Does Anyone Know of an Agency or Realtor That Can Help with "Rent to Own" Homes?

Be careful about online ads. I'd contact a realtor and go from there. If it were me, I'd consider a "tiny home". Less to take care of and they cost a lot less. Good luck!!

Call around to your local area realtors and ask this question. It is very much dependent on the local real estate market.

We own a small home in another state that we've been unable to sell, but we rent it out. We have a realtor who is our property manager, and I know that our realtor works with all kinds of clients. He has ones who are seeking or selling multi-million dollar homes, or single-family homes and everything in between. Some of his clients have loads of cash, some have shaky credit and are just looking for a safe place for them and their kids. It's a matter of finding a realtor who doesn't deal exclusively with upscale clients looking for large homes with perfect credit. Call several realtors and interview them on the phone. Be honest. Tell them you can't make a large payment and tell them that your credit has had some troubles. If you lost money or possessions in a divorce, or through a job loss, or because of medical issues, tell them that. If you have simply over-spent, if you have tons of high-end electronics that you've charged on maxed-out credit cards, if you spend every cent you earn on expensive manicures or at the spa, you might have trouble finding a house. But if you're honest, hard-working, and have just suffered through some difficult times, often a realtor will be willing to help you. You may have to call a few. Be sure to inquire whether they're licensed, and ask for their credentials. You can check them online then, to make sure their realtor license is active and in good standing.

I suggest that you don't follow up on online ads for housing or rent-to-own schemes. I'm sure some may be legit, but many are not. Use a licensed, active realtor. There are many decent realtors out there who understand the many ways to get someone into a home.

Most realtors would have them listed with regular listings. But you will still need to work on your credit, I know how hard this is, but even if it is rent to own your credit will come up.

You might consider a tiny home,they can range from 200 sq ft to 600 sq ft and can either be movable or not. I notice that is the latest thing going on now and I don't blame people for wanting low or no mortgages.

Some that I have seen on TV are very nice.

You might want to go to your bank and ask about a loan. Even if you don't have great credit, you might still qualify for a mortgage. It doesn't hurt to ask.

When we went to our bank and talked to a loan officer, we were able to learn how big a loan we qualified for and what our interest rate would probably be. It really helped us consider our options, and we were able to find a house in our budget.

Why not call a few realtors in your area and ask them for guidance.

Best of luck in your home search.

Remember that someone who wants to sell or rent a house really doesn't want to put their house in the hands of someone with poor credit. Fix your credit before you do anything.

There are many fall backs of going through some agency that you don't know. We bought a house, rent to own/lease purchase, directly from the owner and it was wonderful. He bought a lot of old falling down homes in our town and rehabbed them then sold all of them this way. I counted once and he had over 50 of them. This was his retirement. He bought them all at auction from the county/city and he worked construction so he knew what it would cost to redo them. He bought some for very little money and spent thousands to fix them and then sold them and made a good profit over time.

We paid $375 per month for XX years. Period. It was ours. The owner took us to the court house and we filed the paperwork for our names to be on the title and it had a lien against it for the remainder? the whole amount of what we were contracted to pay.

If the house burned down, the money paid of the note with the man first. We got the rest, it was our house. Like if we were using a bank. It was our job to have insurance, it was our job to do all repairs, it was our house.

By doing it this way both of us were protected. Doing it legally through the court clerks office gave us both security. When y husband lost his job and we had to let it go the owner simply took back the house and let us stay there for a couple of months, it was about 6 weeks, so that we could find someplace else to live. The next people that he sold it to, rent to own/lease purchase are still in it and have it more than half way paid off.

When you think about how much you actually pay for a house through a traditional loan you pay about what, double? and that can change with interest rates and more. With our house we were given an amount that it was for sale, the total amount. Such as $85,00 paid out over 18 years for $375 per month. The house was a brick 3 bed/1 bath home with a basement that was about 2/3 of the size of the upstairs. Attic fans and good solid structure.

If the house had been on a traditional market it might have sold for $40K and over 20-30 years had double our payment. I am not a realtor so I have no idea but I know that we figured it up once with a friend that was in banking and they said we got the house for about 2/3 of what we'd have paid on a traditional loan.

So I think if you can find someone to do this the right way, where it's legally binding and done right...okay? I think that they it would be a good deal.
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On the other hand. Please contact your nearest Habitat For Humanity office and find out how you can qualify to get in their program.

The land laws in Texas are different that other states due to how Texas was purchased from Mexico. When I was on the Habitat board I spent some time working with a lady in the Dallas, or that area, Habitat. She was very helpful but with their laws being different it was a bit confusing.

I'd like to say though, the way the program works is this:

You go and call, the person does a small sort of interview with you on the phone. You have to have a stable income, qualify income wise, can't be too low and can't be too high, then you have to be able to physically participate in working on site. By hanging sheet rock, painted, pounding nails, etc...in other homes that someone is going to get.

When you qualify through that initial interview then they give you the actual application. Once that is completed and they go through your process with the nurture committee your file goes before the board. They meet in private, it's not a public meeting, and discuss you. Not personal stuff but your finances, if you've had problems they might ask the nurture committee person how they plan to help you be a good homeowner and how they'll address that aspect of it, and things like this. We had one couple that we approved that fought like a cat and dog but they were overall a good family. Crazy but they were a good hard working family. They still have their home. Paid for it several years ago too.

Once the board goes through their process and vote you find out if you're approved or not. If you are then you start your hours. You should have many opportunities to volunteer. We have 5 sites right now going and only one home is assigned to a family, they completed their hours before anyone else and they are done with hours, but they are still working their home. For instance, say you are working and have a large family, they get a bunch of your hours done. You work every time you get a chance. So you have 200 hours done and your family and friends have done 200. You are more than done. BUT your house isn't finished. You don't just wait until the volunteers get it done, it's your house and you get to choose the flooring, the wall colors, the curtains, etc...you are going to be there every day you can working on the walls, the floors, the yard, everything so you can move in faster. That's how you get your house sooner. You get hours done then get one assigned to be yours and you work and finish it then move in. Making payments is up to that particular Habitat. Some charge the home owner market value, some only charge what they actually spent on the house, others have their own way too. It is by state and even by office.

If you are physically disabled and cannot do manual labor they will likely have to volunteer in other ways. I had an asthmatic mom that worked in our office and helped do all sorts of sorting, preparing plea letters and addressing those envelopes and more, she fixed snacks for the workers during their volunteer hours, she took money management classes, learned small household repairs at the vo-tech, and she worked many more hours than she needed.

Her family and friends volunteered on site and did the manual labor. They all continued working when her hours were done too. Some of them volunteer to this day. Becoming part of a Habitat crew that is close and good friends is something completely special.

So please, consider a Habitat For Humanity home.