Compare the total cost of renting against the net cost of buying over a time horizon you choose.
How to Use the Rent vs. Buy Calculator
The rent side needs just two numbers — current monthly rent and how fast you expect it to rise each year. The buy side needs more: home price, down payment percentage, mortgage rate and term, property tax and maintenance as a percent of home value, expected appreciation, closing costs, and the number of years you plan to stay. Change that last field, Years to Compare, to see how the verdict shifts with the time horizon.
Buying carries costs renting doesn't — the down payment, closing costs, ongoing property tax and maintenance — and those costs are front-loaded. Over a short stay, they rarely get paid back. Buying starts winning the comparison more as the years stack up, because equity paid down through the mortgage and home appreciation both accumulate, while rent paid is gone the moment it's paid. Neither side is inherently the better deal; which one wins is a function of how long you stay, not a fixed truth about renting or owning.
Net Cost of Buying = Total Cash Outflow − (Home Value at End − Remaining Loan Balance)Total cash outflow adds the down payment, closing costs, and every mortgage-plus-tax-and-maintenance payment made along the way; what comes back out is the equity you'd walk away with if you sold at the end of the comparison period — the home's appreciated value minus whatever's still owed on the loan. One simplification worth flagging: property tax and maintenance are calculated as a percentage of the original purchase price for every year of the comparison, not the rising value of an appreciating home, which slightly understates those costs in later years.