Sell or Keep the House?
Stay in the house or sell it and rent: which leaves more after some years? Every piece below can be linked to, so it opens in a window on your reader's screen, current as of the record. No form to fill in.
2026 law · Reviewed September 7, 2026 · The full page, with methodology and sources · the terms · All tools
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The house's value, cost, and carrying costs, appreciation, rent, the return on proceeds, and the years in; the two paths drawn as lines and the position at the end of each out. In a frame it carries no cookies, no tracking, and a visible link back to the methodology. Your site has to allow frames; most do. The link that opens it in a small window is on the professionals page.
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- In plain words.
- A paid-off house still costs money every year in taxes, insurance, and repairs, and the money tied up in it earns nothing you can spend. Selling costs several percent at closing, maybe some tax on the profit, and then rent every year, but the money from the sale can be invested. This tool runs both paths forward for as many years as you choose and shows what you would have at the end of each.
- Why it matters.
- It is the largest financial decision of many retirements, and it is usually made on feeling. A number for the money side lets the feeling be weighed against something.
- An example.
- A paid-off $800,000 house costing $20,000 a year to carry and rising 3 percent a year, against selling for about $752,000 after costs, investing at 5 percent, and paying $36,000 a year in rent: after ten years, keeping leaves about $811,000 and selling about $749,000.
- Where it stops.
- Every input is an assumption, and the appreciation, the return, and the rent decide the answer. It ignores income tax on the investment returns, moving costs, and the possibility that either the house or the market does something unexpected. The reason to stay or go is often not in the arithmetic at all.
The facts
Six quotable sentences on staying or selling.
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- Staying in a paid-off house is not free: property tax, insurance, and upkeep run two to three percent of its value a year for many homes, and the equity earns nothing you can spend. Selling is not free either: the transaction costs several percent, any gain above the exclusion is taxed, and rent replaces the carrying costs.
- The fair comparison is over time: what you would have after some years if you kept the house (its equity, less the carrying costs you paid, at what that money could have earned) against what you would have if you sold (the proceeds invested, less the rent you paid).
- Example: a paid-off $800,000 house costing $20,000 a year to carry and appreciating 3 percent, against selling for $752,000 after costs, investing at 5 percent, and paying $36,000 a year in rent. After ten years, keeping leaves about $810,997 and selling about $749,484.
- The answer turns on three assumptions more than any other: the appreciation rate on the house, the return on the freed equity, and the rent. Small changes in each swing the result, which is why the tool shows all three.
- The tax on the sale is often zero: a couple excludes the first five hundred thousand of gain, a single person half that, and the tool applies the exclusion before the gains rate.
- The number that is not in the arithmetic is the one people decide on: the house is where they live. The tool prices the money side so the other side can be weighed against a figure rather than a fear.
Ten years on, by appreciation
How the answer moves with one assumption.
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| House appreciation | Kept: position after 10 years | Sold: position after 10 years | Keeping ahead by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2% | $711,060 | $749,484 | $-38,425 |
| 3% | $810,997 | $749,484 | $61,513 |
| 4% | $920,060 | $749,484 | $170,575 |
| 5% | $1,038,980 | $749,484 | $289,496 |
Cite and link.
The clean address, a citation generated from the record so it can never carry a stale review date, and an address for every section so you can point a reader at the exact table or method.
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- Link
- https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house
- Citation
- Considerate Capital, "Sell or Keep the House?," reviewed September 7, 2026, https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house.
Link to a section
- The calculator https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house#calculator
- The facts https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house#facts
- Ten years on https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house#key-numbers
- How the comparison works https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house#how-it-works
- Methodology https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house#methodology
- Revision history https://consideratecapital.com/tools/sell-or-keep-the-house#revision-history
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