A Once and Future Home

After her divorce in 2002, Carol had to sell the only house her three children had ever called home. She would soon join the 3.6 million unmarried women--two-thirds of whom were previously married--who've recently become homeowners. As of the latest American Housing Survey, divorced women account for 20 percent of the total home buying population.

But even after buying and renovating the two-bedroom house on Long Island that she would move into with her daughters, Carol couldn't help but feel a sense of loss for the family home she had to sell. "The day we moved out was a very painful process," she says. Until a chance encounter with her old neighbors offered her a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to rewrite history-–to buy back the house her children had grown up in.

"I always told my mom, since the day we left, we're going to get the house back, we're going home," says her daughter Natasha. "I always just had a feeling that it wasn't over for us here."

As it turns out, Natasha was right. Carol and her daughters have been back living in their once-and-future house for three years. "I pinch myself every day," Carol says. "I moved up from a two-bedroom apartment to a five-bedroom home. And more importantly, that's the key word--it's home."

Watch the video for Carol's full story.

Want more information about divorce and real estate? See Five Real Estate Questions for Divorcing Couples.

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Get property tax help from our experts.