This is an educational planner, not financial or tax advice. Use it to compare scenarios. Small changes to home appreciation, investment return, tax rate or how long you stay can flip the result.
Home & loan
Under 20% usually adds PMI.
Yearly ownership costs
NJ can be 2%+. CA is often lower.
Maintenance & repairs
Many people use 1% to 2% as a rough rule.
Extra cushion for HVAC, roof, appliances.
Counted as an upfront cost (the renter invests the same amount) and added to your tax basis. Not assumed to raise the home's value.
Transaction costs
Movers, furniture, setup. A cash cost, but not part of the tax basis.
Renting
Water, trash, landscaping and anything else the owner pays that the renter doesn't.
Paid from the renter's starting cash. Returned at the end, with no growth.
Truck, movers, setup costs.
For example, you have to move or the landlord resets to market rent.
Applied once in that year; normal yearly increases continue from the higher rent.
Growth assumptions
Rough yearly drag from dividends, turnover and state tax.
Tests a flat market right after purchase.
Applies to whichever side has the cheaper month.
Tax profile
2026 standard deduction: $32,200 joint / $16,100 single, assumed to rise 2% a year.
Combined with property tax under the SALT cap. Assumed to grow 2% a year.
$40,400 for 2026. It shrinks toward $10,000 if your income is over about $505,000; enter $10,000 in that case.
Under current law the cap reverts to $10,000 in 2030.
Eligibility depends on ownership and use, not visa status. "Partial" prorates the exclusion by months lived there out of 24 for sales before 2 years.
Timeline & residency
PMI
If you can't sell
Plain-English takeaway
Risk check
Net worth over time
Buying = what you'd walk away with if you sold that year, after selling costs and taxes. Renting = the invested down payment, closing costs and yearly savings, after tax, plus the returned deposit.
How sensitive is the answer?
Does the decision hold up, or does it depend on appreciation and market returns?
| Scenario | Appreciation | Investment return | Rent growth | Winner at plan year | Gap |
|---|
If every row picks the same winner, the answer is dependable. If the winner flips, the decision depends on assumptions nobody can know in advance.
Stress tests
Not predictions. They show what happens to the decision if life or the market goes against the base case.
Simplified shocks: a one-time price drop, a few flat years, and a lower return for the renter.
Tax deduction reality check
The SALT cap, standard deduction and mortgage interest limit, and what owning actually saves you in Year 1.
Forced-sale analysis
What happens if a layoff, visa denial, relocation or move to India makes you sell early. Your plan year is highlighted.
| Sell in | Home value | Loan balance | Selling costs | Capital gains tax | Walk-away cash | vs renting |
|---|
Simplified tax treatment. The home-sale exclusion ($250,000 single / $500,000 joint) generally needs 2 years of owning and living there within the last 5. A Year 1 sale gets no exclusion unless you choose the partial (forced early sale) option under Tax profile.
If you can't sell: renting it out
A rough estimate of moving out and renting the home instead of selling right away.
Visa and India-return warnings
How the math works
A plain-English check so the result isn't a black box.
Show the formulas
Both sides start with the same cash:
down payment + buying closing costs + buyer moving cost + improvements
Buying net worth (if sold that year) =
home value
- mortgage balance
- selling costs
- capital gains tax on (home value - selling costs
- price - buying closing costs - improvements)
after the $250K / $500K exclusion from Year 2
(prorated in Year 1 if you pick "partial"; none if "not eligible")
Renting net worth =
starting cash - security deposit - renter moving cost, invested
+ share of each year's cost difference, invested
- capital gains tax on investment growth
+ security deposit returned (no growth)
Yearly cost to own =
mortgage payment (only until the loan is paid off)
+ property tax + PMI + maintenance + repairs reserve
+ insurance + HOA + extra owner utilities
- tax saving from owning
Tax saving from owning =
(mortgage interest + SALT up to the cap)
minus what you'd deduct anyway as a renter
(the larger of the standard deduction or state tax up to the cap)
x your bracket, never below $0
Yearly cost to rent = rent + renter's insurance
(optional one-time rent jump in the year you choose)
Yearly difference = cost to own - cost to rent
Positive: the renter invests it. Negative: the renter draws it down.
Multiplied by the "actually invested" share.
Fixed assumptions: state income tax and the standard deduction
grow 2% a year; HOA and owner utilities are held flat; Year 1 is
the current calendar year (used for the 2030 SALT change).Year-by-year projection
The full 30-year model. A green edge means buying is ahead that year, vermilion means renting is ahead.
Show the year-by-year table
| Year | Home value | Loan balance | Buy net worth | Cost to own | PMI | Tax saving | Cost to rent | Invested | Rent net worth |
|---|