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Mortgage vs Rent

One engine, two answers. What a home really costs each month. And the year buying beats renting.

No sign-up. No email. Change any number and it updates on the spot.

Today's rate: 6.5% · 30-year fixed. Loading the live weekly average.

The breakeven year, counted honestly.

Buy the home, or keep renting and invest the cash you did not sink into it. This runs both paths year by year and tells you when buying wins. It counts the costs renters skip: selling costs, maintenance, and the return your down payment could earn elsewhere.

Two paths, year by year. The green line is what you would walk away with if you sold that year, after paying the loan off and paying to sell. The grey line is the same renter, investing the difference instead.

Your net if you sold Renter's net

See the year by year math
Year Rent that year Own that year Your net if you sold Renter's net Buying ahead by

What this assumes, in plain sight

  • The home's value grows 4 percent a year. A planning default, not a promise.
  • Rent grows 3 percent a year.
  • Your down payment and closing costs, about $164,000 here, earn 4.5 percent a year if you keep renting. That is opportunity cost, and most calculators skip it.
  • Selling costs 6 percent of the home's value in every exit. Equity you cannot keep is not counted.
  • Maintenance runs 1 percent of the home's value a year.
  • Property tax grows 2 percent a year under Prop 13, not with the market.
  • PMI, when it applies, cancels automatically at 78 percent of the original value.
  • No itemized tax break. We do not pretend you will itemize. Most buyers do not anymore. Other calculators inflate the math with it. Ours does not.

On the market near your price

Real homes listed right now within 5 percent of that number, across Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Nothing active in that band this minute. Kurt hears about homes before they list. Call him at 805-796-1793.

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Now you know the monthly number.

The other number that decides your timing is the cash you need on closing day.

One phone call, when you want it

Want these numbers for a specific home?

Kurt picks up. He will run the real payment on any home you are watching, no strings on the call.

Call Kurt at 805-796-1793 ← All buyer tools