Single Women Utilize Different Financing Strategies When Home Buying

What do women want?

It’s a question that’s vexed men for generations. Because single females represent the fastest growing segment of the home buying market, however, it’s an issue agents and lenders now have to think about.

Two things we know is that women are more likely to buy condos or to purchase two bedroom units than other groups. They also spend less. But what sort of Florida home loans does this demographic favor? How do they finance homes? Let’s explore …

Different financing strategies

The most surprising difference that female home buyers demonstrated was that fewer of them financed their homes than any other group. Overall, 28 percent of the unmarried women studied in Buying For Themselves: An Analysis of Unmarried Female Home Buyers by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University purchased their homes outright. No Floria home loans needed for this group!

Why was this the case? First, they are more likely to buy smaller and less expensive homes. Nevertheless, it takes a chunk of cash to purchase even the most humble home without a Florida home loan of any kind. But only 41 percent of the females were first-time home buyers, compared to 48 percent of single men.

Thus, many probably had equity from earlier homes. Moreover, because nearly two-thirds reported being previously married, divorce settlements, life insurance, and other forms of household wealth no doubt enabled many cash purchases.

Basis for lack of Florida home loans among female buyers

The reasons that women purchase homes, along with the where and the what, also differ slightly from other groups. According to a 2004 National Association of Realtors survey, half of unmarried women bought houses out of a desire to own a home of their own. Other reasons included:

- 15 percent cited the need for more space - 9 percent indicated a desire to downsize - 13 percent bought for reasons of location, either to be closer to family, job, or friends or because of a job mandated relocation.

These reasons were similar to those given by unmarried men, but married couples were more likely to buy for more space or a change in location. There was no mention of investment as a reason to take out a Florida home equity loan.

Overall, different groups of home buyers tend to approach the process in different ways. Further results showed that dingle women were, by a large margin, less likely to use the Internet in their search for a home. Slightly more than 71 percent cited the Internet as a resource compared to nearly 74 percent of unmarried males, 78 percent plus of married couples, and 79 percent of unmarried couples.

All four groups were close in their choice to use a real estate agent, but 78 percent of single females and unmarried couples opted for professional help while the other two groups were about 1.5 percentage points below this. The unmarried women, however, indicated a greater appreciation of their agents.

A final note about female home buyers

These individuals are much less likely than their compatriots to take on large scale remodeling projects. Few Florida home improvement loans will be applied for. Married couples who composed 63 percent of the recent buyers in the study accounted for 75 percent of the remodeling dollars spent by all respondents with over $58.2 million spent in the 2002-2003 time frame.

The numbers do reveal a telling trend, however. More and more women are entering into the Florida home loan market with success.