Should you keep renting or buy? Put in your rent and the home you're looking at, and see which one leaves you further ahead after the years you plan to stay. It uses Indiana's property tax caps, real closing costs on both ends, and what your down payment could earn if you kept renting.
| Year | Rent paid | Owning costs | Home equity after sale | Buying vs. renting |
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An estimate built on the assumptions you enter, not a prediction or financial advice. The link holds only the numbers.
It starts both of you, the renter and the buyer, with the same cash: the down payment plus the closing costs to buy. The buyer spends it on the house. The renter keeps it invested. Each month, whoever has the lower housing cost invests the difference at the same return. At the end of the years you pick, it compares what each of you would have: the buyer's cash from selling the house (plus any savings), against the renter's savings. The gap is the headline number.
What counts as a cost of owning. Principal and interest, property taxes, homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance, HOA dues and upkeep. The principal you pay isn't lost; it comes back to you as equity when you sell, which is why the comparison is done at the sale rather than by adding up payments.
Property taxes. Indiana caps property tax on a home you live in at 1% of its gross assessed value. With no tax entered, the calculator treats the price as the assessed value, applies the cap and subtracts the homestead credit (the lesser of $300 or 10% of the bill), then lets the bill rise with the home's value. That's an upper-end estimate for most homes, and referendum levies can add to it. My Indiana property tax guide explains how to estimate a specific house.
Mortgage insurance. The same rules as my mortgage calculator: conventional PMI ends when the balance is scheduled to reach 78% of the original value; FHA premiums follow HUD Mortgagee Letter 2023-05 and last for the life of the loan with less than 10% down, or 11 years with 10% or more; VA loans have a one-time funding fee instead.
Closing costs on both ends. The cost to buy, left blank, uses the same lender and title defaults as my buyer net sheet (lender fees and appraisal from real Indiana closings, title and recording charges at a Fishers title company's rates). The cost to sell is the commission you enter plus the same title company's standard seller charges, as on my seller net sheet. Prepaid interest and escrow deposits aren't counted, because they're your own money moved forward, not a cost.
What it leaves out. Income taxes on either side: the mortgage interest deduction (most households now take the standard deduction), taxes on investment earnings, and the federal exclusion that lets most owners keep up to $250,000 of gain on a primary home tax-free ($500,000 for married couples filing jointly). It also assumes insurance and HOA dues stay flat. Ask a tax professional how these apply to you.
Sometimes renting another year is the better move, and I'll tell you when I think it is. If buying makes sense, I'll help you find a home where the numbers work: the real tax bill, a realistic price for what you want, and how long you'd need to stay.
If you're two years out, that's fine. Most of my best clients started with a question, not a showing.
Fishers-based. Ten years designing and building homes before real estate. Committed to your success.
Tell me what you pay in rent and what you're thinking about buying, and I'll help you check the assumptions that matter most.
No obligation, and no pressure to sign anything.
This calculator gives an estimate based on your assumptions, not a prediction of home prices, rents or investment returns, and isn't legal, tax or financial advice. I'm a Realtor, not a lender or financial advisor. Sources: Indiana circuit breaker caps and the homestead credit per the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance; FHA premiums per HUD Mortgagee Letter 2023-05; VA funding fees per VA.gov (effective April 7, 2023); PMI cancellation per the Homeowners Protection Act, as summarized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; home sale gain exclusion per IRS Publication 523. Title charges are a Fishers title company's rates checked September 28, 2026. Checked September 28, 2026.