Chris Taylor

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Sarah Crane belongs to a booming segment of the housing market: Solo buyers.

In April 2020, the 39-year old economist bought an attached rowhouse in Philadelphia on her own.

Couples, it’s time to move on. According to the National Association of Realtors, single female buyers now make up 19% of all buyers. This is an increase of 18% from 2020 and 15 percent in 2015. The market is also represented by single men, who make up 9%.

“I didn’t imagine I would be buying a house by myself,” Crane says. “But now I’m glad I have one, because I can work from home, enjoy my backyard, build equity, and do whatever I wish.”

Bank of America (NYSE 🙂 conducted a survey of potential homeowners and the results were clear. It is not common for singles to delay making homebuying decision.

“Two-thirds of single women would rather not wait until marriage to buy a home,” says Kathy Cummings, Bank of America’s senior vice president for affordable housing programs.

Cummings explains that this trend is due to a couple of larger societal factors. The first is the fact that Americans are putting off marriage and having children.

One reason is the closing of the gender wage gap over time, giving single women greater financial resources for major purchases in their lives.

The reality is that the number of singles in the country has been growing. Socially, being single is more acceptable than in past decades.

Bella DePaulo is a social scientist, author, and editor of “Singled Out” and “Increasing numbers of single people embrace their single lives and live their full life,” Bella says. You can see it in these attitudes in the [Bank of America]Report: Nearly 9 out 10 single women reject the notion that they need to marry before purchasing a house. This is outdated thinking.

MAKING MATH WORK

It can be more difficult for one person to come up with the down payment or get mortgage approval, particularly since there is such a hot market for housing. National median prices rose 14.6% in 2021’s fourth quarter compared to a year prior, according to data from NAR.

Additionally, the lending industry often makes singles feel disfavored.

Dottye, who is a McKinney resident and singleton, says that “banks never believed” she had the ability to purchase homes.

Holt’s advice? “Be prepared to answer many questions. It’s almost suspicious.”

We offer four top tips to single homeowners.

DO THE ADVANCE PREP

If it is just your balance sheet that the lender is looking at, without the help of a partner’s second income, then your financial house needs to be tidy.

Your credit score can be improved, which could help you qualify for some of the best mortgage rates. This will potentially save you thousands over the term of your loan. You can then quickly act when it is time to place a bid.

VOLUNTEER DOWN PAYMENT DOUBTS

It might feel like an impossible goal to come up with 20% of the down payment. And while that is certainly a wise goal to aim for – it can allow you to sidestep private mortgage insurance, for instance – it’s a “myth” as a must-have, says Cummings.

These days there are fixed-rate mortgage products like Freddie Mac’s Home Possible program with down payments as low as 3%.

SELECT LENDER-SPECIFIC PROGRAMS TO AVOID

Housing costs are often overwhelming, particularly for singles. But you might be surprised at the number of opportunities available to you: Cummings points to Bank of America’s Home Grant Program of up to $7,500 for closing costs and Down Payment Grants of up to 3% of the purchase price or $10,000 (whichever is less) in select markets.

GIVE YOURSELF CUSHION

Michelle Gessner from Houston is a financial planner who advises single buyers to not stretch their finances beyond what they can afford.

She says that income should not be insufficient to pay the mortgage payment, but also the property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. People forget this and only focus on their mortgage payments to determine if they have the money they need for the home they desire.