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Housing & cars

The big-ticket math: rent versus buy, true car cost, and rental deals. 5 free calculators, no signup.

Pricing housing & cars work honestly

The two biggest line items in most budgets come with the most misleading sticker prices. Rent is not just rent, a mortgage is not just the payment, and a car's cost is mostly not the loan. These calculators total the full picture (taxes, insurance, maintenance, depreciation) so the biggest decisions get honest numbers.

Pricing rules that protect your margin

  • Compare rent to the full cost of owning: taxes, insurance, maintenance at roughly 1 percent of home value a year, and the interest you will actually pay.
  • A car's true monthly cost is payment plus insurance, fuel, maintenance, and depreciation. For many cars the payment is barely half.
  • Rental property math needs vacancy and repairs in it from day one. A deal that only works at 100 percent occupancy does not work.
  • Airbnb versus long-term rent is an hours question too. Price your hosting time or the comparison lies.

Questions, answered

Rent or buy: what decides it?
Time horizon and total monthly cost. Under about five years, buying costs (fees, interest front-loading) usually swamp equity gains. The rent vs buy calculator runs your exact numbers.
Is this rental property a good deal?
Cash flow after vacancy, maintenance, management, and reserves, plus the cap rate versus local alternatives. The deal analyzer computes both.

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