Buyers

Rent or Buy?

Type your rent and the numbers for a home. You get the monthly cost of each and a rough break-even. Sometimes renting is the right answer.

Monthly Cost and Break-Even

Every box starts empty. The numbers are yours.

For reference: the typical Boise home value is $500,215 and the typical Boise rent is $1,900 a month. Your home and your rent will differ.

Typical home value and rent: Zillow’s estimates, September 2026 · Sources and method

Down payment

I don’t fill in a rate. Yours depends on your loan and your credit, and only a lender can quote it.

The county assessor’s site shows the tax bill for a specific home. An insurance agent quotes the insurance.

If you have them

These change the break-even a lot. I don’t guess them. What you leave blank is left out, and the result says so.

Mortgage insurance, upkeep and repairs. One total.

Blank holds the price and the rent flat. A minus sign means a drop. Nobody knows these ahead of time.

Renting, a month

–

Owning, a month (estimate)

–

Type your rent, the home price, the down payment, the interest rate, the loan term, the property tax and the insurance to see the estimate.

What the monthly cost of owning is made of

    This is an estimate from the numbers you typed. It is not a quote, not an offer, and not financial, tax or legal advice. A lender gives the real rate and payment, and the title company gives the real closing costs. I can’t promise what prices or rents will do.

    Nothing you type here is saved or sent. It stays on this page unless you add it to the form below and send it yourself.

    No cost, no obligation

    Send Me the Real Numbers

    Tell me the area and the price range you have in mind. I will send recent sales and current rents for homes like it. A lender gives you the real rate and payment, and I can introduce you to one if you want.

    No pressure either way. If the numbers say rent, I will tell you that.

    How I Work It Out

    Renting, a month is the rent you typed.

    Owning, a month is the loan payment (principal and interest on a fixed-rate loan), plus a twelfth of the yearly property tax and insurance, plus HOA dues and any other monthly cost you typed.

    The break-even asks one question. If you bought, stayed a while, then sold, when does owning stop costing more than renting did? For each month I add up what owning cost: the down payment, the closing costs, every monthly payment and the cost to sell. Then I subtract what you would get back from a sale, which is the price less the loan you still owe. The break-even is the first month that total is no more than the rent you would have paid.

    What It Assumes

    • The rate, the loan term, the tax and the insurance are the ones you type. I do not fill any of them in.
    • Tax, insurance and HOA dues stay the same every year. In real life they move.
    • The home’s price and the rent stay flat unless you type a yearly change for them. Nobody knows what either will do.
    • Closing costs, the cost to sell, mortgage insurance and upkeep count only if you type them. Left blank, they are left out, and the result says so. Leaving them out makes owning look better than it is.
    • Income tax effects are not counted. Neither is what your down payment could earn somewhere else.

    That is why I call it rough. It is good for seeing which way your numbers lean and how much the length of your stay matters. It is not a reason by itself to buy or to rent.

    Where to Go Next