In November, Carol Bacon and her son, Matthew, then 3, moved from their cramped Southeast Washington apartment to a three-bedroom single-family house with a huge yard in the Hillcrest area of Southeast.
"The house is definitely better for my son. He has more room to play and can run around the yard. He's also closer to his school," said Bacon, a single mother and first-time homeowner.
Carol Bacon watches her son, Matthew, 4, outside the house she recently purchased in Southeast Washington. Here, she said, Matthew has more room to play and is closer to his school.
(Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)
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Bacon is one of an increasing number of single women buying houses, according to a number of homeownership statistics. But there is a substantial gap in the homeownership rate of single women with children and that of single fathers. Just 45 percent of single women with children are homeowners, while 69 percent of single men with children own their homes, according to the Women's Mortgage Industry Network (WMIN), a national organization of female mortgage executives sponsored by housing financing giant Freddie Mac.
The group's 15-member board is embarking on an educational campaign to help single mothers purchase their own homes.
"Income is a definite factor, as is the lack of credit," said Marcia Davies, vice president of product marketing and communication for Freddie Mac and a member of WMIN's board. "A lot of credit is often in the man's name, and if they divorce, women may not have credit. Or there are credit issues raised by being the head of household and by simply having to make ends meet each month."
WMIN hopes to help single mothers overcome these barriers. In analyzing recent census data, the group found that four times as many female heads of household rented than did men who were raising children alone. They plan to focus educational efforts on women in some of the 25 cities with the highest proportion of single mothers who rent. Washington is one of those cities.
"Most women today still operate out of principles from the past, thinking they need to put 20 percent down on a house or that because they are single they can't own a home," said Tonya Jackson, chairman of the board of WMIN and vice president of customer care at Freddie Mac. These days, neither of those is true. "We want to let women know that the dream [of homeownership] is really in reach."
While there are not mortgages or special financial programs targeted specifically at single mothers, Jackson said her organization wants to help them become aware of low-down-payment loans, closing cost help and other available assistance.
For Bacon, who started exploring buying a house five years ago, the $5,000 tax credit for first-time D.C. home buyers was a "big, big bonus." (That credit is in limbo in Congress.)
Li Thompson, a single mother whose son is a freshman in college, also used the credit to help her buy her newly constructed three-bedroom home in Southeast Washington in March 2003. Thompson, who is the assistant manager of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, also took advantage of the $10,000 toward closing costs that the District makes available to city employees, plus a grant from the Greater Washington Urban League.
Thompson initially looked into buying a house when her father became ill so he could move in with her. She and her son had been renting in Northeast Washington near RFK. Although her father did not survive to see his daughter buy a house, Thompson said she is still glad she moved forward with her plan.
Thompson took home-buying classes from a D.C. nonprofit group called HomeFree-USA and credits the classes with helping her and her son understand credit and the home-buying process. He went to some of the classes with her and to the settlement.
"My son knows what he needs to do to buy his own house now. He knows that when he graduates he's not going to get clothes or a car, but a condo," said Thompson, who already is making plans to purchase other property as an investment.
Still, not everything has been smooth. Even though the house was new, the inspector had a 11/2-page list of problems, from water leaking in the basement to badly painted walls. That pushed Thompson's settlement date back.
