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Rent v Buy

Editorial Policy

Effective

This editorial policy explains how content on RentVBuy.net is created, reviewed, and maintained. Our goal is to publish accurate, useful, and verifiable information that helps people make informed housing decisions.

Editorial independence

RentVBuy.net is editorially independent. Content is not influenced by advertisers, lenders, real estate companies, or any other commercial relationships. We do not accept payment for favorable coverage and do not sell mortgage leads. We do not currently participate in affiliate arrangements with financial product providers; if that changes in the future, any such relationships will be disclosed prominently and our content will remain editorially independent.

Advertising is sold separately from editorial content through standard ad networks (currently Google AdSense). Advertisers have no input into what we publish or how we present information.

Who reviews this content

Calculator math and editorial content on this site are reviewed by Barron Hansen, a web developer with over 20 years of experience and a former professional home energy efficiency consultant. The "Last reviewed" date on each page reflects the most recent verification of that page's math or content.

When math is updated on a calculator, we re-run the test suite, hand-verify a representative scenario against an independent calculation, and bump the page's review date. When content is updated on a guide, the same review date discipline applies.

How calculations work

Every calculator on this site uses standard, documented financial formulas:

  • Mortgage amortization: the standard fixed-rate payment formula M = P × [c(1+c)^n] / [(1+c)^n - 1], where P is the loan amount, c is the monthly interest rate, and n is the number of months. This is the same formula used by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and every regulated US mortgage lender.
  • Compound growth: FV = PV × (1 + r)^t for both home appreciation and investment returns over time.
  • Cumulative cost comparison:month-by-month simulation of buy-side and rent-side costs over the user's chosen horizon, with cash flows tracked separately from net wealth.

The complete methodology for the rent vs buy comparison is documented on the Rent vs Buy Calculatorpage in the "How this calculator works" section. Other calculators document their methodology on their respective pages.

A note on the investment return assumption

The 7% investment return default deserves explanation because it is the most consequential assumption in the rent vs buy comparison.

The S&P 500's long-run nominal average return, from 1928 to present, is approximately 10% before inflation. Adjusted for inflation, the long-run real return is approximately 7%. We use 7% as a nominal default, which is conservative compared to the historical nominal average.

We chose conservative because aggressive assumptions about renter investment returns would favor renting in our model. The renter's "saved" money (the difference between buy and rent costs each month, plus the down-payment-equivalent if elected) compounds at this rate over the user's chosen horizon. A higher return assumption would inflate the renter's projected wealth and bias the comparison toward renting.

All calculations on this site are in nominal (not inflation-adjusted) dollars. This means the 3.5% home appreciation and 3% rent growth defaults compound in nominal terms alongside the 7% investment return. The internal consistency of the model is preserved because all three rates are nominal.

If you want to model a more aggressive scenario, every default is editable. We do not lock our defaults; we just want users to understand what we chose and why.

Tax modeling

Our calculator models federal mortgage interest deduction (MID), property tax deduction with SALT cap of $10,000/year, and §121 capital gains exclusion ($250K single / $500K married filing jointly). Capital gains tax on the renter's investment portfolio applies at end of comparison horizon.

Not modeled: AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax), state-specific tax rules, mortgage points, refinancing effects, retirement contribution interactions, capital improvements basis. Users in AMT territory or with complex tax situations should consult a tax professional.

Default tax rates (22% federal, 5% state, 15% capital gains, 2.5% inflation) reflect reasonable national averages for typical home buyers. Users can override any rate in the calculator's "Taxes & inflation" section.

Location-aware defaults

Three of our calculators (Rent vs Buy, Buying Break-even, Home Affordability) auto-populate property tax rate, homeowners insurance, average rent, home appreciation, and state marginal income tax rate from sourced averages. Each populated field can be overridden manually; once a user edits a field, later location changes leave that field alone until the user clicks Reset.

Two granularities are supported:

State-level (50 states + DC + national average)

State-level defaults cover all five location-driven fields. Choosing a state from the dropdown is the simplest path; selecting "Average (US)" reverts to the national-average values.

Metro-level (99 of the top 100 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas)

Entering a 5-digit ZIP resolves to one of 99 large US MSAs (drawn from the top 100 by 2020 Census population) and uses metro-level data for property tax, rent, and home appreciation. Insurance and state marginal income tax continue to use state-level data because reliable metro-level homeowners insurance figures aren't publicly available, and state income tax doesn't vary within state.

Of the 99 MSAs, 88 carry high-confidence sourced data; 11 are flagged as medium-confidence where individual fields rely on state-level approximations or alternative sources. The per-field source citation is retained in our dataset for every MSA.

The dataset originally included 100 MSAs from our research source. We removed one entry ("North Las Vegas MSA Split Delineation") that did not correspond to an OMB-defined CBSA; the Las Vegas metropolitan area is fully covered by our existing "Las Vegas-Henderson, NV" entry. The remaining 99 entries are all real OMB-defined Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Sources by field:

Privacy:ZIP codes entered into the calculator aren't logged or analyzed. They are used only for the location lookup at the moment of calculation. A ZIP travels through URL state only when you click the share button to generate a link; otherwise it stays in your browser.

Limitations:within-MSA variation isn't captured, so Manhattan and Brooklyn use the same NYC values, and coastal vs inland counties within the same metro share one figure. ZIPs outside our 99 MSAs (about 25% of the US population) fall back to state- level data. PO Box ZIPs aren't in the Census ZCTA file and will also fall back to state-level. Property tax for some MSAs uses a state-level average where comprehensive county-level aggregation wasn't feasible; these are flagged as medium-confidence in our dataset.

Update cadence: most fields refresh annually; FHFA HPI is published quarterly so that field can refresh more often. Last full data review was 2026-05-04.

Note: 99 metro fields are past the 18-month threshold. We are working to bring them current.

How we research and write content

Guides and educational articles are based on:

  • Standard financial analysis and the formulas listed above
  • Government data (FHFA, Census ACS, IRS publications)
  • Industry research (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the Insurance Information Institute, Tax Foundation)
  • Practitioner experience, including direct conversations with real estate professionals and mortgage lenders

We do not publish content based on press releases from financial product providers. We do not republish lender marketing material as editorial.

Accuracy and corrections

When we discover or are notified of a factual error, we investigate promptly. If the error is confirmed, we correct it and update the affected page's review date. Significant corrections are noted on the page.

To report a possible error, contact us with:

  • The URL of the page where the issue appears
  • A description of what looks wrong
  • If the issue is a calculator result, the exact inputs you used and the value you would have expected

We respond to error reports within 5 business days, even if our response is "we have received your report and are investigating." Confirmed errors are corrected within 14 days unless the fix requires substantive methodology changes, in which case we communicate the timeline.

Content freshness

Every page on this site displays a "Last reviewed" or "Effective" date. Calculator pages show the date the math was last verified. Guide pages show the date the content was last reviewed. Legal pages show the effective date of the current version.

We do not auto-generate these dates from build timestamps or git commit dates. A CSS update or layout fix is not a content review. The dates reflect intentional review of the content's accuracy and currency.

Even recently reviewed content may not reflect current conditions in your specific market. Mortgage rates, property tax rates, and rent growth vary by location and shift over time. Use our defaults as a starting point and adjust to your actual situation.

Scope and limitations

Content on RentVBuy.net focuses on US residential real estate and is written for a US audience. Tax laws, mortgage products, and market dynamics differ significantly in other countries. We do not cover non-US markets.

The calculators are general-purpose tools. They do not account for every local variation in costs, every loan product, or every personal financial circumstance. Specifically, our defaults do not include:

  • AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) implications
  • State-level deductions beyond the federal SALT cap
  • Refinance scenarios
  • Investment property depreciation or rental income tax treatment
  • Custom mortgage products (interest-only, ARM, balloon)

These limitations are not flaws; they are scope decisions. Adding all of them would make the calculators slower to use and harder to verify. For specialized scenarios, consult a licensed financial advisor or tax professional who can model your specific situation.

Editorial complaints

If you believe content on this site is misleading, inaccurate, or biased, you can contact us. We take editorial complaints seriously. Complaints that identify specific content and explain the concern receive a substantive response. We do not commit to changing content based on every complaint, but we do commit to genuinely considering each one and replying with our reasoning.