Rent vs Buy Calculator for Miami and Florida
This rent vs. buy calculator weighs your rent against the cash buying takes over your chosen years, with purchase costs, modeled PMI and assumed resale.
What This Calculator Does
Line up your rent, at face value, against everything a home purchase pulls from your pocket during the full years you'd own it. On the buying side, purchase costs paid in cash and modeled PMI are counted. An assumed sale then comes back as a credit, after selling costs and whatever loan balance the schedule still shows. The yearly change in home value accepts negative numbers. The result is that ledger and nothing more: investment returns, tax breaks and your full household budget stay outside it.
Who Is This For
It's made for Florida renters, homebuyers and agents who want to test a housing scenario with every number spelled out. Draw your purchase, ownership, selling and PMI figures from real quotes or from assumptions you can name. A lower modeled cost doesn't make that option the right overall choice for you. Neither does a result inside the 5% band.
How It Works
Begin with the rent you pay each month now and its yearly change, entered as + or −. Next comes the home price, plus the cash you'll put toward it. Enter purchase costs with credits already taken off, and ownership expenses as a flat monthly amount. If you borrow, type in the note rate and the loan's length in whole years. Then pick the method that sets the PMI premium and how long it lasts. Value-based asks for the home's original value; quoted-months asks how many months your quote covers. Buying all cash means the loan and PMI fields stay unused. You can own for 0–50 whole years. The annual change in home value takes + or −, and selling costs go in as a percent. Last, check the full breakdown and the rent-minus-buy gap, which can be positive or negative.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly does it compare, and is that profit?
Cash out on each side, and no, it isn't profit. Rent is added up across your hold and steps up or down each year. For buying, the tally begins with the cash down payment and any purchase costs you pay in cash; scheduled P&I, owner costs outside the loan that you enter, and modeled PMI are then added. The assumed sale returns an amount after selling costs and the principal still on the schedule, and that amount is subtracted from the total. When the loan is paid off, its payments end, while owner costs continue for the full hold. A negative net buying cost doesn't guarantee profit. The math skips what your cash might have earned invested, applies no discounting and ignores tax deductions.
Which purchase costs should I enter?
Put in the non-refundable costs you'll pay in cash to close, after subtracting the credits on your quotes. If nothing applies, type 0. That amount comes on top of your down payment and isn't rolled into the loan. Keep a refundable escrow deposit out of it. The same goes for prepaids your monthly owner costs already include. Don't double-count charges or credits. There's no built-in Florida figure, so the amount is yours to supply.
How do the two PMI duration options differ?
For value-based, the calculator treats the mortgage as an ordinary conventional loan on your primary residence, with no missed payments. It isn't meant for FHA or VA loans, for high-risk loans, or for lender-paid coverage. Original value is whichever is smaller: the price you paid or the lender's appraisal when the loan was made. A higher figure the home reaches later doesn't count. PMI is counted while the loan exceeds 80% of that figure. It stops at the scheduled 78% mark or at the loan's midpoint, if that comes sooner. If the midpoint arrives first, the final midpoint cancellation month falls right after it: month 181 for a loan running 30 years. The model never assumes you requested removal at 80%. Under quoted-months, you type in a number of covered months from 0–600. The count can't run past how long you own or the loan term, and you can skip original value. It doesn't check whether you're eligible. Neither setting is a bill. Neither can assure you the PMI will be canceled.
Will it handle falling prices, a cash purchase or selling right away?
Yes, all of those work. Rent accepts a yearly change from −100% to 100%, and home value takes the same range, from −100% to 100%. Treat both as assumptions you choose, never forecasts. When your cash covers the full price, no loan exists, and the rate, term and PMI fields can stay blank. Owning for 0 years models a sale right after closing. Buying and selling costs are still charged. Typing 5.0 means five whole years, not fifty. Fractions of a year aren't allowed.
Why would the sale recovery show a negative number?
You'd have to bring cash to the table to get out, in this model. Recovery equals the home's value less selling costs and the principal the schedule still shows. Below zero, it stays negative; the calculator doesn't stop it there. Your servicer's payoff quote for a set date can differ from that scheduled balance, which may leave out interest and settlement adjustments. Ask for fresh quotes before you actually sell. A flat owner-cost figure is not a certified forecast of future bills. Likewise, a hypothetical sale value is no certified promise of future proceeds.
What do rounding and the 5% band say about the difference?
Take total rent, subtract what buying nets out to, and you have the difference. Positive means buying wins in this calculation. Negative means renting does. If the gap is smaller than 5% of the larger cost, the two options sit close together by this calculator's math, which isn't the same as equal overall. Each period's cash amount is rounded to the cent, and those rounded amounts are then totaled. The monthly loan payment is calculated exactly. Don't mistake it for your lender's bill. Results past $10 trillion are refused as out of range, not truncated. Edit only figures you really have, check your quotes and rerun.