Buy vs Rent Decided,
By Net Worth, Not Emotion.
Free rent vs buy calculators: true monthly cost of owning vs renting, the break-even horizon, upfront cash needed, and the rent that equals a given mortgage.
Unrecoverable Costs
Rent is unrecoverable, but so are mortgage interest, property taxes, HOA fees, and maintenance.
Down Payment Opportunity Cost
Compare home equity appreciation against investing that same cash down payment in index funds.
Break-Even Horizon
Calculate the exact year (usually year 4 to 7) when buying overtakes renting after closing friction.
RentVsBuy Calculators
Rent vs Buy Cost Comparison
The true monthly cost of owning (PITI + maintenance − principal − appreciation + opportunity cost) vs renting at your market rate.
Break-Even Horizon Calculator
How many years of staying put until buying beats renting — based on your prices, not averages.
Cash to Close Calculator
Everything due at signing: down payment, closing costs, prepaid taxes and insurance, and the reserve you should still have left.
Rent Equivalent Calculator
The monthly rent that costs the same as owning a given home — the reverse comparison for negotiation and sanity checks.
Strategic Money Guides
"Renting is throwing money away" — and other stories numbers tell better
The three slogans in the rent-vs-buy war, and what the arithmetic says about each.
The price-to-rent ratio: one number that reads a whole market
How to compute it in ten seconds and use it to shortcut the rent-vs-buy debate.
12 mistakes people make with rent vs buy decisions
The recurring errors we see in rent vs buy decisions — what causes each one, and the habit that prevents it.