What's Better, Renting or Buying?

Whether buying or renting is better depends on your personal circumstances.

Several factors need to be considered, including the rent you pay, the price of the home you plan to purchase, the mortgage interest rate, how long you plan to remain in the home and other factors.

Here's a handy free calculator from Ginnie Mae that will help you decide whether renting or buying makes more sense financially for you. It's a great tool.

The default amount for property taxes is 1 percent. That is probably a little low for our part of the country. I suggest changing that variable to 1.25 percent or 1.5 percent for Massachusetts and from 1.5 percent to 2 percent for New Hampshire to get a more accurate calculation.