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Real EstateHousing

Rent or Own: What You Pay For

Both cost money you never get back

A renter pays $2,500 a month. The owner next door pays a $2,129 loan payment. Who is really paying less?

You'll find out

  • What a loan payment leaves out
  • The part of a payment that comes back
  • The fair way to compare both

Why it matters

Rent against a loan payment is the match everyone makes, and it's the wrong one. Here's the fair one.

About 3 min6 interactive slides · 5 questionsLesson 109 · Zone 13

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More in this zone

  1. 110MortgagesHow a Mortgage WorksA loan to buy a home, paid over decades
  2. 111MortgagesThe 30-Year Mortgage Is RareFew countries lock a home loan's rate for 30 years
  3. 112MortgagesInterest Comes FirstEarly payments are mostly interest
  4. 113MortgagesWhat a Home Really CostsThe price tag versus everything you pay
  5. 114Home EquityDown Payments and EquityThe part of the house that's really yours
  6. 115HousingRenting Is Throwing Money AwayOwners have money they never get back too
  7. 116OwnershipThe Landlord's GameLizzie Magie invented the game that became Monopoly, to show how owning land pulls in everyone's rent, and was paid $500
  8. 117Rental PropertyGetting Paid by a BuildingHow rental income works