Decide Slowly
A quiet place to think it through

Should you buy a home, or rent for a while longer?

This won't tell you whether to buy or rent. It does one honest thing: it works out what your total wealth looks like on each path, over the years you'd actually stay — using realistic costs, not the ones calculators are usually nice about — so the trade-off is visible instead of vibes-based. Most calculators ask whether your monthly mortgage beats your rent. That's the wrong question: it ignores what your down payment could have earned, what selling actually costs, and what a real house really costs to keep up.

Ad — site owner placement Leaderboard / responsive display unit here. Top-of-page is the appropriate spot — outside the result, never between someone's situation and their answer.
Part 1
The basics

The numbers specific to your situation. Start here.

What it would cost to rent a place comparable to the home you'd buy — be honest about "equivalent."
$500$8,000
The all-in price of the home you'd buy.
$100k$1.5M
Percent of the price you'd pay up front. Below 20% triggers PMI until you reach 20% equity.
3%50%
Your 30-year fixed rate. Even small changes move the answer, so this slider is fine-grained.
3%10%
The single biggest factor. Selling costs and closing costs are spread over however long you stay — short stays favor renting heavily.
1 year30 years
Used only to compute the real tax picture — how your state income tax interacts with the SALT cap and standard deduction. Often the honest answer is that buying gives you no tax benefit at all.
$40k$400k
Part 2
The honest defaults

These are pre-filled with realistic values. Leave them alone if you're not sure — they default to reality, not to whatever makes buying look best.

US median is ~1.2% of home value. TX and NJ are much higher (~2–2.5%); CA and HI lower (~0.7%).
0.3%3%
Of home value, per year. The long-run rule of thumb — roofs, HVAC, plumbing, the surprises. Most calculators understate this dramatically.
0.5%3%
Combined homeowner's insurance and any HOA dues. ~$100–150 for a single-family home; $400+ for a condo with dues.
$50$800
Of sale price — realtor commission, title, transfer taxes, prep. Most calculators omit this entirely; it's a real hit the day you sell.
3%10%
Of purchase price — origination, title, inspection, prepaids. Paid on top of the down payment, on day one.
1%5%
Long-run US nominal average. Recent decades ran hotter; the next one may not.
0%8%
Roughly inflation in most markets. Adjust up if your city's rents run hot (Austin, Phoenix, parts of NYC).
0%8%
What the down payment and monthly savings could earn instead, in stocks. ~7% is the long-run US market average; test 5% for a conservative read.
3%10%
Part 3
Your situation

Three inputs that set the tax picture. The defaults are a married household in the 22% bracket.

1 = single, 2 = married filing jointly. Sets your standard deduction ($14,600 vs $29,200).
Your top state rate. CA/HI/NJ are high; TX/FL/WA are zero. It interacts with the $10k SALT cap.
0%13%
Your top federal bracket — roughly the rate on your last dollar of income.
Wealth at year if you buy Home equity net of selling costs, plus any invested surplus (after tax)
Wealth at year if you rent + invest Down payment + closing costs + monthly surplus, invested (after tax)
Crossover year When buying first overtakes renting + investing
Price-to-rent ratio Home price ÷ one year of rent
Show the 30-year projection
YearIf you buyIf you rent + investDifferenceAhead

Why it landed here

    What this is not: this assumes you actually invest the difference each month — the part of the math that most people skip. In practice many don't, and that gap is where the "renting throws money away" folk wisdom has its grain of truth. The model also uses long-run averages for home appreciation, rent growth, investment returns, and inflation — real outcomes will vary, sometimes wildly. The "crossover year" assumes you sell at that point; if you stay forever, the comparison gets less relevant. And the cultural narrative ("buying is adulting") is older than the modern rent-vs-invest math the standard deduction has rewritten since 2018. This tool shows you the arithmetic so you can argue from facts, not vibes — but the math is one input to the decision, not the whole thing.

    Going deeper

    Ad — site owner placement In-article unit here, below the complete result. Placed after the person has their answer — not interrupting it.

    This tool does real wealth-comparison arithmetic and reflects your inputs back at you. It is not financial, tax, or real-estate advice, and the result depends entirely on the assumptions you and the model make. If buying a home is on the table for you, talking to a financial advisor and an honest realtor is worth more than any calculator.