What does Rent to Own mean?

There are a lot of Rent to Own stores out there.
What this means is you pay a set amount every week or month for an item until it is paid off and you own it. This includes interest. You have the item in your possession while you are paying for it.
This can be benificial if you don't have the money to pay for something outright but otherwise it can be very costly if you figure in all the interest you pay.

Rent-to-Own can mean paying 3 times the cost.

Financing on credit card or in store financing can mean 1.5 times the cost.

Paying cash is many times less than cost.

Do you really need it, considering the cost?

I'm Sorry I was talking about a house. My brother is looking at a house that said rent to own and I didn't know what that meant. Sam

Here is a link to the Urban League of Greater Madison rent to own program. Although this particular program is taxpayer supported, the FAQs may help explain the process.

Rent to own FAQs

Thanks alot for the link

Houses are very seldom offered on a true "rent to own" basis. What I suspect they mean when they say that is that a portion of your rent will be applied to a down payment or something like that. Be sure you study the terms CAREFULLY, to make sure it will actually be applied to the house in some way, and not just go into the Seller's pocket.

Another caution to anyone who thinking of buying a house or other real property on a contract: most of the time the owner will carry your paper for a while, but there is usually a clause to the effect that in 5 years or so you will finance it, and pay the owner off. READ THAT CONTRACT CAREFULLY and if you don't understand something, ask somebody who knows - a real estate broker or a lawyer.

Catty (who is very wary of such offers)