If you’re debating between renting or buying a house, our rent versus buy calculator can help. Use our calculator to compare homebuying and renting expenses over time and determine whether you’re ready to apply for a mortgage or if renting is the smarter choice for the time being.
You’ll only need four pieces of information to get a recommendation:
If you don’t know this specific information yet, use our suggestions to help you get started. While your expenses will vary based on your budget and location, we’ve provided estimated costs, based on industry averages and current economic conditions, to give you a clearer idea of what to expect.
After you’ve entered this information, the calculator will give you a recommendation to either buy or rent, depending on which move makes the most financial sense for the length of time you plan to stay in the home.
You can use the line graph above to compare the costs of buying versus renting over time and get a side-by-side look at the total costs of both options. Our cost breakdown accordion will show you the exact figures that went into calculating both totals if you’re interested in a more detailed look at the total costs.
Our calculator makes some assumptions about the upfront and recurring costs of both renting and buying to provide you with a recommendation. You can find these details in the calculator’s “advanced options” section. If you’d like, you can change any of them at any time to further personalize your results.
There are a number of homebuying factors that can affect the rent versus buy calculator’s recommendations, and this section lets you fine-tune the numbers based on the following:
There are a number of tax benefits of homeownership. If you have your tax info handy, you can also add that information to the following rent versus buy calculator fields to get a more accurate picture of the potential costs:
This section focuses on rental costs and allows you to tweak the following fields:
One buy vs. rent calculator can’t make the decision for you. You’ll need to weigh several factors to determine whether buying or renting a home makes more financial sense. Here’s a closer look at what you should consider:
Think about where you want to live and what specific details around that location are important to you. Do you want a walkable area with access to public transportation? Does the quality of the school district matter? Can you afford to buy there, or is renting more accessible, as is the case in many high-cost metros?
As a general rule, buying makes more sense if you plan on staying in the home long enough to break even on the upfront costs of buying a home. If you’re ready to put down roots, buying could be a good idea. However, if you’d like the ability to move quickly for a new job or other opportunity, renting might be a better option for now.
Aside from the upfront costs of buying a home, there’s also the ongoing costs of homeownership to think about. You’ll have to account for your monthly mortgage payment, utilities, association fees and any maintenance or repair costs.
If you aren’t worried about affording those, you may be ready to buy. On the other hand, if you want your budgeting to be less complex, it might be smarter to continue renting, as your landlord would be responsible for at least some of these expenses.
When you own your own home, you’re able to customize it to your tastes. If you like the idea of completing home improvement projects at your leisure, think about buying. If having that option isn’t very important to you, renting may be your best bet.
