Step 2 of 3
Rent or buy the same home
The purchase, and the rent it replaces
What renting the same house would cost today.
The single biggest driver of this comparison. A short stay rarely favors buying.
More options
Held flat for the whole period — see the note under the table.
Commission and transfer costs, charged on the value at sale.
Your two estimates — adjustable
Both of these are guesses about the future and both are yours, not a live feed and not a guaranteed forecast from this site. They move the answer a long way, which is exactly why they are editable and not fixed numbers.
Optional. Enter one and this shows what prices there actually did over the last 30 years.
An assumption — yours, not a forecast and not a promise from this site. It drives what the home is worth at the end, and so the gain on selling it. A ZIP code above sets the starting point; change it to whatever you actually believe, including a negative number.
No ZIP code entered, so the assumption on the right is starting from this site's default rather than from local history.
What it means: the rent goes up by this percentage every year for the whole 10-year comparison — $5,000.00/mo today becomes $6,523.87/mo in year 10. Your estimate, adjustable, starting at 3%/yr.
Renting is not throwing money away and buying is not automatically winning. Over the years you actually plan to stay, here is what each one leaves you with — on assumptions you set yourself.
Want to talk this through?
Send Mike your question and he’ll come back to you. No numbers, no obligation — just a conversation. Prefer to apply right now? The button just below goes straight to the application.
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