NY Times Rent Vs Buy in Excel

[liberty53]

Hi,

I created a spreadsheet version of the New York Times Rent Vs Buy Calculator. I think this can be helpful for a number of people, and want to get it out there.

Update: A completely macro/script free version has been created and is located here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AvZMbSUR3oz7OaopIwfPH8Gdic5ni2B7kBYBOXlnCIA/edit?usp=sharing

There have been some minor updates as well, so recommend downloading the google docs version!

There are a few minor differences between the online calculator and the spreadsheet - the online calculator calculates a monthly rent at break-even for the house purchase, the spreadsheet lets you enter monthly rent directly.

The spreadsheet splits maintenance into maintenance and renovations costs.

The spreadsheet allows the capital gains tax to be changes.

I'm not sure if the rules allow excel files to attached - but I'm going to try and see what happens.

If you have some time, please provide feedback and I will try to incorporate it.

Thanks,


Edit: Updated URL

[ThreeCarbsNoGrains]

This is fantastic!  And very timely for me personally.  Thank you!

[leland]

Thanks for putting this together.

Question for you. Have you incorporated the new(ish) tax laws for SALT deductions, max deductible mortgage and the like? I took a quick glance at the formulas and didn't see anything there, but didn't dive deep into this. That's my main issue with most calculators that I find online is that very few have the max deduction.

Personally I also need the most help figuring that part of the purchase out to size the tax benefit. I think I'd benefit, but I'm a bit challenged at working out a range of how much. Alternatively if there's a good tax benefit calculator could run through that separately for an idea.

[MDM]

Alternatively if there's a good tax benefit calculator could run through that separately for an idea.

Whether or not it's "good" may vary from person to person, but the case study spreadsheet is at least somewhat comprehensive.

For those who dislike spreadsheets, see https://www.mortgagecalculator.org/calcs/1040-calculator.php.

[Pam]

Great spreadsheet!  One question - what is "Common Fee"?  Is that a HOA fee for common area maintenance?

Thanks!

Pam

[liberty53]

Great spreadsheet!  One question - what is "Common Fee"?  Is that a HOA fee for common area maintenance?

Thanks!

Pam

Yes - it is any HOA or other fee. The tax deductability of that fee is settable as well.

[liberty53]

Thanks for putting this together.

Question for you. Have you incorporated the new(ish) tax laws for SALT deductions, max deductible mortgage and the like? I took a quick glance at the formulas and didn't see anything there, but didn't dive deep into this. That's my main issue with most calculators that I find online is that very few have the max deduction.

Personally I also need the most help figuring that part of the purchase out to size the tax benefit. I think I'd benefit, but I'm a bit challenged at working out a range of how much. Alternatively if there's a good tax benefit calculator could run through that separately for an idea.

No - accounting for the $10K limit on SALT deductions hasn't been incorporated yet. Plan on doing that, but also find with the large standard deduction for the majority of cases there is not too much difference in outcome. There has also been a cap on mortgage interest. The change was to limit principal amounts from $1M => $750K for the interest deduction.