New York’s Department of Financial Services recently sent a consumer alert to state residents about the dangers of rent-to-own deals, but the advice applies to everyone considering that path to homeownership -- not just those in the Empire State.

These arrangements rarely work out for the wannabe owners, but they are windfalls for the seller-landlords. Granted, some rent-to-own contracts are fair and equitable. But most are just backdoor deals that often prey on people who don’t have a big enough nest egg, or a high enough credit score, to meet normal lending standards.

One seller freely admits that half his tenants fail to meet the criteria set up in his contracts. And real estate guru John Reed reports that as many as 95 percent of all rent-to-own deals don’t make it to the finish line.

And if the deals fall through, the sellers reap the rewards. They get to pocket whatever overages the tenant might have paid to build equity in the house and use as an eventual down payment. Better yet, the sellers get to keep the house and put it back on the market for the next unsuspecting chump.

The hook, of course, is that the landlord will sell you the property a few years down the road, giving you time as a renter to build up enough cash for a down payment or to raise your credit score. But too often, the tenant fails to do one or both of those things before the lease expires, and ends up worse off than before.

Although rent-to-own programs “appear to offer a path to homeownership,” New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services Maria Vullo says in her alert, “these arrangements may impose harsh terms with little or no consumer protections.”

Reed agrees. By making a lease option that is likely never to be exercised by the tenant, he says, some sellers are pocketing thousands of dollars of the tenant’s money while “leaving the tenant out on the street with nothing -- no benefit from having paid all that extra front money and rent.”

All of the following points should be covered before you sign anything:

-- Price. The rent-to-own lease should spell out a fair selling price. From the tenant’s point of view, that would be what the place is worth at the time of lease-signing. But from the landlord’s side, the price would be its worth when the buying option is exercised. So find a middle ground, and set it now.

If the landlord is adamant about waiting to set a price until you use your option, so that he or she can take advantage of any appreciation, then at least agree -- in writing -- how that price will be determined. Maybe you can agree to use a certain appraiser, or each hire your own. Then, if there is a difference between the two valuations, you agree to split the difference.

-- Timing. Does two years, the typical length of a rent-to-own deal, give you enough time to improve your credit score and save for a down payment? Probably not. So make the lease as long as possible: five or six years, perhaps.

-- Rent. Be sure the rent is fair. Often, the seller will charge more than the going rate, under the assumption that you will eventually buy the place. Higher rents are supposed to compensate owners for keeping the house and paying the mortgage longer than if they had sold the place outright.

Some sellers also will charge an overage to be credited to your account as part of your down payment. So try to negotiate on the rent, and make certain that at least part, if not all, of the overage comes back to you if you fail to exercise your option to buy.

-- Maintenance. The lease should spell out who’s responsible for maintenance and improvements. Generally, the landlord is on the hook for fixing a balky furnace or malfunctioning air conditioning unit. But if you want to undertake a major kitchen remodel, it will probably be on your own dime.

If you can’t persuade the landlord to chip in now on something that will add value to the property, then try to get them to credit your account for some or all of the cost of the improvements when you move from tenant to buyer -- or when you move out.

Leases are required to provide basic consumer protections, but some rent-to-own outfits claim to offer a hybrid agreement -- part mortgage, part lease -- that doesn’t follow the same rules. Beware, says Vullo: “Before considering one of these agreements, consumers should carefully consider whether a traditional lease is a better option.”

Finally, check your state’s laws about the condition of rent-to-own properties. New York has found that some contracts impose the obligation to make repairs (and incur the substantial costs) solely on the tenant, whereas state law places the onus on the landlord.

New York tenant-buyers have certain legal rights if they pay for work that improves the house, and then fail to buy it. One comes under the common-law doctrine of “equitable mortgage,” which holds that tenant-buyers cannot be evicted if they fall behind on rent. Rather, they are entitled to the protections afforded under a foreclosure proceeding, because they’ve accumulated equity by paying rent and improving the property’s condition over time.

The law in your state may be different, so do your research and know your rights.

The mortgage business is ever evolving, with the great thinkers in the housing finance sector always trying to come up with a better mousetrap.

Most recently, at least four companies -- Finance of America, Longbridge Financial, One Reverse Mortgage and Reverse Mortgage Funding -- have rolled out proprietary home equity conversion mortgages to compete directly with reverse loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

In addition, Finance of America Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortgage have new, more favorable terms for locking down loan rates so they don’t climb beyond your limit before closing. Startup Remzy has a way to connect buyers with owners who don’t have their homes on the market yet. And HSH has new “decisioning” software that permits borrowers to easily compare the cost of low-down-payment FHA loans with similar conventional, privately insured mortgages.

Reverse mortgages, aka home equity conversion mortgages (HECM), allow homebuyers to withdraw 75 percent or so of the equity they have in their homes. There are no payments necessary until you move out for good or pass away. Then, lenders are repaid by selling the property on the open market.

Now, instead of being able to offer a single reverse mortgage product, lenders -- and their borrowers -- have choices.

The FHA HECM has some significant rules, such as limits on the amount or proceeds borrowers can withdraw, that the new entries seek to overcome. Each has different requirements, but provides more options for borrowers. For instance, all four of the new competitors offer borrowers access to up to $4 million of their homes’ equity, whereas the FHA loan limit is $679,650.

There are other differences, too. With its HomeSafe reverse product, Finance America allows borrowers to initially remove only 60 percent of their equity at closing. But they can take the remaining 40 percent in equal monthly payments over five years.

With most reverse mortgages, at least one of the borrowers must be at least 62 years old. But under Reverse Mortgage Funding’s Equity Edge loan, one borrower needs to be only 60 to qualify, and the company doesn’t charge an ordinarily expensive servicing fee to administer the loan.

HSH publishes mortgage and consumer loan information. Joining a complete suite of online calculators, HSH’s FHA calculator allows you to view the true cost of an FHA loan. Simply punch in some basic data -- interest rate, purchase price, down payment amount, fixed or adjustable rate, credit score etc. -- and the program will calculate all costs and compare them to those associated with a similar conventional loan.

Finance of America’s Lock and Live product ensures clients can lock in their quoted rate for a total of 90 days with a house address “to be determined.” While “lock-in” programs are not new, this version gives borrowers 60 days to shop for the house and then 30 more days to close on their loans.

The feature protects borrowers from paying a higher rate during periods when rates are rising. But should rates fall during the lock-in period, you can exercise a one-time “float down” option to grab the lower rate. You are protected either way.

A similar Lock and Shop option from United Wholesale Mortgage gives borrowers rate security for 60 or 90 days, their choice, and also protects them if rates should fall rather than rise.

Technology takes center stage with Remzy, a platform for agents to use with wannabe buyers who have spotted houses they like but that are not on the market. Remzy’s motto: Think outside the multiple listing service.

Once a potential residence is identified, the agent or the buyer starts the conversation by sending a “professional, yet personal” letter, via FedEx, to the owners telling them of your interest. When the owners receive the overnight package, they can enter a unique code online to view the offer’s details. If they accept or counter your offer, the conversation has begun, and further negotiations can proceed.

Finally, if you are tired of repeatedly losing houses to cash buyers, become one yourself. One outfit making that possible is FlyHomes, which operates in the Seattle area. When you are ready to bid on a house, you pay the company 5 percent of your bid and the company uses its credit lines to turn yours into an all-cash offer.

If yours is the winning bid, FlyHomes collects a 3 percent sales commission from the seller. It then sells the house to you whenever you obtain financing. And if that takes a while -- perhaps you still have to clean up your credit -- it will rent the house to you until you finally qualify.

At least two other startups, Ribbon and EasyKnock, offer similar programs. Ribbon charges buyers 1.95 percent of the purchase price, but the fee jumps to 2.95 for buyers who must rent their new homes until they find financing. Buyers can rent for up to a year.

The American Dream has become the American Pipe Dream for many wannabe homeowners. Here’s why.

One year ago, if the buyer of a $200,000 house borrowed 80 percent of that amount at 3.9 percent, the monthly payment for principal and interest would have been $755. Today, that same house would cost $218,600, a jump of 9.3 percent. And an 80 percent loan would have an interest rate of 4.6 percent, for a payment of $897 a month -- a 19 percent increase.

“That’s the crux of the affordability crisis today,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at housing data firm CoreLogic, who provided the above example. “That’s the exact same house. Nothing’s changed but the price and interest rate.”

And Nothaft believes it’s going to get worse before it gets better. He sees loan rates rising to 5.1 percent by the end of the year -- “their highest level in a decade” -- and house prices going up 6 percent year-over-year.

Some 67,000 jobs were created in the energy-efficiency field last year. That’s nearly half of the energy jobs created in 2017, according to the latest federal figures.

It brings the total workforce in the energy-efficiency sector to about 2.25 million, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy and Employment Report -- more than a third of the 6.5 million people employed in the entire energy sector.

The report also said that there are more total jobs in efficiency than the 1.9 million employed in the entire electric power generation and fuel sectors, combined. That includes all jobs relating to extraction, production and power generation relating to coal, oil, gas, renewables, nuclear and advanced/low-emission natural gas fuels.

One reason for the increase is the huge 75 percent jump in the construction of “net-zero” homes between 2016 and 2017, according to a new report from research and marketing firm Parks Associates. Net-zero houses use the same amount of energy that they produce -- or even less. Often, these places return power to the grid instead of taking it.

So far, nearly half of all net-zero houses have been built in California, which has set a goal of achieving statewide net-zero energy by 2020, just 18 short months from now. Other states have adopted similar top-down approaches to incentivize net-zero adoption, but low energy costs are a barrier to generating demand, said the Parks report.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking to buy an existing house that’s energy efficient, you could be on your own in finding one. While interest in energy savings is strong among resale buyers, only 40 percent of agents responding to a survey by the National Association of Realtors say their local multiple listing services have so-called “green” data fields.

Fifteen percent reported that their MLSs don’t carry such information, and a shocking 46 percent had no clue whether that information is published or not. At the same time, though, 40 percent said that listings certified as green spent neither more nor less time on the market.

Here are a few tidbits from the recent National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Las Vegas.

-- Forty percent of all house-hunters have been shopping for seven months or longer, all to no avail. “The market is so tight and there are so many multiple-bids,” said Rick Sharga of Carrington Mortgage Holdings in Irvine, California, “that (buyers) settle for what’s available.”

-- According to Brian Simmons of Ask a Lender, a site that connects borrowers with mortgage professionals in their area, some buyers are such introverts that they “dream, shop, apply and close online without ever speaking with a live person.”

-- In an era where technology is changing the way the real estate market works, David Mele of Homes.com said people “would be surprised how many agents aren’t very technology-savvy.”

-- There are more solutions to solving the down-payment issue than most realize, according to Rob Chrane of Down Payment Resource, an outfit that tracks some 2,500 assistance programs and helps buyers find them. “If it’s not free money,” he said of what’s available, “it’s the free use of money.”

A buyer who qualifies for assistance can typically receive $10,000 worth of help. But because one form of aid can often be layered atop another, Chrane said the amount could be substantially higher. In one case he knows of, a borrower qualified for six types of financial help.