Should You Rent or Buy?
The honest answer is, it depends on your time horizon, the gap between rent and a mortgage, appreciation, and what your down payment would earn if you kept it invested. This calculator runs the numbers so you can see.
Rent vs. Buy Calculator
Compares the true cost of renting versus buying over time, accounting for appreciation, tax, insurance, maintenance, selling costs, and the investment return you could earn by keeping your down payment in the market.
If You Buy
If You Rent
If you rent, your down payment and closing cost money stays invested. This is the return you assume it earns.
Your Time Horizon
After 7 Years
Net Cost to Rent
$93,032
Net Cost to Buy
$204,484
Break-Even
Year 16
Renting looks better over your 7-year horizon by $111,452.
Net cost assumes you sell the home at year 7 and compares total out-of-pocket minus sale proceeds (for buying) against total rent paid minus investment growth of your down payment (for renting). Closing costs at purchase are estimated at 3% of the home price.
How to Read This
Break-even year is the key number
If you plan to stay in the home longer than the break-even year, buying beats renting. If you plan to sell sooner, renting usually wins because selling costs eat into your equity before appreciation catches up.
Monthly cost is not the same as net cost
A mortgage payment includes principal that builds equity. Rent does not. The calculator accounts for that by tracking your home equity and comparing total money spent minus what you get back at sale.
Assumptions matter more than defaults
Appreciation, rent increases, and investment return are the three biggest levers. Try the calculator at your realistic best case, base case, and worst case. If the decision is the same across all three, you have your answer. If the answer flips, the decision is closer than it looks.
Not every factor is in the math
Flexibility, lifestyle fit, the cost of moving, and the stress of a landlord raising rent are all real. If the numbers are close, those factors decide it. Alex helps you weigh both sides on a real call, not a spreadsheet.
Run the Numbers With Alex
Send your rent, target price, and timeline. Alex will send back a scenario with your real numbers, DPA programs you qualify for, and a recommended path forward.