looking to get into a house

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what is the best route to upgrade from renting to owning? we are still renting apartments, and after each lease, i find it annoying that the rental property owners can still go up on our rent. you would think that these people would give you a break if you've been somewhere for a while, and give you a loyalty discount or something. i have a co-worker whose rent went up $500 a month because of "renovations". is this justified? not in the least, but people will pay it. i can't, no i won't pay $1000 a month to rent something. if i have to shell out that kind of money, i want to know that one day this will be mine. i really don't want to do 100% financing, so we're trying to find ways to put more money aside into savings to come up with a decent down payment. what are the best ways to do this? also, with the housing market the way that it is, do you think that any sellers would be willing to do a rent-to-own with a small down payment?