Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases most people will ever make. There are pros and cons to renting vs. owning a home. Make sure to consider a number of economic factors including affordability, tax impact, and the potential return. How long you are planning on staying in a home is an important factor in deciding whether to own or rent. Almost fifty percent of all homeowners move within the first five to seven years of buying a home. You may be better off renting if staying in a home less than five years. If planning to live in a place for a longer period of time, consider buying.

Use caution when using the rent vs. buy calculators on the web as some sites can be biased towards home ownership. Moreover, many of the calculators require inputting information such as property taxes and closing costs that may be difficult to estimate.

One of the best ways to calculate whether a particular market is more favorable for buyers or renters is to compare prices of sales and rental properties with their respective living costs over a period of time (i.e. 5 or 10 years).