Single with No Children: Tips for Buying a Home

If you’re single with no children, it does not mean that you shouldn’t buy a home. In fact, statistics from the National Association of REALTORS® and an MSNBC article indicate that 32 percent of all home buyers are single and 20 percent are single women. That’s a much higher percentage than most people would ever imagine.

Here are several advantages to buying a home as a single person:

• Build equity: The sooner in life you buy real estate, the longer period of time you have to build equity.
• Save money by buying a fixer-upper: You typically have more time to work on a fixer-upper than homeowners who are married with kids.
• Buy what you want: As a married person, you have to compromise with your spouse which means you may not get the exact home that you want.

In addition to following all the typical home buying tips you read, here are some tips to implement specifically when buying a home solo:

• List your wants and needs: When coming up with your list of wants and needs, think not only about today, but about what you’ll be doing in the next few years. Will you stay single? Will you be changing jobs or moving to a new area?
• Ask yourself a few questions: How long do you plan to stay in this home? Do you want or need a roommate to share the expenses?  What size home do you want or need? If you don’t want a roommate, a studio condo may be the right choice for you. If you do want a roommate, a minimum of two bedrooms is going to be important.
• Consider a variety of homes and neighborhoods: As a single person, you can buy a traditional single-family home, or you can buy something less traditional such as a loft, townhome or condo. You can live in the suburbs, an urban area or somewhere in between.
• Think about the resell value: Although you don’t have children, if you purchase a single-family home in the suburbs, buy one that is in a good school district and neighborhood in order to get a good resell value. If you purchase an urban dwelling more favorable to a single lifestyle, buy one that has easy access to restaurants and nightlife.
• Choose a lifestyle: Do you want a single-family home that requires lawn maintenance or a condominium where all the exterior maintenance and repairs are done for you?
• Buy an investment property: Instead of purchasing a property for your own use, you could buy one and rent it out. Or, you could do a combination by living in part of the home and renting out the rest. If that sounds of interest to you, consider buying a multi-family home – you can live in one apartment and rent out the rest.

If you’re interested in buying a home, I can help. Give me a call today.

Links:

National Association of REALTORS®

http://www.realtor.org/

MSNBC article

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/single-women-comprise-1one-fifth-of-homebuyers

Multi-family home

http://www.realtor.org/library/library/fg404