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.