I've written before about the leap it took to get me into house shopping on my own. What I haven't written about is how once I started house shopping, how happy I was to be doing it solo. Why? Here are some of the benefits people overlook:
Easier to Schedule Tours. House shopping right now is a LOT of impromptu house touring, especially in this market. There are a lot more buyers and a lot fewer properties. Interest rates are low, which allows more people to afford more of a loan, but properties are scarce, since many people who bought in the bubble are underwater and don't have the liberty to sell for current market value. Getting a house is pretty much a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am sort of deal these days. If you are even slightly interested in a place, you have to get in there and make an offer ASAP. The good ones are flying off the shelves. Honestly, there were tons of places that were gone within just days of being listed. Working my schedule was bad enough, but having to get another person there as well would have been a nightmare, and I'd probably STILL be looking for a place. Not to say it isn't doable, because people do it all the time. But only having one person did make it a lot easier.
No Need to Compromise. Relationships are about compromise. House hunting while in a relationship is all compromise. House hunting solo is all about what YOU want. I'm not going to lie, I probably never could have put an offer on my new place if a man had been involved. The bathroom is pink. And I don't mean 'the walls are pink, so we will have to paint this' kind of pink. I mean 'this bathroom is going to be part pink until we replace the tub and sink' kind of pink. Yeah, style was a different bird back in the 1940's. Personally, I'm excited for what will soon be my uber-feminine bathroom. I could see someone of the XY chromosomal variety taking a different view of it though.
No Financial Surprises. Yes, I am one of the few who made it through college without any debt. I owe a huge chunk of that to my wonderful parents, but I owe part of that as well to my own hard work. I worked 3 jobs my junior and senior years of college and commuted over 40 miles a day to keep my living expenses minimal. It sucked, but it is the reason why I am now purchasing a house as opposed to paying off loans. It's very easy to accept financial consequences and restrictions if they are directly related to your own choices. It's a lot harder when a partner's lifestyle is the one getting in the way. Which is why every sitcom ever has an episode about one character's secret debts or something.
No Need to Nag. If I could describe house buying in one word it would be "paperwork". Time sensitive paperwork. If I had a partner in this, I would be calling them 20x a day asking them if they had filed this, that, or the other thing. Naturally, morphing into a control freak is my response to stress and other people may not have this issue, but I am always glad to avoid transforming into a Were-Nag (like werewolf...except a nag).
No Need to Explain. Men are great at picturing the potential of a room with a few tweaks like paint color, right? Oh no...wait. I've never been able to convince a man to see a room with a hypothetical new paint color. And I'm glad I didn't have to.
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