Free Rent vs Buy Tool

Compare Renting Against Buying In Your Target Market

Model a target-market, target-budget scenario. No street address required.

Market scenarioCompare a target purchase price against comparable rent.
Wealth projectionBuy-path net worth vs rent-and-invest net worth.
Editable assumptionsPrefill where available, then adjust every value.

Your target market

Use a city, state, and ZIP for a market scenario. Do not enter a specific street address.

Market prefill

Prefill comparable rent and assumptions where market data is available. You can edit any value.

Your target budget or expected purchase price in this market.
Rent for a comparable home in the same target market.
Optional target home details

Financing and timeline

These are the core assumptions that drive the buy path.

Enter either percent or dollar amount. The other value stays in sync.

Advanced assumptions

These defaults are editable. Principal and down payment are treated as equity, not pure cost.

Advanced assumptions

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What this calculates
We compare buy-path net worth against rent + invest net worth, then separately show non-equity ownership costs versus rent paid.
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    Target market

    No street address or property photo.

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    Equity-aware math

    Principal paydown builds equity instead of being counted as cost.

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    Break-even view

    See when buying may overtake renting.

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Your inputs are used to generate this analysis and support saved reports.

When you run this analysis, HomeDecisionLab may process and store your submitted inputs and calculated results to provide the report, support saving/reopening reports, improve our tools, and create aggregated, non-identifying insights. See our Privacy Policy.

Related buying tools

If your rent-vs-buy result points toward buying, use a home buying checklist to organize next steps before comparing specific properties.

Home Buying Checklist First-Time Home Buyer Checklist Home Analysis Report