Keep renting, or stop?
Most rent-versus-buy calculators quietly ignore what it costs to actually get into a house. This one doesn’t — closing costs and the Connecticut conveyance tax are part of the math, because they’re part of the decision.
Two columns, honestly kept.
Before the arithmetic, the shape of the thing. Neither column is the villain.
Flexible, and not throwing money away.
- You can leave at the end of a lease without paying to sell.
- The roof, the furnace, and the water heater are someone else’s line item.
- Your down payment stays invested and liquid.
- Your housing cost resets at every renewal, in whichever direction the market went.
- You build nothing in the property, and you control nothing about it.
Slower to start, harder to leave.
- Costs real money on the way in — down payment, closing costs, title.
- Principal payments accumulate as equity instead of disappearing.
- A fixed rate holds your payment steady while rents move.
- Maintenance, taxes, and insurance become yours, permanently.
- Selling costs money too, which is why the timeline matters more than the price.
Find your break-even.
Your rent, a target price, your rate, and how long you’d plan to stay. The output is the year buying pulls ahead — if it does.
Of the home’s value, per year. Connecticut mill rates vary several-fold by town — worth looking yours up.
On these numbers buying wins inside your timeline. The gap is narrow enough early on that a year or two either way flips it, so treat the break-even as a range.
Above $5,000,000 the closing-cost side of this stops being an estimate we’d stand behind. Give us a call.
Renting stays ahead across the full thirty years here. Usually that means the rent is low relative to the price, or the rate is doing the damage.
Email me this rent-vs-buy comparisonThis calculator needs JavaScript. The two columns above lay out the trade-off without it.
Estimates only, and far more sensitive to assumptions than the other calculators here. It assumes 3% rent growth, 3% appreciation, 1.5% of value in upkeep and insurance, the property tax rate you enter, and a 5% return on the money you’d otherwise invest. Change any of those and the break-even moves. Connecticut conveyance tax per CGS §12-494; recording fees per CGS §7-34a as amended by PA 18-136; title premiums measured against CATIC’s own premium calculator. Lender charges are not included — they vary more by lender than by anything else in the deal.
Questions worth asking first.
How long do I need to stay for buying to beat renting?
There's no single answer, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. It turns on your rent, the price, your rate, what the property does in value, and what you'd otherwise earn on the down payment. The calculator gives you a break-even in years for your own inputs, which is more useful than a rule of thumb.
What does the calculator leave out?
The things that don't have a number. How long you actually want to stay, whether a job might move you, how you feel about a roof being your problem instead of a landlord's. Those often matter more than the math, and no calculator will price them for you.
Do I need an attorney if I decide to buy in Connecticut?
In practice, yes. Any closing involving title insurance requires an attorney, and in Connecticut a title insurance agent has to be a practicing attorney. Massachusetts is similar in effect: the state's high court has held a closing requires the substantive participation of an attorney.
Leaning toward buying?
We’ll tell you what the process actually looks like in Connecticut, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island — and what it costs — before you talk to anyone who’s selling you something.
Thanks. We’ve got it.
Your numbers are with us and someone will come back to you within one business day. If it’s urgent, call (860) 603-2258.
These calculators produce estimates for general information, not legal advice. Every transaction is different — reach out to talk through yours.