All My Single Ladies



(Yes I did just quote a Beyonce song as the title of this post--don't judge)





I was at the doctor earlier this week for a routine physical and we were discussing what was going on in my life and I mentioned that I had just bought a house. She looked at me with amazement and asked incredulously “All by yourself?” I said yes. She laughed and said that if she hadn’t been married by my age she definitely wouldn’t have been able to buy a house.   

I’ve encountered this reaction a lot from people at work and from different family members which is funny to me because when I was first considering buying a house over renting I didn’t really think it was a big deal for me, a single female, to be buying a house on my own at my age. After all, I have a good job, I’m a year away from 30 (and not getting any younger), and I knew I would be able to afford it. Yeah I guess it’s brave in some ways but really, what’s the big deal? It’s not 1950.

I was talking to a friend of mine at work about all of this and she mentioned that she had read some statistics that put the percentage of single female buyers right behind married couples as the largest percentage of first time home-buyers. A quick Google search brought me these statistics:

Marital Status of first time home buyers

51% married

25% single female

11% unmarried couples

11% single male

Here are some other statistics I found courtesy of the same website as well as some info about Gen X buyers:

Median Age of First-Time Home buyers

52% were age 24-35 years old
21% where age 35-44 years old

Ages 24-35 are considered Generation X. In Joe Burslem’s blog called “Meet the New Real Estate Customer” he says that they’ve grown up with computers and understand technology better than Generation Y. 87% shop online and 50% do all their banking online. Since they were raised with little or no supervision (both parents worked) they are fiercely independent, blunt and skeptical. They’ve been bombarded with marketing messages since birth so they have sophisticated BS radar. A majority of them are planning for their financial future. They have always had easy access to credit and have been warned about Social Security not being around for them. They don’t expect a free ride and have been investing at an early age.

There are a bunch of other really interesting stats on this site so if you want to check them out here is the link: http://www.myhomeuptown.com/foreclosures/smart-moves/43-first-time-home-buyers

So I guess it turns out I'm not alone. And really I think it's pretty awesome for us ladies to be so independent and take charge of our lives. Who needs to be married?  Let's hear it for woman power!