CHAD SELLERS REALTOR® · JBGOODWIN REALTORS®
Home / Education & Resources / Buy vs. Rent Calculator

Is It Cheaper to Buy or Rent Right Now?

Pick a community near Randolph, Lackland, or Fort Sam Houston — or average across a whole base area — set your hold period, and compare the full cost of buying against renting a similar home, side by side.

These are planning estimates built from community-level data and general market conditions, not a lender quote or an actual lease — real numbers for your specific home or rental will differ. I'm happy to walk through your numbers directly any time.

🏠 Buying

🔑 Renting

⚠️ This is a starting estimate, not a quote. Actual single-family rents vary widely by exact property condition, age, finish level, lease length, and whether it's professionally managed — real listings for similar-sized homes in the same community regularly span several hundred dollars in either direction. Check current listings for the specific community and size before relying on this number.

Renting has fewer cost categories than owning — no property tax, insurance is much cheaper, no maintenance or HOA. That's expected, not a mistake.

Applied equally to both scenarios — for the same home size and community, utility costs don't meaningfully depend on whether you own or rent. San Antonio's summer electric rates and AC load push May–September noticeably higher than the rest of the year; both figures scale with home size and are fully editable.

4-Year Outcome

Why the Numbers Came Out This Way

Cumulative Net Cost by Year

Buying (net of equity if sold that year) Renting
Estimates only, for planning purposes — not a loan offer, appraisal, or guarantee of future performance. Sales price, rent, and appreciation are estimated from community-level data and general San Antonio-area market conditions as of 2026; actual figures for any specific property or lease will differ. Loan modeling: 30-year fixed amortization; conventional PMI assumed to end when the loan balance falls below 80% of the original price; FHA mortgage insurance assumed to run the life of the loan (standard for most FHA loans since 2013); VA funding fee financed into the loan based on down payment tier, no monthly mortgage insurance. Utilities are modeled seasonally — May through September at the "summer" rate, October through April at the "mild" rate — reflecting CPS Energy's higher summer rate tier and San Antonio's AC-driven cooling load; the simulation assumes a January start for this cycle, which affects timing within a year but not the total over your selected hold period. Adjust any field above to match your actual quote once you have one — a real lender and a real listing will always be more accurate than this tool's defaults.