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Record numbers of single women are buying homes. If you're a single woman who wants to buy a house, the good news is the market is wide open for you. The stats from the Joint Center for Housing Studies say:
- More than one in five homebuyers is a single woman.
- Twice as many unmarried women are buying homes than single men.
- Single women make up more than one-third of the growth in real estate ownership since 1994.
- From About.com
You don’t have to be a Mrs. to be a homeowner. Record numbers of single women are buying their own homes — one-fifth of home buyers today are single women, according to The Joint Center for Housing Studies.
“We are seeing more single women buying just within the last few years than we ever saw before,” said Oklahoma Realtor Sherrie Furber.
In fact, twice as many unmarried women are buying homes than single men and single women make up more than one-third of the growth in real estate ownership since 1994 according to JCHS.
“There’s no reason to have to wait to meet that special someone.”
If you are single and considering buying your own home, there are plenty of good reasons to take the plunge and start looking.
“There’s real security in owning your own property,” Furber said.
Owning a home is the single biggest tax break for most consumers and a single homeowner gets all the tax advantages that married couples who own a home together get. Owning a home in a good market ensures appreciation and Furber said it’s just a better investment of your money than renting.
Cheryl Murray knows the joy of owning her own home as a single woman but she also understands why many single women hesitate to take the plunge and buy their own homes. She has been single for 25 years and said she wishes she had bought a home years before she finally did in 2005.
“I just was fearful financially,” she said. “I’m a teacher and teachers don’t have just a huge income generally and so I was just fearful that I would have expensive repairs and things like that come up and I wouldn’t be able to afford those repairs.”
She justified paying rent instead of a mortgage payment by telling herself that she didn’t want the responsibility for expenses that being a home owner entailed but since she moved in to her Edmond home, she has only had a couple of minor plumbing problems.
Fear of not being able to afford repairs is the main reason that many women don’t buy homes, she believes.
“Look at all of your options and don’t assume that you can’t afford to buy,” she advises. “But I also would say be very realistic and don’t overestimate what you can afford.”
