Renting vs. Buying

There are many advantages to buying a home versus renting one. View these advantages in the Buy vs. Rent Comparison Chart. Your income, savings, and monthly expenses play an important role in determining how large a mortgage you can afford. To figure out the amount you can afford, please click Affordability.
Savings: Buying
In many cases, the amount of money a renter spends on rent can be about the same as or less than the amount a homeowner spends on a mortgage. With the tax benefit for homeowners, the savings can be significant.
Buy vs. Rent Comparison
The chart below shows a cost comparison for a renter and a homeowner over a seven year period.
The renter starts out paying $800 per month with annual increases of 5%
The homeowner purchases a home for $110,000 and pays a monthly mortgage of $1,000
After 6 years, the homeowner's payment is lower than the renter's monthly payment
With the tax savings of homeownership, the homeowner's payment is less than the rental payment after 3 years
Years
Rent Payment
Mortgage Payment
Monthly Difference
After Tax Savings
Yearly Difference
After Tax Savings
1 800 1000 -200 -50 -2400 -600
2 840 1000 -160 -10 -1920 -120
3 882 1000 -118 +32 -1416 +384
4 926 1000 -74 +76 -888 +912
5 972 1000 -28 +122 -336 +1464
6 1021 1000 +21 +171 +252 +2052
7 1072
Monthly Expenses: Buying
Your rental company takes part of your rent payment to cover certain housing expenses. When you decide to purchase a home, you accept responsibility for paying for these expenses (listed below). They are additional costs to your monthly mortgage payment and should be included in your budget estimates:
  • Property Taxes and Special Assessments
  • Home/Hazard Insurance
  • Utilities
  • Maintenance
  • Home Owner Association (HOA) Fee: Doesn't apply to all purchases. It pays for trash and snow removal and maintenance of common grounds if applicable.
  • Membership Fee: It may pay for recreational facilities and other services (cable TV).
Pikes Peak Multiple Listing Service The real estate listing information and related content displayed on this site is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. This information and related content is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the Pikes Peak REALTOR® Services Corp.
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