As home prices and mortgage rates remain stubbornly high, finding an affordable place to buy a home has become a nearly ...

A rent-to-own agreement is an alternative way to buy a home without an upfront down payment, but the process can be complicated and you'll want to take extra precautions.

Use our rent vs buy calculator to find out which option is best for you. ... You don’t need to put 20% down to buy a house. In fact, just about everyone is putting down less nowadays.

If the monthly rent is $2,000, that totals $24,000 per year. To determine the rent ratio, divide $400,000 by $24,000. This calculation results in a rent ratio of 16.7.

Local tenants enjoy the fourth-largest savings between what landlords charge and the cost of financing a home purchase.

So is it better to rent or buy in 2025? “People really need to speak with a real estate professional,” says Bill Kowalczuk, a broker with Coldwell Banker Warburg in New York City.

Since 2015, typical monthly costs associated with homeownership have increased about 140%. But in these five cities, it’s cheaper to own than to rent.

A for rent sign is posted on a building in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) “I come home and I’m living in a really nice house, “ Megan said.