Who this calculator is for
Use this when you already own the home and the question is whether to keep living in it or sell and become a renter yourself — a different question from whether to sell and keep the property as a rental (see the Sell or Rent calculator for that comparison). It suits an owner weighing a move, a life change, or simply wondering whether staying still makes financial sense at current home values and rents.
What each input means
- Current home value and mortgage balance — set today's net proceeds if you sold.
- Selling costs and moving/transition cost — what selling would actually consume before you saw any cash.
- Monthly rent after sale and annual rent growth — what you would pay if you sold and rented instead.
- Years to compare — the holding period both scenarios are measured over.
- Annual home-value change and annual ownership cost — your scenario for the stay path's appreciation and yearly cost of ownership, as a percent of value.
- Return on net sale cash — what the sale proceeds could earn if invested instead of spent on rent.
How this works
The stay scenario applies your value-change and annual ownership-cost assumptions to project future home value and ownership cost, then compares that against the home's equity. The sell scenario calculates net proceeds, projected rent, and the assumed return on net cash.
A worked example, using the figures already loaded above
On the default $500,000 home with a $250,000 mortgage balance, selling today would net about $205,000 after 7% selling costs and $10,000 in moving costs. Over the default 7-year horizon, at 3% assumed annual appreciation and a 2.2% annual ownership-cost assumption, the stay scenario shows about $365,000 of home equity and a modeled net cost of about −$287,900 (a net benefit, since projected equity growth exceeds the modeled ownership cost). The sell-and-rent scenario, with rent starting at $2,400 and growing 3% a year while the $205,000 in net proceeds earns a 5% return, shows a modeled net cost of about $137,200 over the same 7 years — favoring staying by a wide margin under these specific assumptions.
How to interpret the result
Most of the "stay" advantage in this model comes from two things the sell path does not get: the stay scenario's projected equity is not reduced by a future selling-cost percentage, and the mortgage balance is held flat rather than paying down through amortization — both disclosed limits below, not hidden ones. A smaller gap, or one favoring selling, is more likely once you lower the appreciation assumption, raise the ownership-cost assumption, or shorten the horizon. Re-run the numbers with a range of appreciation and rent-growth assumptions rather than reading one result as decisive.
Common mistakes
- Reading "stay net cost" as a real dollar cost rather than a modeled comparison against a rising home value.
- Using an optimistic appreciation rate for the stay path while using a realistic rent-growth rate for the sell path.
- Forgetting that the mortgage balance does not amortize down in this model, which favors "stay" more than a fully paid-down loan would.
Related guides and calculators
- Sell or Rent calculator — the comparison for keeping the property as a rental instead of renting elsewhere yourself.
- Maintenance Reserve calculator — the ongoing repair costs this model's flat ownership-cost percentage simplifies away.
- True Monthly Home Cost calculator — if "sell" leads to buying again rather than renting.
- How much to reserve for maintenance — size the ongoing repair costs this model simplifies into a flat percentage.
Limits
This is not a valuation, payoff statement, tax analysis, rent quote, investment recommendation, or advice to stay or sell. It excludes income taxes, repairs, mortgage amortization, and changes in loan balance. Why is this an estimate? Every number is arithmetic on the value-change, ownership-cost, rent-growth, and return assumptions you entered — none of it is fetched from an appraisal, lender, or market data source.