Is it better to rent or buy?

The NY Times has a great interactive calculator for evaluating the trade-offs of buying vs. renting. It looks to cover everything:

• House Price
• Interest rates
• Length of mortgage
• Downpayment
• Planned time to occupy
• Future rental rates
• Housing market expected increases
• Taxes
• Maintenance fees

It produces a number like:

If you can rent a similar
home for less than …
$961 PER
MONTH
… then renting is better.