Real estate: Tips for single homebuyers

When I bought my first house in 1984, single homebuyers—especially, young, female single homebuyers—were unusual in Toronto. But when I saw the “For Sale” sign on the tiny bungalow set back from the street about a block away from my mother’s house, I fell swooningly in love.

I had enough money from an inheritance to make a sizeable down payment, and the monthly mortgage payment was lower than the rent for my apartment. But even so, my status as a young, single woman—coupled with the fact that I was a “freelance writer,” an occupation that at the time still rated somewhere below “goatherd” in the eyes of many lenders—made the process much more difficult than it should have been.

Thank heavens, times have changed a lot since then. According to a recent study by Genworth Financial, fully one-quarter of Canadian home purchasers in 2011/2012 will be single. While many of those buyers are purchasing condos, a sizeable proportion will be buying houses. And today, mortgage lenders and condo builders are eager to court the single’s business.

According to Jim Rawson, a broker with the mortgage company Invis, “A lot more single people are buying homes today, both condos and single-family houses.” Financially, it just makes a lot of sense, he says. “Rents, at least in Toronto, are not cheap. If you’re paying $1,000 to $1,500 or more a month in rent, you could be carrying a $250,000 mortgage for that same amount, and be building equity for the future.”