A home decision, made clearer
Should you buy
or keep renting?
See the long-term wealth impact—not just the monthly payment. Change any assumption and the answer updates instantly.
Run your numbersBuy or Rent: Scenario report
Renting comes out ahead
$97.4K
more projected wealth after 10 years, based on the assumptions you entered.
Buying$438.8K
Renting$536.2K
See the month-one cost breakdown
Cash paid or received in the first month. Principal builds equity; it is included in cash flow and credited in home equity.
Buying
- Mortgage interest
- $3,250
- Mortgage principal (including extra)
- $542
- Property tax
- $438
- Home insurance
- $124
- Maintenance reserve
- $625
- HOA
- $0
- Utility difference
- $0
- Mortgage insurance
- $0
- Net room / ADU income after tax
- $0
- Homeowner tax benefit
- -$361
- Total per month
- $4,618
Renting
- Rent
- $3,200
- Renters insurance
- $14
- Renter extras
- $0
- Total per month
- $3,214
Negative amounts reduce costs. Rounded line items may differ from the displayed total by a few dollars. Rental income includes its entered effective tax rate; homeowner savings are a separate estimate.
What is driving the result?
3% appreciationYour home is modeled at $1M in year 10.
$1,404 monthly gapRenting costs less at first, and that difference is invested.
7% investment returnBoth paths start with equal cash and invest whatever is left after upfront costs.
$4,331 federal tax savings in year oneOwnership-specific deductions push this scenario above the standard deduction.
See the year-by-year comparison
| Year | Buy wealth | Rent wealth | Tax benefit | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $132.9K | $193.4K | $4.3K | −$60.5K |
| 2 | $161.8K | $223.1K | $4.3K | −$61.3K |
| 3 | $191.9K | $254.2K | $4.2K | −$62.3K |
| 4 | $223.1K | $286.8K | $4.1K | −$63.6K |
| 5 | $255.6K | $322.7K | $2.3K | −$67K |
| 6 | $289.4K | $360.6K | $2K | −$71.2K |
| 7 | $324.6K | $400.8K | $1.6K | −$76.3K |
| 8 | $361.1K | $443.4K | $1.2K | −$82.2K |
| 9 | $399.2K | $488.4K | $760 | −$89.3K |
| 10 | $438.8K | $536.2K | $324.8 | −$97.4K |
Scenario assumptions
Current scenario. Dollar amounts are USD; rates are percentages. Income and ZIP code are included if entered. Planning estimates, not a loan quote or tax return.
- State
- CA
- Zip Code
- Not entered
- Loan Type
- conventional
- Finance Upfront Loan Fee
- true
- Use Automatic Salt Cap
- true
- Filing Status
- marriedJoint
- Home Price
- 750000
- Monthly Rent
- 3200
- Down Payment Percent
- 20
- Mortgage Rate
- 6.5
- Monthly Extra Principal
- 0
- Loan Term Years
- 30
- Stay Years
- 10
- Property Tax Rate
- 0.7
- Annual Home Insurance
- 1492
- Annual Renters Insurance
- 169
- Maintenance Rate
- 1
- Monthly Hoa
- 0
- Monthly Utilities Delta
- 0
- Monthly Renter Extras
- 0
- Monthly Rental Income
- 0
- Rental Vacancy Rate
- 8
- Rental Income Growth
- 3
- Rental Management Rate
- 0
- Rental Maintenance Rate
- 8
- Monthly Rental Operating Costs
- 0
- Annual Rental Insurance
- 0
- Rental Setup Costs
- 0
- Rental Income Tax Rate
- 25
- Home Appreciation
- 3
- Rent Growth
- 3
- Investment Return
- 7
- Property Tax Growth
- 3
- Insurance Growth
- 5
- Cost Inflation
- 3
- Buying Costs
- 2
- Selling Costs
- 6
- Mortgage Points Rate
- 0
- Seller Credit Rate
- 0
- Upfront Loan Fee Rate
- 0
- Renovation Costs
- 0
- Renter Security Deposit Months
- 1
- Renter Broker Fee Rate
- 0
- Renter Move In Costs
- 0
- Pmi Rate
- 0.7
- Annual Income
- 150000
- Income Growth
- 3
- Annual Other Itemized Deductions
- 0
- Annual State Local Taxes
- 10000
- Salt Deduction Cap
- 40400
- Salt Deduction Cap After2029
- 10000
- Mortgage Interest Debt Limit
- 750000
- Annual State Tax Benefit
- 0
- Home Sale Tax Rate
- 0
- Home Sale Gain Exclusion
- 500000
Built for honest decisions
The math should never be a black box.
Compare wealth, not payments
We track home equity, mortgage payoff, transaction costs, and the renter’s invested savings month by month.
Start local, then get specific
All 50 states have tax and insurance starting points. Replace them with a county tax bill and local insurance quote whenever possible.
Count tax savings honestly
We compare itemizing with the standard deduction, enforce current SALT and mortgage-debt limits, and show the benefit separately.
State property-tax starting points are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 ACS median real-estate tax and home-value tables. Insurance starting points use 2022 state-level NAIC averages published by Triple-I. Federal tax defaults use IRS tax-year 2026 brackets, standard deductions, SALT limits, and mortgage-interest rules. Census source · IRS 2026 tax source · Insurance source
Your scenario and privacy
Calculations run in your browser. This app has no analytics and saves inputs only in this browser’s local storage. Pinned scenario A also stays in this browser. Reset replaces saved inputs with the defaults and removes the pinned scenario.
Sharing is optional. A scenario link contains all your inputs, including income and ZIP code, and anyone with the link can read them. New links put inputs after the # character so they are not sent in page requests. Your hosting provider may retain normal access logs; older query-based links can include inputs in those logs.
Loan rates and insurance fees are editable estimates, not eligibility checks or lender quotes. Mixed-use rental taxes, depreciation, recapture, and detailed sale-basis adjustments are not modeled. Federal projections start in 2026; future brackets are assumptions.