The rulebook · Form RB-12
Monthly Rent vs Mortgage: The Honest Stack Form RB-12
The most common rent-vs-buy mistake is comparing rent to the mortgage payment. The payment is the appetizer — taxes, insurance, and maintenance are the rest of the meal. Here is the full monthly stack on three real prices, so the comparison starts honest.
$The $450,000 stack
Payment (P&I) at 6.5%, 20% down, 30 years: $2,275. Then the rest of the meal — 1.1% property tax ($413), 0.35% insurance ($131), 1% maintenance ($375) — brings the true owning cost to $3,196 a month. Against $2,200 of rent, the honest gap is nearly $1,000 a month, not $75. This is the stack the rest of the site’s math is built on.
$The $350,000 stack
Payment: $1,770. Taxes ($321), insurance ($102), maintenance ($292) bring it to $2,486 a month against $1,800 of rent. The payment alone looks like a $30 discount to renting; the honest stack shows owning costs 38% more per month — and break-even still arrives in year 6, because the equity quietly wins over time.
$The $650,000 stack
Payment: $3,287. Taxes ($596), insurance ($190), maintenance ($542) bring it to $4,617 a month against $3,000 of rent. This is where the stack matters most — at these prices the “extras” are $1,330 a month, and break-even doesn’t arrive until year 8.
- $450k: payment alone vs rent$2,275 vs $2,200
- $450k: honest stack vs rent$3,196 vs $2,200
- $350k: honest stack vs rent$2,486 vs $1,800
- $650k: honest stack vs rent$4,617 vs $3,000
Maintenance at 1% of value a year is the line most people forget — on a $450,000 home that’s $375 a month, every month, whether anything breaks. Build your own stack on the full slip.
Common questions Form RB-12
Why is my rent higher than my friend’s mortgage payment?
Because you’re comparing the wrong two numbers. Their payment isn’t their cost — add property tax, homeowners insurance, maintenance (about 1% of the home’s value a year), and HOA, and the true monthly cost is typically 30–45% above the payment. On a $450,000 home the $2,275 payment is really a $3,196 cost.
What costs go into the true monthly cost of owning?
Principal and interest, property tax, homeowners insurance, maintenance, and HOA dues. Closing costs and selling costs aren’t monthly, but the calculator counts them at purchase and sale — they’re why short stays lose.
Is maintenance really 1% a year?
It’s the long-run average: furnaces die, roofs leak, water heaters quit on the coldest weekend of January. Some years it’s zero and one year it’s $12,000. Budgeting 1% of the home’s value a year smooths that out.
Does HOA change the comparison much?
It can decide close calls — $400 a month in HOA is $4,800 a year that the renter never pays and that builds zero equity. Set it on the calculator and watch the break-even year slide.