Forget the monthly payment. The real question is which choice leaves you wealthier in the end. Threshold compares after-tax net worth over your actual horizon — real taxes, a renter who invests what they save, no thumb on the scale.
Monthly-payment comparisons flatter whichever side you already wanted to win. The only fair scoreboard is after-tax net worth — so that's the one Threshold keeps.
The standard deduction and the SALT cap crowd out most of the mortgage-interest shield. Threshold models the deduction you'd actually get — not the one from the open house.
standard-deduction crowd-out, modeledA fair fight hands the renter the down payment they never spent — plus every monthly dollar renting saves — and lets it compound in the market. Most calculators quietly skip this side.
opportunity cost, compounded monthlyBuy a duplex, live in one side, rent the other. Rental income, depreciation, recapture at sale, and the split §121 exclusion — modeled properly, not hand-waved.
house-hacking, down to recapture"It depends" is a real answer — so Threshold shows you exactly what it depends on, and lets you check its work.
"I couldn't tell if buying a duplex and renting half of it would beat my $3,500 rent. Every calculator dodged the hard parts — so I built the one that doesn't."
Short answers to the questions people actually ask — each one backed by the full model in the free rent-vs-buy calculator.
There's no universal answer — it depends on your time horizon, local rent-to-price ratio, mortgage rate, and what a renter would earn investing the money a buyer sinks into the house. The honest comparison is after-tax net worth at the end of your horizon, which is exactly what Threshold computes for your numbers.
Usually less than the open house suggests. You only benefit from the slice of interest and property tax that exceeds the standard deduction you'd claim anyway — for many buyers that incremental shield is small or zero. Threshold models the deduction you'd actually get, not the sticker amount.
Sometimes. Renting wins when the down payment and monthly savings, invested in the market, compound faster than the buyer's leveraged home equity net of interest, taxes, maintenance, and selling costs. Threshold's verdict map shows exactly which combinations of stock returns and home appreciation flip the answer for your scenario.
House hacking is buying a small multifamily property — say a duplex — living in one unit and renting out the other, so rental income offsets your mortgage. It changes the rent-vs-buy math substantially. Threshold models it properly: rental income, depreciation, recapture at sale, and the split home-sale exclusion.
Yes — Threshold is a free rent-vs-buy calculator with no signup and no paywall. It runs the same core comparison (renting and investing the difference vs. buying) and adds what most calculators skip: honest tax treatment, house-hacking a duplex, and a click-to-audit derivation behind every number.
The common rule of thumb is about five years, because closing and selling costs take years of appreciation to earn back. But the real crossover depends on your rent, rate, and market assumptions — Threshold charts both net-worth paths year by year and marks the exact year the verdict flips.
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