There are various programs available for people looking to become a homeowner. Renting to own homes is often what people tend to look for as an alternative to throwing money down the drain. This is an all too often occurrence. The best suggestion is pretty much exactly what you are already doing which is taking advantage of investing into a property and building equity in a lease option to purchase home. Building equity into a home is valuable because when going with a rent to own home you are placing yourself in the position to own property at a later date without losing all of the money to place a roof over your head. Yes, most scenarios are quite expensive due to the abuses of certain landlords that will spoil the reputation of the rent to own tool, however there are more ups than downs when going with a lease option to buy. These contracts have some flexibility and if you find a realtor that is willing to work in your favor then you definitely have a greater chance of not only owning a home but coming out on top when it is time to change ownership at the end of the lease agreement. For rent to own homes there may be some additional opportunities available if you have had your credit improved and this may allow you to completely forgo the rent to own programs altogether. Some programs will require you to get a credit check along with helping you increase your credit rating then some will not really focus at all on helping you fix your credit score. We always highly suggest all of our visitors to at least find out what your credit score is prior to starting anything thing to do with home ownership in order to help guide you to a road-map for the white picket fence. You can check your credit score for here. Yes, the best way to buy a property with challenging credit is by setting the sales price now versus later. Speak with one of our agents about how they can fix the sales price now versus allowing the sales price to float