Rent to buy

[William Busch]

hi BP members!

My name is William and I just joined and this is my first post so here goes:

After listening to many podcasts and webinars I have been looking around the Springfield, MO area. 

I found some listings on Craigslist that were called rent to own. They ask for a much higher down payment in the range of $1500 instead of the regular $200-300. This does go towards the purchase price, though.

My question is what do you think of rent to own? Is is basically like owners financing or is it completely different?

Thanks a bundle!