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.
Same here - and I finally got it!!! 20 acres is a bit much for my taste - I'm happy with my 2. Other than the brothers taht bought the farm house across the road from us, the nearest neigbors are 150,000 or so chickens.........and they don't make any noise.
They don't? I figured you'd be hearing ER-ER-ERRRRRRRR-ER every morning at 5AM.
Nope - not a peep..............though the drone of the deisel engine trucks lined up to take them to the processing plant every 8 weeks or so can be a bit tiresome.........LOL!!!
I've never had to pay PMI and was well aware of the property taxes ahead of time.
Anyone unaware of the property taxes they weill pay prior to agreeing to pay them did not do their research.
My feelings on divorce where one spouse has an affair, whether husband or wife is guilty. The guilty one should have minimal entitlement to any marital property.
When I caught my wife cheating, I gave her a $1,000.00 to get out and that was all she got and deserved, and she agreed as she took it wih no problems. Of course she made the guy she was having the affair with, marry her within a week of the finalization of our divorce.
Herkbird,
I understand that it can knock a few years off of your mortgage, but you have to look at the big picture.
In the year 2000, if you had placed an extra $100 a month on your mortgage for a 30 year mortgage you would have paid off the mortgage in approximately 23 years.
Your mortgage payment never goes down. It stays the same no matter how much extra you pay on it, so your $1000 house payment is due every month up to around 2023. Well in 2023 $1000 is worth a lot less than it is in the year 2000. So you save an extra $84,000 in house payments those last 7 years. If you invested that extra $100 a month into your 401K or another investment for 23 years, your going to have at least double your $84,000 you saved on paying off your house early.
Paying extra money on your principal of your home is not the best investment.
Idiotic is probably too strong a word. It's whichever investment each investor is most comfortable with.
Good point if he intends to remain single. I seem to remember filling my empty house with a FAMILY a lot quicker than I imagined... ; )
No there are numerous reasons to have a single man buy a house. ESPECIALLY if he intends to be married.
Buy a house and the woman will follow eventually IF THAT IS WHAT HE WANTS. Odd that women would be upset that a man owns a house.
How do I prove the point? What point?
Perhaps you even missed the PS that I just bought a house last year, and this year I'm getting married (wow, and he even stood by while I bought a house on my own, and is moving in MY place when we marry!). Phooey to you.
I also don't understand your statements here. A woman who lives alone is independent? Possibly so. A man who lives alone has "commitment issues"? What are you talking about? Are YOU making those statements, or are you accusing ME of thinking that way?
If the latter, I NEVER SAID ANY SUCH THING. DON'T put words in my mouth!
"If a woman wants ahouse and a few cats instead of a family, her choice but don't disguise it as 'independence.'"
Why couldn't it be independence? What would you call it? What else could be a "single" woman - or "single" man - living alone? Dependent? Doesn't fit the English language.
And incidentally, *I* live w/a German Shepherd (no wussy retrievers for me). I like cats too, but a dog comes 1st since she helps me be more independent, being a practical guardian. ;-)
"The fact of life and nature is that the older a woman gets, the less likely she will be married."
I don't recall what this had to do w/your OP or mine, altho it was stated elsewhere. Yes, it's true - DUH - and likewise for men. But of course, it doesn't matter for men, does it? Always we must point out that it's women who age who are less likely to marry - cuz it's *always* important for WOMEN to marry, but not men, right? Phooey. There are also stats that say men who stay bachelors are less likely to live as long or "prosper" as married men. So I guess it's just as important for men to marry, but you all can never admit that, right? Naaahhh.... (there I go, putting words in your mouth - right back atcha....)
What's that rule about selling when you are 59+ and capital gains? Been a while since my CPA mentioned it.
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calculators/mortgages.asp
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/amortization-calculator.asp
There's no rule like that. You can sell your principle residence at any age and keep a profit of up to $250,000 tax free ($500,000 for a couple).
For investment property, you always have to pay taxes.
You mean like nuns?
All you single men out there (and the rest who wish they were) who wonder where the single women are, they're in their homes, hiding from you.
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