Financial calculator

Rent vs Own

Compare renter and homeowner net worth with guided inputs, stochastic investment returns, and percentile bands across thousands of simulations.

Positive values mean renting is ahead. Negative values mean owning is ahead. Rate fields are entered as percentages, so 3 means 3%. Large numbers can include commas, like 500,000.

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Simulation Mode

Choose between a stochastic Monte Carlo run and a deterministic projection.

Turn this off to hide the standard deviation field and run one deterministic path.

Monte Carlo only. Higher counts produce smoother percentile lines.

Leave blank for fresh random draws. Enter a number to reproduce the same Monte Carlo results later.

Home Purchase

Set the purchase price and the rent ratio used to derive the starting rent.

Projection horizon in years. Any positive value is allowed.

Purchase price of the home.

Enter 20 for a 20% down payment.

Annual rent is home price divided by this ratio.

Mortgage

Control the financing assumptions for the owner path.

Amortization length in years.

Enter 6.5 for a 6.5% mortgage rate.

Disable this for an all-cash purchase.

Ownership Costs

Recurring costs that push the owning path away from home equity.

Enter 1.2 for a 1.2% property tax rate.

Enter 0.35 for a 0.35% insurance rate.

Enter 1 for a 1% maintenance rate.

Enter 3 for a 3% buyer closing cost.

Enter 6 for a 6% seller cost.

Economic Assumptions

Annual growth rates for prices, rent, and inflation.

Enter 2.5 for a 2.5% inflation rate.

Convert results to today's dollars using the inflation assumption above.

Enter 3 for a 3% annual appreciation rate.

Enter 3 for a 3% annual rent growth rate.

Investment Assumptions

Monthly returns drive the savings balances for both sides. The volatility field appears only when Monte Carlo is enabled.

Enter 7 for a 7% expected annual return.

Enter 15 for a 15% annual standard deviation.

Enter 15 for a 15% tax rate on positive returns.

The chart updates in the browser after the API run completes.

Results

Percentile bands show the spread across the simulated outcomes.

Waiting for simulation

Interpretation

Run the simulation to see the final-year outcome.

Percentile Renter ending net worth Homeowner ending net worth Difference
Run the simulation to populate this table.

Difference = renter ending net worth minus homeowner ending net worth.