Rent or Buy?

If you are trying to decide whether to rent or buy a home, you want a complete picture. Most apps and online calculators focus only on monthly payments and house value and neglect the cost of locking your money in a house instead of investing it.

This rent vs. buy calculator takes things to the next level by including investments and opportunity costs on an equal basis between a renter and homeowner. If your goal is to build wealth, don't neglect the opportunity cost of that hefty down payment, or the cost of home maintenance! Put your numbers in, and the result may surprise you!

How does it work? Consider home-owner Jane and renter Joe. On day 1, Jane pays $40,000 for her down payment and $3,000 in closing costs for her new $200,000 home. Joe pays a $1,000 deposit to rent an equivalently sized house and invests the difference of $42,000 in diversified index funds.

Joe's rent is $1,000 per month for the first year, and Jane's mortgage payment is fixed at $752. However, her total cost the first month is $970, including tax savings, insurance, property tax, and maintenance. Her costs are $30 less than Joe's, so she invests the difference each month to keep the comparison fair. Inflation increases Jane's taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs, and causes Joe's rent goes up every year. Jane's house also increases in value. In this scenario Jane pays less than Joe every month, so she is investing the difference each month while Joe's initial investment continues to grow.

After 30 years, who has a higher net worth; Joe or Jane? In this case, they both have about $620,000, but Jane has a lot of her net worth in her house.

Put in your numbers and see how the comparison comes out in your market!