Women continue to believe in value of homeownership

Stricter down payment requirements have made it more difficult for single women to buy homes in the last couple of years, according to Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Esq.

Nelson, a real estate broker who created the Women’s Real Estate & Lifestyle Design Advisor certification, said, “In the years leading up to the crisis, 40 percent of single women homebuyers put less than five percent down on their homes. Women were almost 30 percent overrepresented as subprime mortgage holders and many were given interest rates higher than prime and higher mortgage limits than they could legitimately have qualified for.

“There’s no hard data but I think that retrospective analyses of the housing crisis will reveal that women were disproportionately affected by the foreclosures because they generally put little down on their homes and more frequently were given foreclosure-prone subprime mortgages,” she added.

Nelson believes despite these circumstances, women continue to see the value of homeownership. “My experience has been that women have held more tightly to the belief in the wealth-building potential of real estate and many have become more interested in buying than ever before, perceiving the potential for good deals,” she said.

REALTORS® who understand how women look at buying a home can become valuable resources to these homebuyers, Nelson said.

While women can be more skeptical of real estate and mortgage professionals, they are looking for a REALTOR® to be a lifestyle design advisor. They want the REALTOR® to coach them through the complex sequence of decisions and to navigate today’s market, Nelson added.

“Their value system is different when it comes to real estate,” she continued. “They look at the house and its features to see how those features will impact every person in their lives.”

“REALTORS® who can help women consumers make sense of all this information and help them make better decisions will do well with this demographic,” Nelson added.

Related posts:

1. Single homebuyers find buying a home more cost effective than renting
2. Job loss and medical bills top factors contributing to PA foreclosures

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Tags: foreclosures, subprime, women

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Economics, Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.