Tyson and Herman with 10 Tips For Home Buyers

The broadcast “10 Things To Do After Buying Your Home” is an informative broadcast for those who are thinking about buying a new home or have just purchased one. The program features a talk between expert real estate author Eric Tyson, CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, and Dottie Herman, host of “Eye on Real Estate with Dottie Herman.”

The June 2nd broadcast of Dottie’s show began with her explaining, “ Getting the money to buy is hurdle one, and paying is hurdle two.” The broadcast continued with a short discussion of the benefits of virtual home staging and enhancing curb and Internet appeal. After that, she introduced Eric Tyson. Tyson talked about his motivation, stating, “A lot of the information that was out there frequently was written by well intentioned journalists, but journalists who didn’t really have that in-the-trenches perspective.” Tyson also talked about partnering with real estate professionals in “Home Buying for Dummies & Real Estate Investing for Dummies.”

Tyson and Dottie continued the conversation by chatting about the current cost of homes and the issue of buyer’s remorse. Tyson concluded those who are in the position to buy a home should, as long as the buyer was confident in their employment and overall financial situation. Tyson narrowed his focus to three important tips, including being sure that the comfort level is there to make a confident buying decision, the status of personal circumstance and affordability: “You have to look at your overall financial situation to figure out how much house you can truly afford,” Tyson said.

Dottie then began to pull out the ten point outlined in his book. A summary of these points:

Solicitors: Solicitors are people that want to sell ancillary products and services, such as life insurance for mortgages. Buying products and services through solicitation is not a cost effective way to get the things you need.

Hire an Effective Financial Planner: This topic is covered in full in his book.

Hire an Effective Real Estate Team: Tyson mentions in the interview that a little investigative work goes a long way when it comes to hiring your real estate team: “Learn enough so that you can evaluate these people and make a good hiring decision.”

Refinancing: Refinancing is a topic that often comes up since the current interest rates are so low. Tyson said, “It’s a situation complicated by all the financing options available…You know, historically, the motivation to re-finance comes from the ability to save money, and re-financing always costs you money, so what you have to look ‘how many years is it going to take me to re-coop the financing cost, and is this a worthwhile trade-off?”

Electronic Payments: This is a topic that Tyson claimed to be wary of, but automated payments can be a good option for some who want to avoid missing payments and impacting their credit.

Set Aside Cash: Dottie and Tyson discussed if there was a standard to having emergency funds: “How much is enough.” Tyson went on to state “I think for most people at a minimum they want to have 3 months worth of living expenses.” He then discussed the volatility of income; “if things are more volatile, you should have at least 6 months worth of living expenses.”

Mortgage Insurance: A classic life insurance policy is recommended by Tyson instead of a mortgage insurance policy. “The life insurance decision comes down to ‘how man years worth of your income are you trying to replace?’”

Protest Tax Assessments: “Sometimes local towns and municipalities get it wrong.” Tyson encourages homeowners to look at their property taxes and understand the periodic reassessments to better gauge the value of the home.

Home Receipts: It is important for homeowners to maintain all paperwork of their home. Tyson says if you “really want to minimize capital gains tax should you sell the home at a profit.” Homeowners in high-cost areas, such as the Manhattan Real Estate market, have the best advantage on this topic.

Buyer’s Remorse: Tyson also addresses the issue of buyer’s remorse. He reminds potential buyers that they need to be comfortable with their decision.

Tyson worked as a personal financial advisor at Bain & Company assisting large Fortune 500 companies in the 90′s and kicked off his writing career in the 21st century. Tyson is best known for his five national bestsellers and one Benjamin Franklin Award. Tyson is also the only person to have four of five books published simultaneously on Business Week’s business books bestseller list.