In the Region - Long Island - In Long Island, a Home Without Prince Charming - NYTimes.com KAREN CARRARO, a teacher, had just finished renovating a small colonial in Sea Cliff when a Cape nearby that she had admired for years for its "amazing front porch" came on the market. Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times SINGLE MOM Karen Carraro moved into her "dream house" in Sea Cliff over the summer. She says that owning a home shows her daughter, Kate, "that women are as competent as men." "I could always see myself living in this house," said Ms. Carraro, 49. Though she hadn't planned to move, she loved the light and the fireplace. Her agent, Elizabeth Luciano, an associate broker with Sherlock Homes Realty, sold her colonial within three weeks. In August, Ms. Carraro and her daughter, Kate, 10, moved into the $540,000 three-bedroom two-bath "dream house," on a 55-by-100-foot lot. As a single mother, Ms. Carraro said, she likes being a homeowner for the "sense of security" and the feeling that the home is "something that is yours, that you have more control over and can express your personality in." Creating a space to live in together "makes us happy" and shows her daughter "that women are as competent as men and not to be afraid of trying things and diving in." Clearly, she is not alone. A report last month by the National Association of Realtors noted that 21 percent of home buyers nationwide are single women; among first-time buyers, that number rises to 25 percent. By contrast, single men represent 10 percent of buyers; among first-timers, 12 percent are single men. According to a 2008 nationwide census survey, there are 163 single female homeowners for every 100 single male homeowners. Sixty-three percent of women buyers chose single-family homes, 13 percent chose town houses and 19 percent bought condominiums. Women started buying homes on their own in large numbers in the 1980s, according to Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. Before that, he said, women "were not taken seriously by lenders" and often "couldn't get a credit card, let alone a mortgage." Benefiting from a push for fair and equal credit, single women accounted for 11 percent of buyers by 1981. Sixteen years later, in 1997, the proportion had risen to 18 percent. In 2007 and 2008, one in every five home purchases was made by a woman. Mr. Molony said demographic evidence suggested that single women had "a better appreciation of housing, of building a nest," and that despite lower incomes, "they have more of a saving habit." Peter Francese, a demographic trends analyst for Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising agency, said the numbers weren't surprising. Though "more risk-averse than men," he said, "women have the motive, they have the means, they have the opportunity." Additionally, women represent more than half the people with college degrees, and half the work force. In the last few years, women have "finally gotten to the point in their careers or in the work force that they earn enough money to support themselves and their children," Mr. Francese said. Add to that the motivation of "building equity and taking advantage of the tax benefits." "They are more stable, they tend to stay in one place longer than men," he said. On the other hand, single men, Mr. Francese said, are more likely to rent than to buy. When they do buy, men are "looking at it almost entirely as a financial transaction," though they do make sure there's a spot for a 50-inch television or a basement workshop. Conversely, women are concerned with neighborhood safety, schools, convenience to shopping, the kitchen, and the security of the backyard or its suitability for children or grandchildren to play. Though numbers for the Long Island area aren't available, a look at local microcosms seems to indicate that they mirror the national trend. At the Seasons at East Meadow, a new gated condominium community restricted to those 55 and older, single women accounted for 29 percent of the 129 homes sold thus far, out of 212 in Phase 1, which is still being sold and built. Homes started closing in April, according to Ellen Antonucci, vice president for marketing of the Engel Burman Group, the developer. Among these buyers is Gloria Edelman, 67, who is divorced and who packed up 40 years" worth of "good memories" from raising a family in a four-bedroom home in Seaford. On her own, or "princeless," as she described it, she bought a two-bedroom unit with a loft for less than $400,000 in June. "It's time to make a change in my life and grab the brass ring," she said. Seeking camaraderie at the Seasons, with its clubhouse and indoor and outdoor pools, Ms. Edelman found "girlfriends again" among other new owners. Alice Bergida-Bleier, an agent with Long Island Village Realty in Syosset, said the female buyer tended to be confident, "very self-assured and financially savvy," and "have no problem making decisions on where she wants to live, how she wants to live and is willing to tackle a home that may need work." In May, she sold a fixer-upper in Syosset to Jacqueline DeBari, 28, a teacher. Ms. DeBari, who had been renting an apartment in a house in Huntington, said she "didn't want to dump money into something that eventually wasn't going to be mine." Besides, she wanted a yard for her dog, Oscar - "somewhere he can run around." Though it was "daunting to pay a mortgage," Ms. DeBari said she decided to forge ahead with the $328,000 four-bedroom two-bath Cape on a 70-by-100-foot lot just a few blocks from her parents" home, because it was "a good investment." "I'm not waiting for Prince Charming," she said. I did this because it was good for me. Planning to move in before the holidays, she gutted the house, redid the vinyl siding herself and, with the help of her father, Ralph, an architect, added stone to the facade. Ms. DeBari called the home-buying venture "an empowering experience," adding, "I almost feel like there is nothing I can't do myself now."