You’ll enter your information in the fields:

1. Renting: Enter your monthly rent, renter’s insurance cost, and a percentage for yearly rent increase.
2. Home Purchase: Enter your purchase price, down payment, yearly property tax, homeowner’s insurance and yearly maintenance cost.
3. Loan Info: Enter your term, interest rate, origination charge, discount points and other settlement services cost.
4. Other Assumptions: Enter your appreciation or depreciation rate, how many years you expect to live in the home, the percentage of selling price that will go to selling costs, state and federal tax rates, and your yearly savings interest rate.

You can use your current information if you rent or pay a mortgage – or an estimate based on rent and home prices in your area.

Based on your information, the calculator will tell you how much you’ll save and by which method.

If it’s cheaper to rent, it’ll say “You will save (dollar amount) by renting instead of buying.” If it’s cheaper to buy, it’ll say “You will save (dollar amount) by buying instead of renting.”

When you rent a home, you pay monthly rent to a landlord or property management company. They own the home – they may still be paying a mortgage or they may own it outright – and they’re responsible for maintenance. Depending on your rent, you could save money by not needing a down payment, not paying property tax and homeowner’s insurance, and not needing to pay for maintenance.

When you buy a home, you pay a mortgage to own it – and you’re responsible for property tax, homeowner’s insurance and maintenance. Depending on your mortgage payments, you could save money by making a consistent, lower payment over the term of your mortgage.