What if it's someone you know, that owns the house without any loans or anything owed? Would it still be a bad idea?

NO!!! There are so many scams and risks involved. I suggest just look into purchasing a home.

We did it. All went fine and we own our home

I Was a landlord in a rent to own situation. We used a reputable company and all went well. Well, except the tenant went crazy and destroyed our house...but financially all was fine because we did our part and he paid. Just check and read documents carefully.

Those are usually scams

Following ! I'm in the process of fixing my credit and my husband has no credit

DF and I did last year and it turned out fine. we haven't come across any issues with it...

just do your homework and make sure you are comfortable who you are buying from. our landlord was super involved in helping us and working with us in any way that was reasonable. so id say go for it...like I said just do hw

I did years ago. It's been a while but I put about $5000 down and I paid $1000 a month. I was supposed to own the home in 2 years. I was in the home for almost a year when the owner drowned. His will stated the house was to be sold. His wife offered me the home but I wasn't in a position to buy straight out at that time. The home was put on the market and sold within 30 days. I did receive all of my money back that I put into the home and if I remember correctly they gave me an additional $500 for having to break my lease and terms.

We are looking into one now. They deal with people with not so good credit, but if we go through them and his credit goes up we can refinance to get a lower credit rate, right? We have raised our credit tremendously over the past 9 months.

Have you applied for a mortgage? I would suggest to speak with a mortgage broker about your situation. You don't always have to have amazing credit to qualify for a mortgage.

I wouldn't. We were considering it but have seen too much go wrong.

We did it, and it screwed us over as well. We were buying it from DH's cousin. After living there, and sending her a check every month for the payment for two years, we came home one evening to a foreclosure notice on the door. Turns out she had been keeping our money and not making the payment for over a year.

I say wait until you qualify for a bank loan.

Eh you ladies scared me out of that. We have decent credit but it could be better. DH was delinquent on student loans and we are waiting for that to come off of his credit. We are living with my father to save for a house and my mother is moving back in and I can't live in the same house with her. But that's a long story.

My husbands aunt and uncle did a rent to own and it turned out fine, but they knew the seller. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. We just bought our house normally

I wouldn't do that. What's your credit like? They're are loans and programs to help first time home buyers.

My parents did. It was bad. They put down $10,000 and paid I think $750 a month. They had a contract with a lawyer and everything. Over a year into it, they get a foreclosure notice on the door. The owners were not paying the mortgage or taxes on the property and my parents had 90 days to vacate. They talked to many lawyers to try to get their money, but because the lady's only income was social security they were pretty much told they could sue but would most likely not see any money. They ended up cutting their losses and purchasing a home.

I would say be very careful if you do it. A smart thing for my parents would have been to make sure the home no longer had a mortgage.