Buying net cost = your down payment + every month of owning costs (principal & interest on the amortizing loan, property tax, insurance, HOA, and maintenance) over your time horizon, minus the home equity you’d hold at the end (down payment + principal paid down + appreciation at your assumed rate).

Renting net cost = total rent paid over the same horizon (growing at your assumed rent-increase rate), minus the investment growth you’d earn by investing the cash that would otherwise be your down payment (at your assumed return).

Principal & interest use the standard amortization formula M = P · r(1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n − 1). Whichever path has the lower net cost is flagged; within 2% we call it a wash.

What is real vs. assumed: the median home value and median rent are verified, gate-passed figures for the ZIP. Interest rate, taxes, insurance, maintenance, appreciation, rent growth and investment return are all assumptions you enter — we never insert local rates. Results are highly sensitive to these; use your own researched numbers.