> I have to subtract from that about 3% for interest, 2.5% in property tax, 1% for maintenance. You need to subtract those anyway, as they are baked in to your

> I have to subtract from that about 3% for interest, 2.5% in property tax, 1% for maintenance. You need to subtract those anyway, as they are baked in to your rent payment, though the interest will depend on the landlord's circumstances. A note on property tax, though, which will complicate the comparison even more than my sibling commenter already has: Home values are reassessed in Texas every three years, not annually. This means your taxable value is locked in for three years, and the only way your bill can go up or down is if a taxing authority changes their rate. Additionally, in this period, a house appreciating at an average of 9% per year will appreciate at an average of 29.5% per assessment period. Texas homestead protection, which you can get and your landlord can't, limits the increase in taxable value per assessment to 10%. So, if you were renting that same property you would be eating a larger increase in rent every three years than the increase in property tax if you owned it yourself.