Till Debt Do They Part

WARNING: HARDCORE CYNICISM AHEAD...

Can't wait for the real estate market to crash? Más Kapital has a cultural trend that'll make your mouth water...

According to the National Association of Realtors, for the first half of 2004, unmarried couples made 9% of all U.S. residential property purchases. And that number is growing.

Wax romantic all you want, but we realists note that 50% of all marriages end in divorce, so we don't see a whole lotta future in unwed investments. What's that mean for you prospective buyers? Killer opportunities...

If you see an unmarried couple buying a house, just wait for that inevitable split. With rents lagging mortgages in most big cities, and personal debt at an all-time high, the couple will likely be forced to sell. Now, if the real estate market is growing irrationally, as in L.A., the couple might get a good deal; but should the market start to plateau or dive, as in Las Vegas, get ready to eat!

And don't just vulture over unmarried couples—keep that great American divorce rate in mind, along with the fact that the average time between marriage and divorce is eight years (even less in Hollywood, surprise, surprise).

And if a couple has a kid, your odds of scoring a deal are even higher. Why? According to The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke by Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren and daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi, one in seven families with kids will go bankrupt by the end of the decade. Says Amelia, "Having a child is now the single best predictor of bankruptcy." The reason? Both incomes are being committed to big purchases—like houses, second cars, child care, health insurance—so they save less, and if one spouse loses his/her job, the other one is already working and can't make up the slack.

And again, that means opportunity for you. Yeah, it sounds heartless, but let Dr. Phil fix family values—you're in business... [$]

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