://www.chess.com/coaches

not sure if his rates are good for u but i suggest u trsut someone we know a little

YKW

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...dated-1139316/

I think the most logical answer is whatever people will pay. It depends on you as a teacher. There are GMs who have open schedules charging less than $30/hour and there are people like Pandolfini -a comparatively weak player- who is/was able to charge nearly 3 figures an hour even before Searching for Bobby Fischer.

Start cheap and increase your rates whenever your schedule starts getting too full. If your schedule is empty even at cheap rates then find a different job!

Pandolfini's articles are truly terrible, is he really a highly sought after coach?

Truly terrible or just not to your taste?

I don't know of a way to assess them objectively, so it's my subjective judgement that they are terrible. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who disagrees.

His articles me be "terrible" but he has a good personality and is good with kids. And I have to imagine most "chess people" do not possess these skills. Teaching ability gets him the higher rate over chess ability.

(The movie version of him is the exact opposite of real life Pandolfini)

What is YOUR rating? How long have you played chess? What level of player are you looking at giving lessons? All this factors in to the rate.