Home Ownership Among Single Women Increases

When my parents purchased our first home in 1955, the bank told my mother her income didn't matter in qualifying for an FHA loan. The bank relied solely on my father's salary even though my mother was employed as a journalist. In the early 1970s, some banks refused to offer financing to women. And as late as 2002, when my husband and I wanted to hold title as wife and husband, a loan officer told me she did not believe it was legal to put my name before my husband's on a deed. Buying real estate hasn't been easy for women over the years, but the good news is the process is less discriminatory. Sadly, still women earn considerably less than men; hence they purchase lower-priced homes on average, but some of the home buying trends among single women, as noted by Joint Center for Housing Studies, may astonish you.

Women are not holding out for marriage before buying their first home. Some women buy their first home right after college. Others buy to be near their children. Recently, an unmarried woman, who was relocating from Atlanta to northern California, bought her home sight unseen. It was a sellers' market, homes were flying out of inventory and we couldn't wait for her to arrive in California. I found the house, and her daughter signed the purchase contract for her mother. The first time her mother saw the house was 30 minutes before her mother signed loan documents and closed escrow! Read more about single women and home ownership, including the stories of three other single women who bought their own homes.

• Eight Reasons to Buy a Home
  
• Defining Your Home Purchase Objectives
  
• Homeshopping Tips for First-Time Home Buyers

© 2004 E. Weintraub; Licensed to About.com