great NYT rent vs buy calculator

[B]

This 'rent vs buy' calculator with charting is one of the best ones I've seen.

Now, I'm sure that some industry cheerleaders would claim that interest rates investment returns, and mortgage amortization work differently in Special Seattle. Appreciation-Unicorns fly down from the Equity-Rainbowland and make your property appreciate at >5% every year forever.

But I'm trying hard to make the numbers work for me, including a generous downpayment of >20% on an average 2br/1ba place in a whitebread Seattle neighborhood.

The only real way I can make this break even in a reasonable timeframe is to assume a constant 6% appreciation of a house, alongside a constant 4% yearly increase in rents. Do these parameters sound reasonable?

[george]

[EastSider]

[RedHotLama]