These days most of the real estate market s being dominated by buyers who want to avail the advantage of buying their dream home with the rent to own plan. Recently the number of homeowners listing their properties at the rent to own forums has increased considerably as well. Rent to own is a policy of obtaining a piece of real estate without having t pay twenty percent of the price of the property as down payment. The most common method of buying a house in this country requires the buyer to have a good credit status, so that he can apply for a loan, then the buyer is required to pay as mentioned before about twenty percent of the total price of the property in the form of down payment.  Now the sad part is that most of the buyers in this country do not have a good credit status and even if they do have one, they are unable to pay the down payment. As we see it buying a house by the common place technique is not so useful after all.  Rent to own is a widely accepted practice where the buyer rents the house for a stipulated period of time. During this period the buyer/tenant pays the rent a half of which is considered to be rent credit and the accumulated rent credit is deducted from the total price of the house.  Rent to own contracts are a bit tricky to handle and one should always sign them after consulting an attorney conversant in the rules and regulations in the concerned state, but in most cases these contracts are handled between the buyer and the seller. Usually a percentage of the rent paid by the tenant every month is set aside in escrow towards the down payment, sometimes the sum of money is also deducted from the actual price of the property. In such a scenario the prospective buyer only gains from this contract if he goes on with the end of the lease period. If under any case the deal falls through then the entire sum of money that the seller obtained as rent will be entitled to him and the buyer will have no claim towards the money.  There are few other causes that prohibit the seller to sell of the property while within the limits of the rent to own contract. Similarly the prospective buyer cannot take a loan against the leased house which he has not bought yet. During the lease period the seller holds the title of the property and is liable to pay the annual taxes of the property. There is also provision in such contracts so that the price of the property remains constant during the course of the lease and the closing price of the property is agreed upon by the buyer and the seller. Since the buyer does not have to pay up for the increased price of the real estate so he is at an advantage when he finally buys the house. The rent to own policy is a great one and can help a lot of people in their search for that perfect house but caution is necessary so that you do not get duped.