Rent to own, lease to own and lease purchase mean renting first and buying later, if you exercise an option. Contract for deed means paying for years before the deed is yours. Owner financing from Golden Path Homes is the same idea with one difference: the deed is recorded in your name at closing, so you own from day one.
As of October 8, 2026: 119 homes in 25 states, down payments from $10,000 to $60,000.
| Owner financing | Rent to own / lease option | Contract for deed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Deed in your name at closing | Seller keeps the deed | Seller keeps the deed |
| Credit check | None at Golden Path Homes | Varies by seller | Varies by seller |
| Up-front money | Down payment, which is your equity | Option fee, kept if you do not buy | Down payment |
| If it falls through | You own the home and can sell or refinance | Seller keeps the option fee and rent | Seller can keep payments made |
| Timeline to own | Immediate | After the option, usually years | After the last payment |
Mostly the name. Rent to own, lease to own and lease option all describe the same structure: you sign a lease, pay an up-front option fee, and get the right to buy the home at a set price before the lease ends. Lease purchase is the stricter cousin, where the lease obligates you to buy. In every version you are a tenant until you close, and the seller holds the deed the whole time.
An installment contract where you pay the seller over time and the deed is only transferred after the last payment. Until then the seller still owns the home, which is where the horror stories come from: buyers who paid for years, missed a stretch, and walked away with nothing because they never held title.
You own from day one. Golden Path Homes sells the home and finances it ourselves, and at closing the deed is recorded in your name through a title company. A third-party loan servicer collects the monthly payment at a fixed rate from 4.9% to 6.5% for the life of the agreement. There is no credit check; qualification is a down payment and steady income.
The one where you hold title. All of these structures exist because a bank said no, but only one puts the home in your name. If a rent-to-own deal falls apart, the option fee and the rent are usually gone. If you own the home, the equity is yours, and you can sell or refinance later.
Owner financing is the same idea, with one difference: you own from day one. Golden Path Homes does not offer rent to own; every home is sold on owner financing. What a rent-to-own seller would call an option fee is, with us, a down payment that becomes your equity. See every available home.
Browse live owner-finance inventory, or tell our team your budget and where you want to live. No credit pull, no obligation.
Close, but not the same. A lease purchase obligates you to buy; a lease option gives you the right to buy without the obligation. Both leave the deed with the seller until you close.
Yes, if you do not exercise the option to buy. That is the main risk of the structure.
Yes. Seller financing is governed by the Texas Property Code, and a Golden Path Homes sale closes at a title company with the deed recorded in your name.
Rent to own homes, and a way to own from day one