Rent vs. buy, side by side
Roommates Get Richer
Fill in your numbers below. You'll get two separate pictures over the same stretch of years — what renting actually costs, and what buying costs alongside the equity it builds. It's not a race to see which is "cheaper" — it's a clearer look at where the money goes either way.
01
Renting
Your current situation, projected forward.
years
Used for both the rent total and the ownership comparison below.
$
$
Both are assumed to rise 5%/year, a typical long-run rent inflation rate.
02
Buying
The home, the loan, and what it'd run each month.
Loan basics
$100k$1.5M
$
%
= $70,000
%
years
$0
Recurring monthly costs
%/yr
≈ $0/mo
%/yr
≈ $0/mo
$0/mo
Applies automatically when down payment is under 20%.
$
$0/mo
Auto-estimated from price & efficiency choice below. Rises 5%/year.
$0/mo
Assuming the feasibility of improving the energy efficiency of your new home, we've historically identified cost-effective options to decrease heating/cooling costs. Interested?
Override the utility estimate
$
Auto-estimated from home price and efficiency choice above. Also rises 5%/year.
Wealth-building assumption
%/yr
National long-run average is commonly cited around 3–4%/year.
03
Two pictures, same years
Over 7 years —
Total paid renting
$0
Rent + utilities, both rising 5%/year. None of it builds equity.
Rent$0
Utilities$0
Total spent owning
$0
Every mortgage, tax, insurance, PMI, HOA, utility and maintenance payment over the term.
Principal & interest$0
Property tax$0
Insurance$0
PMI$0
HOA$0
Utilities$0
Maintenance & repairs$0
Equity built by owning
$0
What the buyer would actually own at the end of the term.
Down payment$0
Principal paid down$0
Appreciation$0
The total cost of waiting — 7 years
$0
What renting cost, minus owning's net cost after the equity it builds — the price of staying in rent instead of building wealth through real estate.
These are two independent totals over the same period — not a "you'd save $X" claim. Renting is shown as pure spend; owning is shown as spend and what it builds, side by side.