Your best bet is to contact a local agent who can locate auitable properties and help you get through this somewhat complicated process while protecting your interests. however,you need to be aware that in a lease purchase situation your monthly payments will be required to be higher than current value. Basically it works like this: You put down a (non refundable) deposit (usually 10%) with the owner. you agree to purchase the house within a specific time period(most owners want 12 mos.) The deposit and extra money are put into an escrow account to build up your down payment. At the end of the term you take your down payment and get financing from a mortgage lender and purchase the house. This works well for people with credit issues but substantial income. The drawbacks are these: if you do not purchase at the agreed upon time,you lose your escrow fund. Also,you are locked into the original purchase price. if the house goes down in value,you're out of luck because it will not appraise and you will not be able to get financing at more than current value. it is very important to get representaton from a buyer agent so your interests are protected.

We'd be happy to send out an e-mail to the other members of our real estate board to see if anyone has such an opportunity. My firm is located in the area and we have an agent, Mary Janik who can help in your search. Can you give us some more details on what you're hoping to find and what your budget is? Mary can be reached at mary@homewaters.net