It is safe to say that just about all homeowners with a house to sell would rather sell it outright than offer it for rent to own. When they sell with rent to own, they are forced to wait several years to get their cash out of their home. This can make it difficult for many sellers to purchase a new home. Because of this, it is safe to say that rent to own homes are typically only offered by home owners who either need to sell very quickly or have tried to sell and been unsuccessful. Additionally, even home owners who are open to the idea of renting are not all that familiar with the rent to own concept and may not think to offer their home in this manner.
If you are looking for rent to own homes, there are two ways that you may be able to find them. The first is to go through a rent to own company and the second is simply to contract property owners directly and see if they would entertain the idea of offering their home for rent to own. The main advantage of going through a rent to own company is that they have a great deal of experience with such proposals and are generally speaking much better equipped at explaining how the rent to own process works to potential sellers. They may also know how to convince sellers who are hesitant to consider this option in a way that you may not be able to. Going through a rent to own company can be much quicker as well, as many of them already have standing inventory. The down side is that obviously going through a rent to own company can cost you money.
The other alternative is to look through homes that are listed for sale and rent and contact the home owners directly. Independent proposals are much more likely to go smoothly when the homes have been on the market for some time.