Rent vs. Buy Cost Comparison, Not Adjusted for Inflation
Rent vs buy calculator: pick how long you'd hold and weigh the rent you enter against the cash a purchase takes, buying costs, PMI and resale included.
What This Calculator Does
You'll see the rent you'd pay, with no inflation adjustment, against the cash buying takes over the whole years you pick. Buying is charged its cash purchase costs and modeled PMI. It is then credited with an assumed resale, minus selling costs and the scheduled loan balance still owed. Home values can drop year to year. The result reflects this ledger alone. Investment returns, tax breaks and your wider household budget stay out.
Who Is This For
It's built for Florida renters, buyers and agents who want to test a specific housing scenario with numbers they can name. Take purchase, ownership and selling costs, plus PMI, from real quotes, or label each guess as an assumption. A cheaper result here, or a gap inside the 5% band, doesn't settle which choice is right for you.
How It Works
Start with the monthly rent you pay now and its yearly change, up or down. Next comes the purchase price, the cash you'll put toward it, and purchase costs after any credits. Owner costs go in as a flat monthly figure. With a loan, add the note rate, the term in whole years, the PMI premium and how its duration is figured. The value-based method asks for the home's original value, and the quoted-months method asks how many months are covered. Buying all cash? Skip the loan and PMI fields. Ownership runs 0–50 whole years. Set the yearly change in home value, positive or negative, and selling costs as a percent. Then read the full breakdown and note whether the rent-minus-buying gap comes out positive or negative.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a rent vs buy calculator compare, and does it show profit?
Cash out of pocket, not profit. Rent adds up over the whole hold and moves in yearly steps. On the buying side, you pay the cash down payment, purchase costs paid in cash and scheduled P&I. The non-loan owner costs you entered and modeled PMI go on top. The assumed sale then comes back, minus selling costs and the scheduled principal still owed. Loan payments stop once the loan is paid off, while owner costs run through the entire hold. A negative net cost to buy isn't guaranteed profit. Returns your cash could earn elsewhere, discounting and tax deductions are all left out.
Which purchase costs belong in that field?
The non-refundable ones you pay in cash, less any credits you've been quoted. No such costs? Enter 0. They sit on top of the down payment and aren't financed. Leave out refundable escrow deposits, and leave out prepaids already counted in your monthly owner costs. Each charge and each credit belongs in a single place. The calculator assumes no default Florida purchase-cost amount.
What separates the two PMI duration options?
Value-based applies a rule, while quoted-months simply uses the count you were quoted. The value-based option presumes a standard conventional loan on your primary residence, with payments kept current. It doesn't fit high-risk loans, FHA, VA, or loans where the lender pays the insurance. Original value means the lower of the purchase price and the original valuation done for the loan, never a higher value from today. PMI stays on while the balance is above 80% of that figure. It ends at the scheduled 78% point or the loan's midpoint, whichever arrives first. A midpoint cutoff lands the month after the midpoint, so month 181 when the term is 30 years. The calculator doesn't assume you ask to cancel at 80%. With quoted-months, you enter 0–600 covered months, capped by both your ownership period and the loan term, and no original value is needed. That figure doesn't confirm you qualify. Neither option is a bill or a promise the insurance will end.
Can I test a price drop, an all-cash purchase or an immediate sale?
Yes, each of them works. Rent can change from −100% to 100% a year, and home value from −100% to 100% as well. These are your assumptions, not forecasts. Put in cash equal to the purchase price and there's no loan, so the rate, term and PMI fields don't matter. Set ownership to 0 years for an immediate sale; purchase and selling costs still count. Years are whole numbers: 5.0 means five years, not fifty, and partial years aren't accepted.
What does a negative sale recovery mean?
It means the modeled exit costs you cash. Recovery is the home value minus selling costs and the scheduled principal still owed. When that comes out below zero, you'd bring money to the sale, and the calculator doesn't lift it to zero. The scheduled balance isn't the dated payoff quote your servicer issues, and it may leave out interest and closing adjustments. Before a real sale, get current quotes. Flat owner costs aren't certified future bills, and the sale values here are hypothetical, not certified proceeds.
How should I read the difference, the 5% band and the rounding?
Look at the sign before anything else. Your total rent, minus what buying costs on net, gives the figure: a plus result tilts this calculation toward owning, and a minus result tilts it toward renting. Under 5% of the larger cost? The calculator flags that as close, which is no verdict that both paths cost the same overall. Cash for each period gets rounded to the cent, two decimal places, before the periods are totaled. Your monthly loan payment is worked out exactly, yet it is not the bill your lender sends. Anything over $10 trillion is refused as out of range. It isn't trimmed. Swap in only real figures, confirm your quotes and run it again.