The desire to live in a secure, maintenance-free home is among the reasons a growing number of independent women in Alberta are opting for condos when it comes time to get into home ownership.

For about 48 per cent of women across the province who responded to a Women and Home Ownership poll by TD Canada Trust, the cost of maintenance and repairs steered them away from buying a single-family detached home.

Nationally, 40 per cent pointed to maintenance costs as the main reason not to buy a detached home. But buying an apartment condo or townhouse is a different matter. There is little in the way of maintenance that isn't taken care of for purchasers.

"My husband and I owned a home on a double lot," says Carole Hackett. "I stayed there for a couple of years after he died, but the grass always needed cutting and there was always the maintenance, so I sold it."

Hackett, who works as an assistant to Marlene Swinton of Real Estate Professionals Inc., bought a townhouse in northwest Calgary where she feels safe and secure.

"It's a good neighbourhood, so when I want to travel, I just lock the door, tell my neighbours I'm going -- and I'm gone," she says.

Home ownership makes sense financially, says Swinton, who focuses much of her attention on finding condominiums for women.

"For many women, it's the first time they owned a home on their own and it's the best investment they can make," she says.

Condo living also makes sense because they don't have to worry about maintenance or their personal security, says Swinton.

Safety and financial security, along with lifestyle, were the main reasons why Stacey Taggart moved into a condo last fall.

Her work takes her away from the city for periods of time and she felt a condo would work better for her.

"I've owned homes before, but I don't like a lot of space anymore so a condo was much more attractive to me," she says.

Being centrally located, with access to shopping, entertainment and recreational outlets, the condo is a good fit for her lifestyle, says Taggart. "I've got all the space I need, a balcony for the views I have, and I can lock and leave."

Second to security on the list of best things about owning a home (38 per cent) was not having to pay rent.

Chris Wisniewski, group product manager for real estate secured lending at TD Canada Trust, says 44 per cent -women surveyed in 2009 ranked financial security as the best thing about home ownership.

She says there are three main - why more women are getting into ownership:

- "They see more women doing it and decide that -they will do it as well," says Wisniewski.

- There are more women in the marketplace and they are more able to afford a home.

- Because they typically don't earn as much as men, women are taking advantage of low interest rates to buy.

Although financial security continues to top the list of ownership benefits, the survey also found the comforts of having a home are increasingly important to Canadian women.

According to the third annual survey, the key features of home ownership, in general, also include being able to renovate to suit individual tastes, along with having a garden.

But these traits are typically tied to detached home ownership, although they apply to some bareland condominiums (where buyers individually own their homes, but the land in the community is owned in common).

The financial benefits of home ownership are the main reason more women are buying, says Jessy Bilodeau, a Calgary-based mobile mortgage specialist with TD Canada Trust,

"They want to invest in their future, -build equity and to have a place of their own," she -

|Women and home ownership poll

Women were asked nationally what they liked best - home ownership:

2008 2010

- Financial security 23% 44%

- Not paying rent or pay other people 19% 38%

- Having a place of my own 22% 34%

- Can decorate or renovate the way I want 14% 34%

Source: TD Canada Trust