Should You Lease or Buy?

* What Your Money Becomes: Both paths start at the same initial cash outlay (down payment + closing costs). The "If You Buy" line grows through equity buildup, property appreciation, and rental income offset — minus taxes, insurance, and maintenance. The "If You Lease" line represents your uninvested capital compounding in the market, minus the cumulative cash flow difference between leasing and owning. The shaded gap is the projected financial advantage of ownership at each year.

** How Often Buying Wins: The calculator runs 2,000 independent simulations, each with randomized property appreciation, market investment returns, and lease escalation rates. At each year, this chart shows the percentage of those simulations where buying came out ahead financially. A result of 90%+ at Year 15 means that in 9 out of 10 possible versions of the future modeled, ownership was the better financial decision.