Rent vs Sell Calculator: Should You Rent Out Your House or Sell It?
You're trying to answer one question: does it cost less to sell this house now, or to rent it out and wait? This free calculator puts the two side by side using your real numbers and shows you which path comes out ahead, and by how much.
Should you rent it out or sell it?
Put in your own numbers. This tool shows what you would walk away with if you sell today, what a tenant would leave you each month if you rent, and which one puts you ahead. Open the advanced inputs for taxes and a multi-year look.
If you sell today
If you rent it out
These add taxes and a multi-year picture. Every one has a sensible default, so change only what you know.
See your results
Tell us where to send them. We will email you a copy along with a short, honest read on your options for this property. No spam, and we never sell your information.
These are estimates to help you weigh your options, not tax or investment advice. The multi-year numbers assume steady appreciation and rents, which real markets do not follow. Capital gains rules have limits and exceptions this tool does not cover. Talk with a property manager and your CPA before you decide.
How the Calculator Compares Your Two Paths
The tool runs both scenarios with your numbers.
The sell path starts with your net at closing: your realistic sale price, minus your loan payoff, minus selling costs. For a lot of San Antonio owners right now, that number is negative. That's the loss you'd lock in by selling. The calculator then assumes you invest whatever you walk away with and lets it grow over your hold period.
The rent path simulates owning the home as a rental month by month: rent coming in, then vacancy, management, maintenance, taxes, insurance, and your mortgage going out, with your loan balance dropping as principal gets paid down. At the end of the hold period, it assumes you sell and counts what you'd net then.
If the rent doesn't cover everything each month, you're paying out of pocket to keep the house. Owners in this spot are often called accidental landlords, and there are more of them than you might think. Zillow research from late 2025 found that 2.3% of homes listed for rent nationwide had recently been listed for sale, and San Antonio ranked fourth in the country at 3.9%.
The winner-and-difference number is a starting point, and the assumptions matter, so check the defaults against your actual costs. The decision also rests on a few things a calculator can't measure. That's what the rest of this page covers.
The Honest Comparison: Lock In the Loss or Pay to Wait
Say selling today means a $25,000 loss at closing. Renting the house out at a $300 monthly gap costs you $3,600 a year. On those numbers alone, you could hold the house for almost seven years before the monthly losses match the loss you'd take at the closing table today.
But the hold side of the ledger has more going on than the monthly gap:
Your tenant pays down your loan. Part of every mortgage payment goes to principal. If that's $400 a month, your payoff drops by roughly $4,800 a year, which shrinks your loss at closing every year you hold.
You keep the option to sell in a better market. Holding turns a forced sale into a choice about timing.
The tax code helps landlords. Mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, management fees, and repairs are generally deductible against rental income, and depreciation often creates a paper loss on top of that. A CPA can tell you what that's worth in your bracket.
And the sell side has real advantages too:
The bleeding stops on day one. No vacancies, no 2 a.m. maintenance calls, no tax protest deadlines.
A loss today can beat a bigger loss tomorrow. If rents in your area keep falling or a major repair is coming due, waiting can cost more than the closing table.
Your money and attention get freed up. A monthly subsidy you can technically afford still has a cost somewhere else in your life.
Why So Many San Antonio Owners Face This Right Now
A few forces stacked up at once. Interest rates are high while inventory is also high, which rarely happens together, so sellers aren't getting the prices they hoped for. Property taxes are heavy since Texas funds itself without an income tax, and if you moved out and lost your homestead exemption, your tax bill likely jumped. Insurance premiums have surged, and some owners struggle to find coverage at all. Meanwhile rents have softened and homes are taking longer to lease as more rentals compete for tenants.
That's the squeeze: hard to sell without a loss, hard to rent for enough to cover the payment. You can see current rent and leasing trends in our San Antonio Rental Market Report, which we update monthly.
If You Rent It Out, Get These Right
The gap between owners who make renting work and owners who bleed out usually comes down to four decisions:
Price to the market, from day one. Every month vacant costs you the full rent plus the mortgage you're covering alone. Holding out for $100 more p8er month while the house sits two extra months takes years to earn back. Price against homes that actually leased, not asking prices on listings still sitting. Our Vacancy Cost Calculator shows you exactly what an empty month costs and lets you test whether a lower rent that leases faster comes out ahead.
Fund reserves before you feel rich. Common rules of thumb: budget about 1% of the property's value per year for maintenance, or about $1 per square foot. Check the age of your HVAC, water heater, and roof, and start saving for the oldest one now.
Carry the right insurance. A homeowner policy usually doesn't cover a tenant-occupied home. You need a landlord policy, and in Texas it pays to shop it every renewal.
Protest your property taxes every spring. You can protest your appraised value each year with your county appraisal district. Many owners never do.
Each of these has its own guide in our owner resources, and our team handles all four for the owners we work with.
FAQs
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Compare the loss or gain you'd take selling today against the yearly cost of holding it as a rental, minus the principal your tenant pays down for you. Then weigh reserves, upcoming repairs, and your own bandwidth. The calculator above runs that comparison with your numbers.
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You're not automatically stuck, and you're far from alone. A monthly gap can still beat locking in a large loss at closing, especially while principal paydown shrinks your payoff. The gap needs to be one you can carry without stress, with reserves behind it and a date on the calendar when you'll rerun the numbers.
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It depends on which number is bigger: the loss you'd lock in selling now, or the realistic yearly cost of holding while you wait. Falling rents cut both ways, since they widen your monthly gap but also mean overpricing your rental gets punished faster. There's no universal answer, which is why we built the calculator.
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What similar homes near you actually leased for in the last 60 to 90 days, not what listings are asking. Asking prices in a soft market are wish lists. Our free rental analysis pulls comparable leases from your neighborhood and sends you an estimate with a realistic range.
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If you sell for less than you paid, there's generally no capital gains tax to worry about. If you have a gain and you lived in the home for at least two of the five years before selling, you may be able to exclude a large portion of it. The rules get specific, especially after a home has been a rental, so confirm your situation with a CPA.
Get a Second Set of Eyes on Your Numbers
We manage rental homes across San Antonio, and we have this conversation with owners every week. Sometimes we tell people to rent. Sometimes we tell them to sell, even though that means no management fee for us. If you want a straight answer on your rent number, your holding costs, and which path fits your situation, reach out for a free rental analysis. And if selling turns out to be your answer, our real estate team can walk you through that side too.