What this measures, and what it doesn't. This models financial net worth only. It cannot price flexibility, security, control over your housing, or the peace of mind of a home that's truly yours. The math is one input into the decision — not the decision. The right answer depends on what the client is actually solving for.

How to read this. This takes the first home you entered and compares buying it today, then selling after a given number of years, against renting the same home and investing the difference. The crossover is how long you'd need to stay for buying to come out ahead — driven mostly by the round-trip cost of buying and selling. (Refinancing isn't modeled here; this is the buy-vs-rent-now decision over a holding period.)