Q. Although I only owe about $8,000 from college, my credit score is poor, at just over 600. Right now I am making $70,000 a year and can realistically expect to reach $90,000 in five years and $100,000 in 10 years. I pay $1000 a month for rent and am tired of throwing away $12,000 a year with nothing to show at the end. Recently, I've been looking into "rent-to-buy" options and one has come up that will lock in the home's purchase price at $635,000. I'll pay $2,600 a month with $1,000 of that going toward either the price of the home or the down payment. I could rent the other two rooms out and bring my rental costs to $866 per month while increasing my credit score to qualify for a better loan. But home prices in my area are expected to drop over the next 30 months, making me nervous about locking a purchase price now. How do I determine whether I will be better off paying a low rent somewhere while the market drops and my credit rises, or I invest that money now and risk unrealized savings?

A.We are not big fans of rent-to-buy deals because most are just schemes to generate income from a home the owner simply can't sell. Ask yourself: Why would the owner offer a deal like this if he or she didn't have to? In the end, very few renters who sign-up for such options go on to buy the house.

We have other concerns, as well. The first one is the price of the home. You are locking into a price that might be more than the home is worth in three years or even four, which is a normal rent-to-own period. No one should buy a home for more than it is worth. And, to be honest, a $635,000 home is really more than you can afford on a $90,000 or even $100,000 salary.

Granted, you make good money, but not enough to buy a home that costs six times what you hope to be making in 10 years. At 6.5% interest, your monthly principal and interest payment on a $600,000 loan would be $3,800. Then you would have to tack on insurance and property taxes, which would probably boost your total monthly costs to around $4,250.

Why not continue renting, pay off your student loan and start saving for a down payment?

First, be sure that you are contributing enough to your employer's 401(k) retirement plan that you qualify for any matching funds. That's the equivalent of getting a raise.

Then take whatever you can spare and put your savings in a high-yield money market account, CDs or a Roth IRA -- another type of retirement account that allows earnings to grow tax-free and contributions to be withdrawn without penalty.

During that time you can put our six simple steps to raise your credit score to work.

If we haven't dissuaded you, and you still want to rent-to-own, there are two things you must do. First, have the property thoroughly checked out by a reliable building inspector. And second, have a real estate attorney read the contract and make sure it's as reasonable as possible.