A Single Woman's Guide to Buying a Home

Buying a home isn’t something that should be excluded to only married people and couples. Instead, single women are buying more and more homes on their own and make up a large portion of homebuyers. However, one concern that women may have includes the process that goes into buying a home and making sure that everything is on the up and up. In order to help with that process, here is a single woman’s guide to buying a home.

Price

Perception of independence aside, being able to pay your mortgage on a house by yourself may be the biggest obstacle that you come across as a single woman. No matter your gender, being a one income home owner can be difficult, especially when things come up that you need along the way. Keep in mind that there is no landlord that you can call to fix the drains or mow the lawn. Instead, all of that needs to be done on your own and you have to prepare for it financially. The best way to help you with this is to make sure the house checks out with a pre purchase inspection, as well as keeping a savings plan for repairs and surprises, in the event anything ever happens with your home.

Size

As a single woman, an overly large home may be intimidating and you may not need something quite so big. However, it is important to consider how your life may change during the time that you have that home. If you are single and plan on being single for a while, then you don’t really need to plan for anyone but yourself. But if there is the possibility that you’ll add someone to your life, or even a family, you should consider how the size of your family could affect the size of your home. Be sure that you have plenty of room to grow, if that’s what you want to do during the time while living at your home.

Safety

As a single woman, it is understandable if you have concerns or fears for your safety. In order to alleviate some of these concerns, be sure that you buy a home that is in a safe neighborhood. You should also consider checking all of locks on the doors and windows during the pre purchase inspection. This will give you a better idea of what, if anything, needs to be changed to make your home more secure.

Repairs

As mentioned earlier, it can be a pain in the neck when things go wrong with your house. However, this shouldn’t be a deterrent from you buying your own home. Instead, by getting house inspections on potential homes, you can get a better idea of how good of a home it is to move into. And while those house inspections may cost a bit of money, that is going to be much less than what you’d have to pay for repairs down the road. In the event that you still have to get repairs, consider whether you can do them on your own or if you need to hire them out. While doing them on your own may save you money, hiring the job out is oftentimes a more professional and secure way of doing it.

Buying a home as a single woman is an incredibly independent decision. But in order to make sure that it works out in your favor, be sure to consider the tips mentioned here.