RENT vs.

BUY
Only 8% of Americas largest cities are markets where renting is more affordable than buying a home.

Q1 2011

In the wake of the housing crash, its now more affordable to be a homeowner in 72% of major U.S. cities.

2 9 4 8 6 10 1 3 5 7 7 2 9

4 5 10 8 3 6 1

20% of large American cities fall in a grey area where buying may actually be more financially sound even though it is less expensive to rent.

RENT

Top 10 Cities to Rent vs. Buy

U.S. City
New York, NY Seattle, WA Kansas City, MO San Francisco, CA Memphis, TN Los Angeles, CA Fort Worth, TX Oakland, CA Portland, OR Albuquerque, NM

DEED

Top 10 Cities to Buy vs. Rent

U.S. City
Miami, FL Las Vegas, NV Arlington, TX Mesa, AZ Phoenix, AZ Jacksonville, FL Sacramento, CA San Antonio, TX Fresno, CA El Paso, TX

Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Price: Rent Ratio (Q1 2011)

31 24 21 21 20 20 19 18 18 18

Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Price: Rent Ratio (Q1 2011)

6 6 7 8 8 8 10 11 11 11

Unexpected Costs of Renting

Laundry Frivolous Spending

Unexpected Costs of Homeownership

Garbage Collection Pest Control

If using a washer and dryer at a local laundromat costs $1.50 per load, than washing 20 loads of laundry each month would cost a household about $720 a year thats the price for buying an inexpensive washing machine.

Though this really depends on where you live, urban renters are more inclined to make frivolous spending SF families spend about $510 a month on restaurants while a single guy in NYC will drop $607 on dining out.

With the average U.S. household dumping 4.4 tons of trash a day, expect to pay about $144 - $240 a year for curbside pickup music lovers will need to pass on a summer concert ticket to cover this fee.

Without a building super to take care of bugs, be prepare to shell out $700 to keep the spiders, ants, crickets and roaches at bay designer bag lovers may need to put their LV dreams on hold for this one.

While some rentals include parking, this usually isnt the case especially in major metro areas. The median monthly parking rate is $153.79 after a year, the total costs is equivalent to four annual passes to Disneyland.

Moving

Depending on contracts, renters are at the mercy of their landlords and may need to move at any given time. Moving stuff in a 2-bedroom apartment locally can cost about $375 parents, this can cut your monthly daycare fund in half!

Parking

Hiring a gardener to mow & landscape an averagesized yard each week for a year (or buying the mower, hedgers and other equipment to DIY) can cost about $1,200 coffee lovers, this means no more daily venti lattes from Starbucks.

Yard Care

Hiring a security company can costs about $100-$1,500 for initial setup & $95-$480 annually for monitoring fee on the high end, thats like buying a 32GB 4G iPhone and paying for service and data plan for a year.

Security

[Sources: Trulia.com, National Solid Wastes Management Association, CostHelper.com, Colliers International, Bundle.com]

Rent vs. Buy Index Q1 2011

Americas Largest 50 Cities by Population

Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

City

State

Price:Rent Ratio

Much Less Expensive to Buy Than to Rent (Ratios 1-15) Miami FL 6 Las Vegas NV 6 Arlington TX 7 Mesa AZ 8 Phoenix AZ 8 Jacksonville FL 8 Sacramento CA 10 San Antonio TX 11 Fresno CA 11 El Paso TX 11 Baltimore MD 12 Detroit MI 12 Washington DC 12 Indianapolis IN 12 Philadelphia PA 12 Dallas TX 12 Houston TX 13 Honolulu HI 13 Atlanta GA 13 Long Beach CA 13 Tulsa OK 13 Denver CO 13 Nashville TN 13 Chicago IL 13 Omaha NE 13 Columbus OH 14 Charlotte NC 14 Virginia Beach VA 14 Tucson AZ 14 Raleigh NC 14 Colorado Springs CO 15 San Diego CA 15 San Jose CA 15 Louisville KY 15 Austin TX 15 Minneapolis MN 15 Less Expensive to Rent, But May Make More Financial Sense to Buy (Ratios 16-20) Milwaukee WI 16 Cleveland OH 17 Boston MA 17 Oklahoma City OK 17 Albuquerque NM 18 Portland OR 18 Oakland CA 18 Fort Worth TX 19 Los Angeles CA 20 Memphis TN 20 Total Cost of Homeownership Much Greater Than Renting (Ratios 21+) San Francisco CA 21 Kansas City MO 21 Seattle WA 24 New York NY 31