Posted on 03/29/2005 11:21:03 AM PST by qam1
Fewer single women are waiting for Prince Charming to sweep them off their feet before they buy their first home.
The Wall Street Journal reports single women are buying homes in record numbers.
"It's like a dream,” said MiMi. “You are just not really there yet. It takes a few weeks to settle in, and say, ‘OK, this is my house!’”
MiMi, 29, isn't wasting anytime securing her future. She recently bought her first home.
Mimi is a part of a growing segment of single women, armed with buying power, that are unwilling to wait around for Mr. Right before investing in a house.
“If you keep waiting around and you keep renting, you're throwing away thousands of dollars each year that could be going towards equity,” MiMi continued. “So I wanted to make sure I was building something rather than throwing money into someone else's pockets."
The National Retail Association reports in 2003 single women bought one in five homes. That's close to two million homes.
The share of homes bought by single women has increased about 33 percent over the past decade, making single women the fastest growing segment of the home buying population.
"When I was a little girl we used to sing, ‘First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes whoever your friend is with a baby carriage.” I don't think kids are singing that song anymore,” said Triangle Realtor Linda Craft.
Craft says over the past ten years she's seen more and more single women wanting to buy a home. She says part of the reason is more women are thinking like business professionals nowadays.
“And the business professional says, ‘I don't want to waste money on rent, I want to own my own home. I want to start having a leveraged investment that is going to grow and protect my future,'" she explained.
Craft doesn't see the trend slowing down anytime soon. “I’ve been in business 20 years. I think 20 years from now, and I will still be in business, we will see more and more women, who are not only buying real estate, but own the majority of real estate."
Meantime, MiMi is enjoying her newfound independence, but is still open to meeting her knight in shining armor when the time is right. “Absolutely! You just have to take your time and do the responsible thing. The responsible thing is to watch out after your retirement and, like I said, investing in homes. Realty is one of the best ways to have a retirement or fixed income in the end."
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae expects single women to head 28 percent of all households by the end of the decade.
Odd how this same article turns up around the time that the housing boom is supposedly bust.
Either the boom is not over or someone is trying to sucker women.
Interesting how the article never discusses single men.
I also wonder if these are some of those women who will NEVER be married.
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Why would a single man want to own a house to live in by himself?
I had owned my home before I moved to Washington. It was cheaper than renting and there are the tax benefits.
I'm looking again, but nervous about this market. I loved being a homeowner!
I believe I used a similar line when I bought my house and I am male.
EQUITY and Investment.
Yes, men don't know how to live alone.
I'm single and I recently bought a house. That doesn't mean I would never get married!. If I do, we could buy a bigger one and keep this little house for rent.
oh, I didn't say: I am a woman.
Why wouldn't he? Why pay all that money to a landlord if you can afford a house.
I was single when I bought my first home in 1992. I bought it from a friend's father and he held the note. It worked out all around for both of us. It had been a rental unit, so he continued to have the monthly income, I was building equity, and wasn't paying usury bank interest rates.
Mortgage rates had started coming down when I refinanced it with a conventional mortgage in 1999 or 2000 and by then I was married and a mommy.
Some people who would be happy in an apartment get a house to make their dog happy. So the cheap Fido winds up costing them big indeed.
Single women who want to marry ought to at least get out of the house and circulate rather than sitting on their own green acre watching TV. In an apartment complex, they can go to the pool or gym and meet folks. There are some big advantages to apartment life.
"I also wonder if these are some of those women who will NEVER be married."
Oh don't worry, they are just waiting for Mr. Right. And waiting and waiting........................
I bought my house when I was single.
"I don't want to waste money on rent. I want to waste money on mortgage interest and property taxes, instead."
Maybe we could just have a Landlords vs. Mortgage Brokers Monster Truck Rally and settle this question once and for all. ;)
This is news?
When I lived in an apartment I do not think I once went to the pool or gym or for that matter meet any of my neighbors.
Amen! It seems like a no-brainer to me.
I'll try to find the study I saw once.
It said in effect that if a woman that married by the time she's 30, she has a 65% chance of NEVER being married. At 35 years old, the likelyhood that she will never marry jumps to 90%
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