RooFork

Buy or Rent? Make the right choice.

Compare what buying and renting would each leave you with, year by year, using your own numbers.

Try the Calculator

Both premium tools: $29. See the worked examples

Loan offer comparison: Estimate, not a loan offer or financial advice. Move-out planner: Planning estimate using federal rules only — not tax advice. Confirm with a tax professional before you act.

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Financial Simulator

Input your financial details to generate a personalized buy vs. rent comparison report. Adjust the investment slider to see its impact on the renting scenario in real-time.

Your Financial Inputs
Provide your data to calculate the report.

General Information

Number of years to project scenario.

Renting Scenario

Enter 3.5 for 3.5%.

Buying Scenario

Enter 10 for 10%.

Estimated one-time costs.

Enter 6.375 for 6.375%.

Typical fixed mortgage terms are 15 or 30 years.

As % of home value. Enter 1.2 for 1.2%.

Enter 0 if no HOA applies.

Enter 1 for 1%.

Enter 4 for 4%.

Agent commissions + seller closing costs deducted from home value in the net-worth projection. Enter 0 to ignore.

Investment Settings (for Renting Scenario)

7.0%

Adjust to see how different annual investment returns impact the renting scenario on the chart. (e.g., S&P 500 historical avg. ~7-10.5%).

Submit the form to calculate your personalized financial report.

Comparisons, net worth projections, and mortgage details will appear here in tabs.

RooFork Premium

Two costly house decisions, worked out on your own numbers

Which loan offer is cheaper depends on how long you keep the loan. The tax on a home you've moved out of depends on the day you close. Each tool works out that timing from your paperwork and shows the math.

Comparing Loan Estimates or a refinance

Which loan offer is cheaper for the years you'll actually keep it?

You enter

  • Up to three Loan Estimates: rate, points, lender credits and fees
  • Refinancing? Your current loan, including any penalty for paying it off early
  • Your shortest, most likely and longest time keeping the loan

You get

  • Which option costs least at each of those timeframes, and by how much
  • The month the cheaper option changes
  • A year-by-year table of what each option has cost

Example · made-up numbers

Two Loan Estimates on a $400,000 loan

Offer A: 7.00% with 1.5 points ($6,000), $2,661 a month. Offer B: 7.375%, no points, $2,763 a month. Both have $3,500 of other costs.

From month 48 (4 years) on, Offer A costs less than Offer B. Before that, Offer B costs less.

Cheaper offer if you leave after…
If you leave afterCheaperBy
3 yearsOffer B$1,476
7 yearsOffer A$4,602
10 yearsOffer A$9,146

Same calculation the tool runs. Example rates set in November 2026. Estimate, not a loan offer or financial advice.

Follows the CFPB's advice: compare total cost over the shortest, most likely and longest time you might keep the loan.

How it works and what it doesn't cover

Moving out of a home you own

Sell, rent it out, or keep?

You enter

  • Purchase price and date, and improvements
  • Your move-in and move-out dates
  • Expected rent, landlord costs and your mortgage
  • Filing status and other income for a typical year

You get

  • The last day you can close a sale and keep your home-sale exclusion (the IRS 2-out-of-5-year rule)
  • Four paths after estimated federal tax: sell now, rent it out and sell by that day, sell later, or keep it
  • The tax on depreciation that renting adds

Example · made-up numbers

A married couple filing jointly who bought in June 2020, move out in January 2027 and rent the house

Last day to close and keep the exclusion: Monday, January 14, 2030

Their plan closes October 16, 2029, 90 days before that, because closings slip.

On that sale, the exclusion is worth an estimated $37,112 in federal tax.

Depreciation from the rental years is still taxed: about $7,100 on that sale.

The deadline uses the stricter of two IRS day counts, and depreciation is assumed claimed; tax professionals differ on both, so a real plan may differ. Check with a tax professional.

Same calculation the planner runs. Figures as of Nov 1, 2026.

Years after 2027 use the 2027 IRS figures, so they are estimates.

Planning estimate using federal rules only — not tax advice. Confirm with a tax professional before you act.

Uses IRS Publication 523 and 527 rules and the IRS figures for 2026 and 2027.

How it works and what it doesn't cover

A payment calculator tells you the monthly payment. These tell you which offer costs less for the years you keep it, and the last day you can sell and keep the exclusion.

Price: $29

Both tools, on your RooFork account.

Included

  • Loan offer comparison, with a refinance check for a single offer
  • Move-out planner
  • Saved results, with PDF and Excel downloads

Have ready: your Loan Estimates or latest mortgage statement. For a move-out: purchase price and date, improvements, and your move-in and move-out dates.

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    RooFork – Buy vs Rent, Loan Offer Comparison, Move-Out Planner