By Laura Kusisto | Realtor.com
The down payment has been a big obstacle in recent years for renters looking to buy their first homes.
A new mortgage offering aims to ease the burden.
Home Partners of America, a rent-to-own company, is offering a new mortgage product to tenants that applies some of the appreciation in their home’s value during the time they have lived there toward reducing the down payment. In areas with even modest home-price appreciation, that could reduce the down payment requirement to almost nothing.