Home buying for single parents

However, does it vary considerably from the mindsets of two parents living in the same abode? Of course, married adults planning children's schedules generally manage better than one. Knowing their kids are safe and functioning normally, a lone mom or dad at the daily grindstone frequently does a juggling act. In stressful times, the "balls or skittles" can escape the rotation, creating disruption and unhappiness. 

Still, aside from the above, buying a home is mainly about affordability, raising a mortgage, planning a budget, and deciding on accommodations. It's the same for every family, a parent pair or one. So, in this article, we will provide a balanced view of single parents going on a house-buying journey, trying to highlight their unique demographic-centric decision-making - whether subtle or one-sided.

Single parent's outlook since the pandemic 

The post-pandemic gravitation to remote work scenarios favored a better domestic lifestyle, but much more so for single parents. Why? It introduced the workforce to work-from-home flexibility, which has been extraordinarily beneficial toward more family time and maintaining control of things. 

Being close to the children from a home office (versus miles away in a company facility) helps the single parent double- and triple-task more efficiently. So, when buying a new home, one must consider a sophisticated home office and its connection to other living spaces. 

However, not everyone has remote working privileges, so single parents unable to work from a home base row the same boat they did before COVID-19 hit the population. We want to address all situations in this parenting category when searching the MLS for a comprehensive overview of the topic (see more below). If you want an expansive insight, read on. 

The single parent's first big step

Connect with a professional realtor team regionally familiar with the marketplace and all that connects to it. Remember, selecting neighborhoods cannot exclude considering commercial infrastructures. Indeed, the latter can make life considerably easier or difficult to navigate. As a single parent with school-going kids, you want to be near excellently-rated public academies offering afternoon curricular activities in sports, extra lessons, and special interests. One benefits from the peace of mind of knowing your offspring stays productive when one's eyes and minds are on work-related matters.

Realtors have the skills and knowledge to advise on a location that aligns closely with a single parent's needs, knowing that time is a valuable commodity. As a result, New Urban Living's advantages can remove the aggravation and hassle of moving family members between events on their busy schedules. Thus, expert agents carve out MLS searches to suit family dynamics, and single parenting is front and center of this.

Another thing: Most realtors know their suburbs like the backs of their hands. Some of the latter are private and exclusive, geared to retirees, uninviting, or resistant to befriending neighbors. Conversely, others are family-oriented, welcoming shared lift arrangements to soccer or baseball practices and collecting kids and friends from late classes. Single parents need all the help they can get, thus relying on top-class real estate advisors to guide their searches.

Don't consult your realtor without preparation.

Financing

Many single parents squeeze into situations where dual incomes would qualify easily but not so much as the only breadwinner. In some cases, checks from a divorced spouse help make enbs meet. When the chips are down, what home price do you prepare for, leaving enough cash in the bank account to pay for necessities, vacations, savings, entertainment, and servicing the mortgage? Also, how much capital do you have as a downpayment on the house, apartment, or townhome? 

Begin using a mortgage calculator, but nothing substitutes a frank conversation with your realtor. Agents can accelerate your learning curve significantly, knowing what they know, thus bypassing mortgage lender application rejections that inevitably emerge when one's sights are too ambitious. Most of the budgeting - bar a few specific expenses like childcare - is not much different from a traditional two-parent family buying their home.

Let's not confuse single parents with first-time buyers, except to say frequently they are. Suppose that's you. In that case, one of the shocks that hit first-timers between the eyes on the day they close their deal, revolves around closing costs they never anticipated. For example:

• Attorney's fees, mortgage insurance, and state taxes.
• Other variabilities (like moving expenses and property taxes) 

The above are a few that add to the complexities of determining down payments and calculating interest charges (that include or exclude closing costs amortized over many years). A patient and knowledgeable agent can simplify the process so that all these calculations enter the picture appropriately with transparency and don't jolt you out of the blue. Again, to reiterate, couples as first-time home buyers face the same information gaps. 

HOA versus Non-HOA

Other things to consider with your realtor are HOA single-family enclaves with in-community facilities encouraging the residents to socialize in clubhouses at heated pools on the surrounding sundecks, kiddie's playgrounds, tennis courts, or fitness centers. It's a massive advantage to single-family parents but comes at a monthly cost, anything from $150 to $1,000. It's not to say neighborliness isn't prevalent in non-HOA developments, but facility-connected projects provide it on a silver platter.

Understand that any home selection in a multifamily (MF) complex (like a condo tower or townhome complex) always requires HOA governance to cover building maintenance, insurance, and common ground upkeep (at a minimum). The fees can be high, so scouting it out from the get-go is advisable. Boutique buildings, where there are only a few tenants to spread the costs across, levy a hefty amount. 

Frequently, MF HOA fees cover sports facilities like a basketball court, a media room, a billiards room, and a pool. Single parents with teenage and pre-teen kids in the family generally love amenities that keep them occupied outside of school hours and weekends. It also allows moms or dads to participate without leaving the community campus.

Accommodations

Single parents sometimes miss the need for everyone in the family to have private space, therefore settling for property deals that look great on price but ultimately deliver cramped accommodations. In this regard, the metrics are simple: The bigger the family and smaller the space, the less privacy it provides. As a result, a balance between luxury appointments and room enters the conversation, as it would for any family. 

Single-family homes range between 1,300 and 4,500 square feet under air (two to five bedrooms with at least 2.5 bathrooms and two-car garaging). In some cities and towns, garden space on half to one-acre lots is abundant, whereas, in others, one would be lucky to find lots of less than one-quarter of an acre, with zero-lot lines ruling the roost. 

Congested cities favor medium- and high-rise living in units between 1,000 and 3,500 square feet (UA), offering underground parking, extra storage for tenants, and similar accommodations described above. However, decisions about living in a house or a condo converge on vastly different lifestyle considerations.

Expert realtors can erase any confusion and point single-family parents to the residential types that suit them best - taking privacy, luxury, living space, and nearby city conveniences into account. Undoubtedly, single-parent families will have unique requirements a professional realtor covers in their appraisals.

Credit Scores

Single parents or couples face the same tasks in this arena knowing their credit scores will enter any process when negotiating a loan. Raising kids on your own won't distinguish you from twosome co-parenting. Some credit score counselors can erase the primary items that traditionally drag your score down. Accordingly, we refer you to the CFPB - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a comprehensive information source to clean up lingering debt issues.  

Knowing the disruptive factors in a loan application creates a window to address them constructively. At the same time, we don't want to imply that single-parenting usually connects to poor credit ratings, but if it does, it's vital to kick the emeging challenges to the curb.

There are numerous sources one can go to for credit-aided home loans, including The Department of Veterans Affairs (an invaluable resource for veterans and eligible surviving spouses to obtain residential funding) and HUD housing counselors - a solid fallback for first-time buyers. 

Conclusion

We wanted to get it from the horse's mouth - a reputable agency to review our content. ZFC Real Estate stood out as a team that offers a customized approach to its clients in South Florida. It provides diverse lifestyle options, from country clubs to boating communities, from estate homes with amenities to communities with zero HOA fees and no bells and whistles. They also market beachside and downtown condos, ranches, and historic neighborhoods from Miami to Jupiter along the coast, embracing inland developments in horsey-set territory (Wellington) and Parkland.

The ZFC executives agree that single-parent clients have unique needs trying to work and exercise supervision over children. Simultaneously, many market drivers (as described above) affect all family types. The trick is to "know your customer, inside out, up and down, from corner to corner. Single parenting will bring out the unique needs, and tackling them effectively is all in a day's work.