My husband and I were looking through BYU-Idaho’s school paper and there was an article that discussed renting vs. buying. The way the article was written out it appeared that buying a house would actually be cheaper per month than renting. My husband made the observation that they were not including everything such as property taxes.

I decided to research the true cost of renting versus buying a house in Rexburg, Idaho.

Here is what I found out:

  • The average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is $550
  • The average 2 bedroom house is $115,000
  • The annual property tax rate 0.8%
  •  The average interest rate is 6%

Using a calculator from this real estate website that calculates home appreciation, down payment and term lenghth as well as the above costs mentioned I was able to calculate that putting 10% down on a 30 year term would result in the monthly cost of renting would be $579 while owning would be $678. So it would be about $100 a month more to own but well worth the investment if you are able to afford the down payment and have a steady income.


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Posted by Melissa
Dated: 29th October 2007
Filled Under: Finances