Should You Buy or Rent a House?

Have you ever wondered if it was better to buy a house than to rent one? Whether or not it was better for you to pay a monthly mortgage instead of paying a monthly rent. Most of us that ask this questions rarely know where to start in order to make a good decision. When we think about all the factors to consider, its hard to know where to start. 

Nytimes interactive buy-rent-calculator simplifies the comparison between the monthly rent and annual increase vs monthly mortgage, the inflation rate and the increase in value of the property. I suggest you visit . This tool organizes all of these data and shows the results through charts and detailed computations.


The site also offers advance settings you can adjust in order to make the analysis more accurate. One thing that would have been great is if the site gave you the option of placing interest rate on the down payment if you opted to rent and invest the money for down payment instead. This would have made my decision easier since I am still torn between buying a house or renting and investing the amount on various investment vehicles.

If I invested the down payment in the sample above to stocks, and placed an average annual growth of 10% on the 400,000 down payment, it will amount to 6,584,680.90 thirty years after. If you accounted for inflation rate at an average of 6% the value of the investment will amount to 1,297,359.00. 

Although there are risks in investing in stocks, buying a home also has its own risks. Whether you opt for renting or buying it really boils down on which is more comfortable for you. The tools provided above will only aide you in your decisions.


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