The decision to buy a home instead of renting may be in your kids’ DNA -- their housing DNA, so to speak.

According to new research from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, if Mom and Dad are homeowners instead of renters, the likelihood of their children becoming owners increases 8.4 percentage points.

Parents’ net worth is also a factor. Of millennials whose parents’ net worth is below $10,000, only 14 percent are homeowners, versus 36 percent of those whose parents have $300,000 or more in net worth.

Wherever you and your children stand in this equation, it’s entirely likely that, should one or all of your kids want to buy a house, you are going to have to dip into your pocketbook to help. Research says coming up with even 3 percent down is a true burden for many young buyers.

Fortunately, there are several ways you can grease the skids for the kids. Here are a few:

-- Loan. If they are short on cash, a loan from you can be a big help. At the same time, though, your loan will be held against them when they apply for financing.

In other words, the monthly payments to you will be counted as debt, which will impact their all-important debt-to-income ratio (DTI). If they carry too much debt -- maybe a couple of car loans, one or more credit card balances, student loans, child support -- they won’t make the cut.

Actually, lenders consider two different DTIs. One is the front-end, which is your housing expense-to-income. The other is the back-end: your total monthly obligations-to-income ratio. The former is your proposed mortgage payment, which includes principle, interest, taxes, mortgage insurance and homeowners insurance, divided by your gross monthly income. The latter is your gross monthly payments, including the mortgage payment, divided by your gross monthly income.

Loan programs differ. The Federal Housing Administration allows a back-end DTI of up to 54.99 percent on loans it insures. But most lenders limit it to 50 percent, with some capping it at 45 percent.

-- Gift. Most loan programs today allow family members, employers and even friends to give young homebuyers some or all of the money needed for a down payment. But if you decide to go this route, realize that it is a true gift, not a wink-wink “loan,” and it need not be paid back. You will be required by the kids’ lenders to write a letter stating just that.

Don’t try getting around this, either. Most lenders today want applicants to trace the history of any large deposits into their accounts so they can see where the money really came from.

How large a gift is allowed? It depends on the lender’s rules. For government-backed loans, the entire down payment can come from a gift if your kid’s credit score is above 620. A score lower than that requires 3.5 percent of the loan amount to come from the borrower’s own funds. For conventional loans, the down payment in its entirety can be gifted if the borrower is putting at least 20 percent down. A smaller down payment means the borrower will need some cash of his own.

If your child ends up picking a loan that doesn’t allow monetary gifts, perhaps you can donate it in another way: help defray moving costs, for example, or pay for any needed repairs or the first few mortgage payments.

-- Co-sign. This is considered one of the least favorable steps parents can take, because it puts their own financial futures in harm’s way. Co-signing means you are a co-borrower. So if your child fails to make the house payment for one reason or another, you’re on the hook for it. And if the house goes into foreclosure, that goes into your credit record, as well as Junior’s.

If your child is responsible and has the means to make the payments, but just needs help with the down payment, co-signing can work. But any mistakes will impact your ability to obtain credit of almost any sort in the future: a loan for your own new house, car or even a credit card.

-- Roth IRA. Setting up a Roth IRA in your child’s name could be a useful approach, but it takes some planning. It needs to be set up long before the homebuying process even begins.

Roth IRAs can be funded with up to $5,500 annually, as long as the amount you deposit doesn’t exceed your offspring’s earnings for that year. The money you put into your own Roth IRA will grow tax-deferred until you make a withdrawal. But your daughter or son can take a distribution of up to $10,000 for a first-ever home purchase, without penalty or taxes, as long as the account is at least five years old. Check with your accountant for further information.

-- Start a fund. Money placed in a Roth IRA is tax-free. But you also can open your own investment account on your kids’ behalf to help them later in life. Start while they are young, and you’ll be surprised how much money you’ll have put away by the time they want to settle down in a place of their own.

-- Education. One of the best things you can do for your children now doesn’t involve money at all: Teach them all about the costs and rigors of homeownership. Talk about how to build and maintain good credit, and explain why it’s important. They may not know that credit impacts almost everything they will do financially -- from getting their own cellphone account to obtaining affordable car insurance.

Explain to them -- even better, show them -- exactly what it costs to pay for your own house, including principle, interest, taxes, insurance, home association dues, utilities, maintenance and upgrades. And be sure to tell them what happens if an owner gets behind in their house payments: that they could end up losing their home.

The younger they learn these financial lessons, the better.

Any number of scams are designed to separate would-be renters from their money. But one recent, rather novel, scheme caught the eye of the Federal Trade Commission, which came down hard on the perpetrator.

It seems that Michael Brown and his company, the Credit Bureau Center, ran fake property ads on Craigslist and, with the promise of “free” credit reports, tricked people into enrolling in costly credit-monitoring services.

False advertising is a popular way to swindle renters. It is one of the five most common rental ruses, according to rental site Apartment List.

But the credit-monitoring gambit is something new. Brown and his co-conspirators offered to take their marks on tours of properties they either did not own or had no right to rent, but only if they first agreed to obtain supposedly free credit reports from CBC, formerly known as MyScore.

Unbeknownst to the renters, they were auto-enrolled into a credit monitoring service that charged $29.94 a month. Many had no idea until the unexpected fees started showing up on their credit card statements.

Watchdog agency FTC, which works to educate and protect consumers, didn’t take kindly to the swindle. Neither did a federal judge, who granted the FTC’s motion for summary judgment and ordered Brown et al. to repay $5.2 million in restitution to defrauded consumers.

Renters are not likely to run into this kind of scam again. But there are several others they need to be aware of.

According to Apartment List’s research, 5.2 million renters have lost money to a scamster. Around 43 percent of renters have run into a listing they suspected was not on the up-and-up.

Inexperienced renters are more likely to be separated from their money, Apartment List found. Nearly 10 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds reported losing money, compared to 6.4 percent of all renters. The median loss was $400, but 1 in 3 people were duped out of $1,000 or more, and 17 percent of those lost $2,000 or more.

Scams exist in many forms, according to Apartment List’s chief economist Igor Popov and senior research associate Sydney Bennet. Here are the five most common rip-offs:

-- Bait-and-switch. A different property is advertised than the available rental, and the scammer tries to collect a deposit or get a lease signed for the substitute property. They ask the renter to pay the first month’s rent and security deposit, in cash, then abscond with the money, never to be seen again.

-- Phantom rentals. A scam artist makes up listings for places that either don’t exist or aren’t rentals, and tries to lure renters with low prices. Again, cash is requested.

-- Hijacked ads. A fake landlord posts advertisements for a real property, typically houses that are actually for sale, with altered contact information.

-- Missing amenities. In the equivalent to “catfishing” in online dating, a real rental is described as having features and amenities it lacks in order to collect a higher rent. Here, landlords try to get renters to sign the lease before they notice the missing features. The most common items that are promised but don’t exist are laundry facilities or in-unit washers and dryers; air conditioning; pools, decks or other outdoor spaces; dishwashers; and gyms.

-- Already leased. A real or fake landlord attempts to collect application fees or security deposits for a rental that is already leased.

Visiting a property in person can help identify many of these scams, but renters moving from other cities often sign leases sight-unseen.

Another popular rental ruse has to do with vacation properties, in which people agree to lease places for a week or more from afar without ever seeing the apartment or house in person. Here, scammers run fake ads and ask you to wire a down payment -- or even a month’s entire rent. Then, when you show up for your holiday, the place isn’t what it was said to be, or doesn’t exist at all.

According to the FTC, which has prosecuted many rental fraud perpetrators, most scammers start with real rentals, replace the owner’s or agent’s contact info with their own, and place the listing on a different site. To get people to act fast, they often ask for a lower-than-typical rent or promise great amenities. It’s always nice to score a bargain, but a below-market rent is often a sign of a scam.

“Their goal is to get your money before you find out the truth,” the agency says.

Renters have very little protection under federal, state or local laws. So to avoid being had, the FTC advises against wiring money to pay a security deposit, application fee or first month’s rent. “Wiring money is like sending cash,” the agency warns. “Once you send it, you can’t get it back.

Also, don’t pay before you sign a lease. Before paying, visit the apartment or ask someone you trust to visit on your behalf. Don’t be rushed, either. Ignore anyone pressuring you to make a quick decision.

Do some extra research to confirm the property exists, and get a copy of the lease and read it before signing and handing over your money.

Many landlords will want you to pay for a credit report, but you can obtain a truly free one from AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling (877) 322-8228. Always check your credit before applying for an apartment or rental house. If you have issues, better to find them yourself, rather than paying a landlord to do so.

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.