Rent vs. Buy Calculator for Oklahoma

How the comparison works

Both paths get the same monthly budget. Each month, whichever path is cheaper invests the difference, and the renter invests the cash the buyer would have put into the down payment and closing costs. At the end of each year the calculator asks: if you stopped here (the buyer sells, paying selling costs and the rest of the loan; the renter just stops), what did each path cost?

Net cost = cash put in − what you walk away with. The path with the lower net cost came out ahead. The break-even year is the first year buying does.

What comes from data, and what's yours

We don't prefill rent. Public rent benchmarks such as HUD's Fair Market Rents and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey need API accounts we haven't set up, and a county average wouldn't describe the specific place you'd rent anyway.

Reading the result

• How long you stay matters most. Buying has large one-time costs (closing costs now, selling costs later), and the longer you stay, the more years they're spread over.
• Try a few assumptions. Change home value growth and investment return by a point or two and watch the break-even year move.
• Oklahoma specifics are built in: district-level property tax in Oklahoma County, the homestead exemption and 3% value cap, and the state's high average insurance, which the model grows with the home's value.

What the model leaves out

Income taxes are ignored: the mortgage interest deduction, tax on investment gains and any tax on the home sale. Renter's insurance, moving costs and the value of stability aren't counted. The first year's property tax assumes the assessor values the home at the price you pay.

The model

Budget each month = max(owner cost, rent)
Investments grow monthly at (1 + return)^(1/12) − 1 and receive budget − own cost
Buyer wealth = value × (1 − selling %) − loan balance + buyer investments
Net cost = cash in − wealth

For the full monthly payment on a specific home, use the mortgage calculator.