Rent vs Sell Calculator
Weigh selling your home now and investing the proceeds against keeping it as a rental. Enter the numbers below to see which is likely to leave you wealthier after a set number of years.
Your property
If you rent it out
Assumptions
Deciding whether to sell a home or hold it as a rental is really a question of where your money grows fastest. Selling frees up your equity to invest elsewhere; renting keeps you exposed to the property's appreciation and monthly cash flow. This calculator projects both paths over the years you choose and compares the end result.
How the comparison works
On the sell side, it takes your equity after selling costs and grows it at your investment return. On the rent side, it grows the home's value at your appreciation rate, subtracts what you'd owe and pay in selling costs at the end, and adds the rental cash flow invested along the way.
Keep = (Future value − Mortgage − Selling costs) + invested cash flow
Cash flow = (Rent − Costs) × 12, compounded at your return
| Input | What it captures |
|---|---|
| Monthly costs | Mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, upkeep, management |
| Selling costs | Agent commission, closing — typically 6–8% |
| Appreciation | How fast the home's value rises |
| Investment return | What your money would earn if invested instead |
Worked example
A $400,000 home with a $150,000 mortgage, renting for $2,200 against $1,400 of monthly costs, 7% selling costs, 3% appreciation, 6% investment return, over 10 years:
| Sell now = ($400k − $150k − $28k) × 1.06¹⁰ | ≈ $397,600 |
| Keep: home grows to ~$537k, net equity + invested cash flow | ≈ $476,500 |
| Difference | Renting ahead by ~$78,900 |
What the numbers leave out
This is a wealth comparison, not the whole story. Renting brings landlord responsibilities, vacancy risk, repairs, and taxes on rental income and eventual capital gains; selling your primary residence may qualify for a capital-gains exclusion you'd lose by converting it to a rental. Interest rates, local rent trends and how hands-on you want to be all matter. Treat the result as a starting point and adjust the assumptions to your situation.