In real estate game, women are leading the way
There are more women buying homes on their own than men, according to the experts
Two years ago, Sonya Singh was looking to plant her roots in the city and figured real estate was her answer.
Opting to stay away from highrise condominiums, she eventually settled on a one-bedroom condo townhome in the Alexandra Park neighbourhood, near Dundas St. W. and Spadina Ave.
That she would be purchasing real estate on her own, Singh admits, was scary, but she knew the time was right, calling it the best financial decision she’s ever made.
“As a woman in her 30s, you start thinking that you should be looking at a home as part of a relationship. But your home defines you as your place of growth and, one day, when you are in a relationship, you can grow into a bigger home,” she says.
“I was tired of renting and paying someone else for their property,” she adds. “There’s a sense of security and independence that comes with purchasing your first home.”
Singh isn’t alone. Roughly one in four Canadian homebuyers is a single woman.
Real-estate expert and TV personality Sandra Rinomato says women purchasing real estate on their own is a clear trend.
“There are more women buying real estate than there are men buying, and there are many more women buying now then there was even 20 years ago,” she says.
Until just a few decades ago, according to Rinomato, women had a hard time purchasing homes or even getting credit cards without a male cosigner. She feels the industry has been slow to catch up, but is now taking steps to recognize this trend.
“Women aren’t getting married right out of high school and we’re pursuing careers and, one day, I realize the typical1.7 kids and the white picket fence isn’t for me — I don’t want to rent, I want to nest and I want something comfortable for me and I want to be financially secure,” Rinomato says.
Helga Teitsson, a real-estate broker in Toronto and creator of the website Smart Women Buy Real Estate (smartwomenbuyrealestate.ca), says clients share that mindset.
She says investing in real estate is the smartest financial decision wom- en can make.
“Typically, women would wait until they found ‘Mr. Right’ and they were getting married and then they would buy their first home,” Teitsson says. “That’s not the case anymore. It’s really important for women to secure their financial future with real estate.”
The math is simple, Teitsson says — if you purchase a condo for $400,000 and its value appreciates modestly by an average of 5 per cent per year, that’s an increase in the value of your home of $20,000 year after year. At the end of five years, you’re already up by roughly $100,000.
“If you were in a rental and you were throwing $2,000 a month into rent, you’re losing $24,000 a year and have no equity,” says Teitsson. “You’re paying someone else’s mortgage and not your own.”
Teitsson and Sandra Rinomato agree jumping into the real-estate game on your own — whether you’re a woman or a man — isn’t for the faint of heart.
“You have to make sure that you’re ready and it’s the right decision for you. If you’re on a budget, know your numbers and understand them.”