Free calculator

Should you rent or buy?

See what owning really costs each month compared to renting, and where your net worth ends up either way.

As featured in the Financial Times

How to use it

  1. Enter the home price, your rent, your down payment and the mortgage rate.
  2. Slide to how many years you’d stay.
  3. Open All the assumptions to fine-tune property tax, insurance, HOA and growth rates.
  4. See your monthly cost to own vs rent, then unlock your full net worth comparison.

Your numbers

Sample numbers. Replace them with yours.

$
$/mo
$

20% of the price

%
All the assumptions (11 more)
yrs
$/mo
$/mo
$/mo
%/yr

Of home value each year

%
%
%/yr
%/yr
%/yr

On the money a renter doesn’t spend

Every single month

Owning

$3,809

  • Mortgage$3,034
  • Insurance$150
  • Property tax$625
  • HOA$0

Renting

$2,800

  • Rent$2,800

Owning costs $1,009 more every month, before a single repair.

Add repairs + upkeep ($500/mo) and the real gap is $1,509.

20% down is $120,000 up front, plus $18,000 in closing costs. In the renter column, that cash gets invested instead.

The big one

Your net worth after 10 years

Enter your email to see your full results

Net worth, break-even year and the chart, plus 💸 DTF Weekly every Tuesday. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Ready to get your money right?

Comment TOGETHER on Instagram or join the waitlist.

Join the waitlist Comment TOGETHER on Instagram

The fine print

Education, not financial advice. This is a simplified model to help you think, not a recommendation to rent or buy. Every assumption above is editable, and your real numbers will be different.

How the math works: the buyer pays principal + interest, property tax, insurance, HOA and upkeep each month. Tax, insurance and HOA rise each year with the home’s value; upkeep is a percent of the home’s current value; rent rises once a year. Whoever pays less each month invests the difference at the return you set, and the renter also invests the down payment and buying closing costs on day one. Owner net worth = home value minus selling costs minus the remaining loan, plus anything the owner invested. It leaves out taxes on investment gains, the mortgage interest deduction, PMI, and special assessments.

The mortgage payment assumes a fixed rate for the loan length you set. Investment returns are an assumption, not a promise. Markets don’t move in straight lines.