Rent vs. Buy Decision Wizard

The Rent vs. Buy calculator (Property Calculators tab, full-screen wizard, or the Housing hub) helps you compare cumulative housing costs over a horizon you choose (1–30 years). It is a planning tool — not tax, legal, or insurance advice.

Plan tiers

All plans: Compare rent vs. buy in the wizard without writing anything to your books.
Basic and above: Optionally save both paths to your entity, then keep only the path you plan to follow.
Premium and above: Save a named forecast scenario for side-by-side comparison later.

Wizard steps (compare mode)

Home & Rent — purchase price, monthly rent, target purchase date, appreciation; optional property prefill; advanced: annual rent escalation and recurring rent sources.
Mortgage & costs — down payment %, interest rate, loan term, comparison horizon (defaults to loan term), closing costs; advanced ARM/refinance options. Ownership costs (property tax, insurance, HOA, PMI, maintenance) and risk/assessment inputs (insured vs uninsured damage tracks, special assessments) are in expandable accordions on this step.
Summary — break-even, charts, sensitivity, tax and opportunity-cost toggles, edit assumptions, compare-only finish or opt in to save.

On Basic and above, opting in to Save to my forecast adds steps to write both paths to your books and choose which plan to keep. Down-payment account sourcing appears on the Mortgage step only after persist opt-in.

What is modeled

Rent with annual escalation and optional renters insurance
Buy: mortgage P+I, property tax, homeowners insurance, HOA, PMI, maintenance
Bank fees: closing costs, lender points, origination, optional monthly servicing
Special assessments (annual and one-time in a target year)
Property risk: insured track (premium + expected deductible exposure) vs uninsured track (your annual out-of-pocket estimate for repairs and catastrophe reserve)
After-tax buy estimate with mortgage interest and property tax toggles; hints when SALT cap or standard deduction may apply
Optional invest-rent-savings toggle at a stated opportunity / short-term cash cost (default 5% / yr, HYSA / T-bill order — not equity; also counts forgone return on down payment)
Exit proceeds estimate (sale price minus loan balance and agent commission)
Break-even year, sensitivity table, cumulative TCO chart, and optional range of possible outcomes (Basic+)
Adjustable-rate vs fixed-rate break-even when ARM inputs are provided

Compare-only vs save to books

By default the wizard runs in compare-only mode: you can finish with "Done comparing" and no recurring transactions, property, or loan are created. On Basic and above you may opt in to Save to my books, which writes both rent and buy cost lines (prefixed [Rent vs Buy]), plus a property and mortgage for the buy path. On the final step you choose Keep renting or Keep buying (and insured vs uninsured damage lines if buying). Lines for the path you do not keep are deactivated so your cash-flow forecast reflects one housing plan. You can undo a recent save within 24 hours.

What is not modeled

Full tax return optimization (AMT, state-specific rules)
Rent control, lease break fees, flood/wind riders
Actuarial catastrophe or claim probability (uninsured track is your budget only)

See also Decisions hub (signed in) or public templates, Financial Forecasting, and Tracking Properties.

Tracking Properties and Real EstateAdd properties, track values, and manage mortgages associated with real estate.
Managing Loans and DebtTrack loans, monitor payments, and understand your debt obligations.
Financial ForecastingUse forecasting tools to project your financial future and plan accordingly.
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Rent vs. Buy Decision Wizard