lotumLotum AI — home

Rent vs. buy calculator

An honest rent-versus-buy comparison: the unrecoverable costs of renting against the interest, taxes, insurance, and maintenance of owning — with your time horizon factored in.

$/mo
$
%

That's $90,000 up front

%
years

Time horizon matters most — short stays favor renting

At these numbers

Renting wins

Renting costs about $1,077/mo less in money you never get back, over a 7-year stay.

Renting: unrecoverable cost$2,400/mo
Owning: loan interest (year 1)$1,950/mo
Owning: taxes & insurance$563/mo
Owning: maintenance (1% rule)$375/mo
Buy & sell costs, spread out$589/mo
Owning: unrecoverable cost$3,477/mo

Your full ownership payment would be about $3,213/mo — but part of that builds equity, which is why we compare unrecoverable costs instead.

Simplified model: assumes a 30-year loan, ~1.1% property taxes, the 1% maintenance rule, and ~11% combined buy/sell transaction costs. Appreciation and rent growth vary by market.

Want to go deeper?

Ask Ava, our financing & structuring expert, about your numbers — it's free.

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