Florida Rent vs. Buy Calculator

“Should I keep renting or buy now?” is the most common question first-time Florida buyers ask. This calculator answers it with math, not gut feel. Enter your numbers, see your breakeven year, and find out the long-term cumulative cost of each path. Built by Tim Sherman, licensed Florida Realtor (SL3534819).

How this calculator thinks about the decision

The right rent-vs-buy comparison isn't “monthly rent vs. monthly mortgage payment.” That's the trap most online tools fall into. A complete comparison has to handle:

• Up-front costs of buying — your down payment plus roughly 2% in buyer-side closing costs (loan origination, title, inspection, recording).
• Ongoing costs of owning that renters don't pay — property taxes, homeowner's insurance (much higher in Florida), maintenance, HOA dues, and PMI if down payment is under 20%.
• The opportunity cost of the down payment — if you didn't put $85,000 down on a $425,000 house, you could invest that money. Most calculators ignore this. This one doesn't.
• Equity built through principal pay-down on your mortgage as a positive offset to your buy-side costs.
• Home appreciation as a positive offset (and remember it can be negative in any given year).
• Selling costs at the end — about 6% commissions plus another 1% for repairs, title, and other transaction costs. You don't actually realize the appreciation on paper; you realize it net of sale costs.
• Rent inflation — rent isn't fixed. A locked-in mortgage payment becomes more valuable every year rent rises.

The methodology under the hood

For each year of the projection horizon, the calculator computes:

Cumulative renting cost = sum of (year's monthly rent × 12), where rent compounds at your inflation input each year. To this we add the opportunity cost of not having tied up your down payment — but only if buying actually requires that cash today. (Equivalently: the buy side gets credited with the foregone investment return on the down payment + closing costs.)

Cumulative buying cost (net) = down payment + closing costs + cumulative mortgage payments + cumulative property tax + cumulative HOI + cumulative maintenance − equity built (principal paid down) − home appreciation (net of selling costs if you were to sell at the end of that year).

The breakeven year is the first year in which cumulative buying cost (net of equity and net appreciation) falls below cumulative renting cost (including opportunity cost of down payment).

What the numbers usually show in Florida

Across most Florida markets in 2026, the rent-vs-buy math tends to favor buying once a buyer plans to stay 5 to 7 years, given:

• Mortgage rates in the 6.5%–7% range
• Local price-to-rent ratios around 16–22 (Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando suburbs)
• Rent inflation in the 3%–5% range
• Modest 3% annual appreciation assumption

Markets where buying is harder to justify on pure math (without the lifestyle and stability premium):

• Coastal high-cost markets with sky-high insurance (Monroe, Collier, Lee post-Ian)
• Condo-heavy markets where HOAs are eating into ownership economics
• Markets where you might leave within 2–3 years

Markets where buying tends to win quickly:

• Suburban Northeast Florida (Jacksonville, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau)
• Central Florida exurbs where rent has run up faster than prices
• Panhandle markets outside the immediate beach

What this calculator doesn't capture

A few things matter that don't fit cleanly into a spreadsheet:

• Tax benefits. Mortgage interest and property taxes are itemized deductions. With the standard deduction at ~$30,000 for married couples, fewer buyers itemize than they used to — but high-income buyers in expensive homes still benefit. Ask a CPA.
• Florida Homestead Exemption + Save Our Homes cap. Over 10+ years, the SOH 3% assessment cap can save tens of thousands of dollars vs. a renter whose rent has no cap. See the Florida Homestead Exemption guide.
• Lifestyle and stability. Owning means you can renovate, paint, plant trees, and stay as long as you want. That's worth money but it's personal.
• Risk asymmetry. Buying concentrates risk in one asset (your house) in one location. Renting spreads risk and preserves flexibility.

Frequently asked questions