Compare renting vs buying: enter rent, home price, down payment, rate, term, and years to see break-even and total cost.
Compare renting vs buying: enter rent, home price, down payment, rate, term, and years to see break-even and total cost.
Enter values above and click Calculate — results will appear here with the formula explained.
This simplified comparison sums rent paid vs buying costs: down payment plus mortgage payments over the horizon, minus principal equity built (down + principal paid). It ignores home appreciation, rent increases, maintenance, taxes and tax benefits for clarity — treat it as a directional baseline, not a full net-present-value model.
The mortgage payment uses the standard amortizing loan formula. Equity is loan principal repaid after N years. If rent total is less than buy net cost, renting is cheaper for that horizon; if buy net is less, buying wins, with break-even where they equal.
This simplified model ignores 3% rent inflation, 3-4% home appreciation, tax deductions (mortgage interest, property tax), maintenance (1% of price yearly) and opportunity cost of down payment invested. Run 5, 7 and 10-year horizons and add those to see break-even shift — for YMYL housing decisions, pair with a full rent-vs-buy spreadsheet and local market data.
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This simplified comparison sums rent paid vs buying costs: down payment plus mortgage payments over the horizon, minus principal equity built (down + principal paid). It ignores home appreciation, rent increases, maintenance, taxes and tax benefits for clarity — treat it as a directional baseline, not a full net-present-value model. Formula: Rent cost = rent*12*years; Buy cost = down + (PITI*12*years) - equity + costs (simplified, ignores appreciation/tax)
Rent vs Buy Calculator computes compare renting vs buying: enter rent, home price, down payment, rate, term, and years to see break-even and total cost. Formula: Rent cost = rent*12*years. Example: Rent $1,800/mo for 7y = $151,200.
Compare renting vs buying: enter rent, home price, down payment, rate, term, and years to see break-even and total cost. Formula: Rent cost = rent*12*years; Buy cost = down + (PITI*12*years) - equity + costs (simplified, ignores appreciation/tax)
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent ($) | e.g. 1800 |
| Home price ($) | e.g. 350000 |
| Down payment ($) | e.g. 50000 |
| Mortgage rate (%) | e.g. 6.5 |
| Years to compare | e.g. 7 |
All fields use the exact formulas shown below — results include step-by-step breakdowns you can verify by hand.
This simplified comparison sums rent paid vs buying costs: down payment plus mortgage payments over the horizon, minus principal equity built (down + principal paid). It ignores home appreciation, rent increases, maintenance, taxes and tax benefits for clarity — treat it as a directional baseline, not a full net-present-value model.
The mortgage payment uses the standard amortizing loan formula. Equity is loan principal repaid after N years. If rent total is less than buy net cost, renting is cheaper for that horizon; if buy net is less, buying wins, with break-even where they equal.
This simplified model ignores 3% rent inflation, 3-4% home appreciation, tax deductions (mortgage interest, property tax), maintenance (1% of price yearly) and opportunity cost of down payment invested. Run 5, 7 and 10-year horizons and add those to see break-even shift — for YMYL housing decisions, pair with a full rent-vs-buy spreadsheet and local market data.
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Rent $1,800/mo for 7y = $151,200. Buying $350k with $50k down at 6.5% for 30y: payment about $1,896/mo, 7y payments $159k + $50k down - ~$35k equity ≈ $174k net, so renting is cheaper for 7y in this simplified view.
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