Kayci Dickerson knew early on that she would never pay rent.
Dickerson, who grew up in St. Rose, watched as her friends cycled in and out of apartments in the city and suburbs. They spent way too much money on lackluster places, she thought. They dealt with absentee landlords. “It seemed like they were trapped,” Dickerson said.
She chose another route. She stayed with her parents and worked, at one point holding down two jobs as a Walgreens manager and TSA officer. She picked up extra hours and weekends whenever she could. She socked away one salary, and spent frugally with the other. At 29, she purchased her first home, a new-build, three-bedroom ranch home in a quiet Marrero development. It was tough, but it was important to her.
For a long time, homeownership has been seen as a rite of passage after getting married. That was the case for Dickerson’s parents. Many of her friends expect the same. That didn’t sit right with Dickerson.
If you can buy a home by yourself, she asked, why wait? Dickerson’s story isn’t conventional, but it’s increasingly common, and nowhere more so than in New Orleans.
Single women are now the country’s second largest group of homebuyers, buying up property at twice the rate of single men, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. That’s due in part to millennial women buying their first homes. But young Baby Boomer women are even more apt to jump into the market solo. In 2018, one in four buyers ages 54 to 63 were women, NAR reports.
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