CALCULATOR

Sell vs Rent Calculator: Sell It, or Keep It and Rent It Out?

This is the question I get most from owners who are moving up. A low locked-in mortgage rate makes keeping the house tempting. Whether it is actually the better move depends on rent, taxes and what the proceeds would do elsewhere. This sell vs rent calculator runs both paths side by side.

The property today

Current market value$

Mortgage balance$

Your mortgage rate%

Years left on the loanyrs

If you rent it out

Market rent$/mo

Vacancy allowance%

Property management%Set to 0 if you self-manage.

Maintenance and capital repairs%Share of value per year.

Property tax$/yr

Landlord insurance$/yr

HOA fee$/mo

Assumptions

Home appreciation%

Commission and closing costs to sell%

Return on invested proceeds%

Compare overyrs

The part people forget

Becoming a landlord changes your tax position, not just your cash flow.

The Section 121 exclusion on a primary residence, up to $250,000 of gain for a single filer and $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, requires that you lived in the home two of the last five years. Rent it out too long and that shelter expires. For owners sitting on a large gain, that expiry can outweigh several years of rental profit. The full rules are in IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home. This calculator does not model your personal tax situation, which is exactly why the output is a starting point for a conversation with your accountant.

Honest landlord math

One turnover — vacancy, paint, fees — often erases a year of profit.
A roof, HVAC or sewer line is a five-figure event, not a rounding error.
New Jersey tenant protections are strong. Removing a non-paying tenant takes time and legal cost.
Rental income is taxed as ordinary income, offset by depreciation you later recapture.

NEXT STEP

Let's price the rent and the sale properly.

I can pull comparable rents and comparable sales on your street in the same afternoon, so you are comparing two real numbers instead of two guesses.