Should you buy a home or rent and invest the difference? A free calculator with symmetric opportunity cost, real tax rules, PMI and selling costs. The NYT's rent-vs-buy calculator is the gold standard, but it's paywalled - and most free alternatives are lender lead-gen that compares a mortgage payment to rent and quietly hands buying the win. I rebuilt an honest version.
The NYT's rent-vs-buy calculator is the gold standard, but it's paywalled - and most free alternatives are lender lead-gen that compares a mortgage payment to rent and quietly hands buying the win. I rebuilt an honest version: both paths simulated monthly, opportunity cost modeled symmetrically (whichever side is cheaper that month invests the difference - including the buyer's surplus after payoff), 2026 US tax rules (standard-vs-itemized delta, $750k interest cap, SALT cap, Section 121), PMI with automatic termination, full transaction costs.