Sell the house, or keep it and rent it out?
The move-up question nobody prices properly. Compare both paths side by side: what each puts toward the next home, what each costs monthly with your old house earning rent, and where your net wealth lands at 5 and 10 years.
Your current home
If it becomes a rental, who runs it?
The next move
Down payment if you sell
Assumptions
The trade, side by side
The classic trade: keeping costs ≈ $581/mo more now, and leaves you ≈ $236,717 ahead by year 10
Net position over ten years; dots mark the table's year 5 and 10
If you sell
If you keep & rent
Cash into the next home
$168,500 from the sale
$65,000 from savings
Next home payment (all-in)
$3,929/mo
$4,770/mo
Old house net rental income
—
+$259/mo
Your total monthly cost
$3,929/mo
$4,510/mo
Homes you own
1
2
Net position, year 5
$62,857
$180,361
Net position, year 10
-$22,744
$213,974
Under 20% down on the keep path adds mortgage insurance to the new payment; it drops off as equity builds. A bridge or HELOC against your current home can raise the down payment instead.
Net position counts home equity and invested balances minus cash deployed and net housing costs since the move, with values growing at your appreciation rate, rents at your rent-growth rate, taxes, insurance, and HOA dues tracking each home's value, and invested money compounding at your chosen return. Estimates from your inputs, not a quote, an appraisal, tax advice, or investment advice.
Numbers look good? Make them real.
These are honest ballparks built on national averages. Your real quote comes from lenders competing for your actual file, and getting it costs nothing.
Straight answers
Why would I keep my old house instead of selling it?
Usually because of the mortgage attached to it. If you locked a low rate years ago, that loan is an asset nobody will ever hand you again: the house may rent for more than it costs to carry, building equity in two properties while a tenant pays one of them down. The calculator prices exactly that trade, including what selling costs would have taken off the top.
Can I qualify for the new mortgage while keeping the old one?
Often, yes. Lenders typically count most of the expected rent on your old home toward your qualifying income, which offsets its mortgage payment, and DSCR options can refinance the old house based on its own rent with no effect on your personal ratios. This is exactly the kind of file a brokerage structures well, and we pre-check it before you write any offers.
Where does the down payment come from if I don't sell?
Three places: savings, a HELOC against your current home's equity, or a bridge loan, which can also defer payments until you decide the old home's fate. Part of the calculator's job is showing what down payment the keep path needs so you can price those options against selling.
What about taxes when I eventually sell the rental?
This is the one to take seriously. Selling a primary residence can exclude a large amount of gain from taxes, and converting the home to a rental for long enough can shrink or forfeit that exclusion, while adding depreciation recapture to the picture. It doesn't kill the keep path, but it belongs in the decision: run the numbers here, then put this exact question to your CPA before committing.
Am I really ready to be a landlord?
Honest answer: it's a part-time job or a management fee, and the calculator's vacancy-and-upkeep percentage exists so you price that reality instead of the fantasy. Some people love it. Some people hate it enough that a clean sale is worth real money. The math tells you what the choice costs; only you know what your weekends are worth.
Does this work for downsizing too?
Completely. Type a smaller next-home price and the same comparison runs: sale proceeds might buy the next home nearly outright, or keeping the bigger house as a rental might fund the smaller one's payment. Downsizers with paid-down mortgages often find the keep path surprisingly strong.
Two minutes. No obligation. Real numbers.
Whichever path wins, we finance it: the next home, the bridge, and the rental.
Guthix Lending • NMLS# 2672037 · Calculator results are estimates for illustration only, based on your inputs and national average rates. They are not a quote, a pre-approval, or a commitment to lend. Your actual rate, payment, and eligibility depend on your full application, credit, and property. Not all borrowers will qualify.