Sell vs. Keep Calculator

You own a property and you are deciding whether to sell it or keep it as a rental. This compares three paths side by side over the years you choose: keeping it and renting it out, selling and investing the proceeds, or selling and putting the money into the next small building you live in.

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How this works

All three paths are measured the same way: what you would have, in cash, at the end of the period you chose.

Selling gives you the sale price less the cost to sell, less the loan payoff, less any tax you enter. That amount is then grown at the rate you set for investing it.

Keeping runs the property month by month. Rent grows at the rate you set, and property tax, insurance and HOA grow at that same rate.

Vacancy, maintenance and management come out as a share of rent. The mortgage is amortized properly, so principal paydown builds up and the payment stops if the loan finishes inside your window. Each month of cash flow is invested at the same rate the sale proceeds get, so neither side gets a free advantage.

At the end the property is sold on paper at the appreciated value, less the same cost to sell.

I am not a tax adviser and this does not calculate your tax. The tax field is there so you can enter a figure your accountant gives you. If you have lived in the property for two of the last five years, part of your gain may be excluded from tax, which can move this comparison a long way. That is worth a conversation with a professional before you decide.

The house hack column puts the sale proceeds into a small multi-unit building you live in, at an owner-occupied down payment, instead of into the market. Two things make it behave differently from the other two columns.

You collect rent from the other units, and you stop paying for housing somewhere else, so that payment is credited back to you every month. Under selling and under keeping, your housing cost does not change, so it cancels out and is left out of both.

Anything left over after the down payment and closing costs is invested at the same rate as the sale proceeds. There is no management cost because you live in the building.

One simplification worth knowing: months with negative cash flow are compounded at the same rate as positive ones, which treats money you put in as money you could have invested instead.

Where this model stops. On these defaults the house hack column usually wins, and you should know why before you trust it. Almost all of its advantage comes from two things: a much smaller down payment, so more of the building works for you, and the housing payment you stop making.

If you would not actually move into the building, set that field to 0 and the advantage mostly disappears. The model also prices none of the work.

Living in a building you own and manage, finding tenants, taking the calls, moving house, and the risk that a unit sits empty are all costs that no calculator can put a number on. Selling and buying nothing has a value too, and it is not on this page.