Should I Sell or Rent My House? Run Both Sides

1. Enter what the house would sell for today and what you owe. Add your rate and years left, or the principal and interest from your statement.
2. Enter the rent you expect, then vacancy, management and maintenance as a percent of rent. Use 0 for management if you'd manage it yourself.
3. Add landlord insurance, property taxes (pick a 2026 Spring Hill rate or enter your own bill) and any HOA dues.
4. Set your selling costs, how many years you'd rent it, and your own guess at the yearly change in value. Run it again with a lower and a higher guess.
5. If you'd invest the sale proceeds, enter what you think the cash would earn so the comparison is fair to both sides.

Rent vs sell calculator: what it counts

The renting side takes your rent, subtracts vacancy, management on the rent you collect, maintenance, insurance, taxes, HOA and your mortgage payment, and shows what's left each month. Once the loan pays off, the mortgage payment drops out of the math.

The selling side is the price minus your selling costs and your payoff. The selling cost starts at 8% as an example to change, not a quote or an average. Commission is negotiable and set in your listing agreement.

The comparison after the years you pick adds up every month of rental cash flow, then sells the house at the value your growth guess produces, minus selling costs and whatever is left on the loan. It sets that against the cash from selling today, plus whatever you said the cash would earn. Your rent stays flat unless you enter a yearly increase, and taxes and insurance stay flat throughout.

What it doesn't count

The calculator leaves out income tax on the rent, depreciation, the federal tax on a later sale, a roof or an HVAC system that fails in year three, rising taxes and insurance, and your time on the phone with tenants. Any of them can swing the answer, and taxes most of all.

Federal law lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain on a home you owned and lived in for at least two of the last five years, or $500,000 if you're married and file jointly. Rent the house out long enough and you can fall outside that window, and depreciation you take as a landlord is taxed when you sell.

Tennessee doesn't tax personal income, so there's no state income tax on the gain. Talk to a tax professional before you decide, because your own facts decide how this plays out.

*Tax figures on this page are the federal rules as published for 2026 and are for planning only. I am a licensed Realtor (TREC 369038), not a tax professional or a lender. Confirm your own situation with a CPA, and any borrowing limit with your lender, before you rely on a number.*

Get a real rent number

The rent box is the weakest input on the page, the same way the value is the weakest input on any equity math. A guess that's off by a few hundred dollars a month changes the answer.

I've been a real estate investor since 2005, and I still own a renovated historic investment property in Columbia.

Send me the address and I'll check what homes like yours are renting for and what yours would sell for, then run both sides with you. You can also get a home value or itemize a sale on my home sale calculator.

Two worked examples

These use made-up round numbers to show the math. They aren't rent or value estimates for any real home. The calculator opens with the first one filled in.

A house worth $450,000 with $280,000 owed at 3.25% and 25 years left has a principal and interest payment of about $1,364. Rented at $2,600 a month with 5% vacancy, 8% management, 5% maintenance, $1,800 a year of insurance, $50 a month HOA and Spring Hill Maury-side taxes ($2,372 a year at $2.108 per $100), it cash flows about $380 a month. Selling today with the 8% example selling cost puts about $134,000 in hand.

Rent it five years with a 3% yearly value change (the owner's guess, not a forecast) and it adds up to about $22,817 of cash flow, a sale at about $521,673, about $41,734 in selling costs and about $240,567 left on the loan, for a total of about $262,190. That's about $128,190 ahead of selling today, before income taxes, with the cash from selling today earning nothing.

A house worth $350,000 with no mortgage, rented at $2,100 with 5% vacancy, 10% management, 8% maintenance, $1,500 of insurance and a $2,000 tax bill, cash flows about $1,336 a month. Selling today puts $322,000 in hand, and if that cash earned 4% a year for ten years it would grow to about $476,639.

Renting for those ten years at a flat price and a flat rent adds up to about $482,300. That's about $5,661 apart, close enough that it comes down to how much time and risk you want to take on.

*Property tax figures are the county and city rates published for the year shown and are for planning only. Your actual bill depends on the assessed value, any exemptions and the city or district the home sits in. Confirm with the county assessor or trustee and your tax professional before you rely on a number.*