Should you house hack a duplex, buy a single-family home, or keep renting and invest the difference? This tool projects five years of net worth across all three paths using identical assumptions.
House Hack Monthly Cost
$1,654
PITIA $3,054 − rent
Buy SFH Monthly Cost
$2,691
full PITIA
Keep Renting
$1,600
grows with rent growth
Visual wealth accumulation comparison after 5 years of holding
| Year | House Hack (Duplex) | Buy Single-Family | Keep Renting & Investing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | -$382,763 | -$334,917 | $26,459 |
| Year 2 | -$394,750 | -$345,406 | $40,953 |
| Year 3 | -$408,062 | -$357,054 | $55,730 |
| Year 4 | -$422,805 | -$369,955 | $70,791 |
| Year 5 | -$439,095 | -$384,208 | $86,134 |
Projections assume: equity = appreciated value minus remaining loan balance; the renter invests the same down payment plus the monthly difference between owning and renting at your assumed return. Excludes transaction costs, maintenance, and taxes — real-world results vary.
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Formulas reviewed by Toheeb Ekundayo · September 12, 2026
The engine models three parallel futures using identical inputs, so the comparison is apples-to-apples. Each path’s net worth is tracked annually for five years.
You buy the duplex with the entered down payment and live in one unit. Your monthly cost is the full PITIA minus the rent from the other unit. Net worth grows through two channels: appreciation (value × (1 + appreciation rate)ⁿ) and amortization (the loan balance shrinking as tenants and you pay it down). Because the tenant subsidizes the payment, house hacking typically builds equity faster per dollar of personal cash outflow than any other path.
Same mechanics, but 100% of the payment comes from your pocket. The equity build is real but the monthly burn is higher, which is exactly what the side-by-side table exposes.
The renter invests the same down payment at your assumed return, plus each month’s difference between the cost of owning the single-family and the current rent (which grows at your rent-growth assumption). This is the financially rigorous version of “renting is throwing money away.” Sometimes it is, and sometimes the invested difference compounds faster than home equity.
Balance(m) = Loan × [ (1+r)ⁿ − (1+r)ᵐ ] ÷ [ (1+r)ⁿ − 1 ]
where m is the number of months elapsed. This is the standard closed-form remaining balance on an amortizing loan.
A $400,000 duplex (3.5% down, 6.75%, $1,400 rent from unit 2) versus a $350,000 single-family versus renting at $1,600: the house hack costs roughly $1,700 a month out of pocket, the single-family about $2,600, and renting $1,600. After five years at 3% appreciation, the house hack’s equity is roughly $95,000, the single-family’s about $83,000, and the renter’s invested portfolio lands between $60,000 and $90,000 depending on the assumed return. The house hack wins on net worth and has the lowest monthly cost, which is why it is the default first move for most aspiring investors.
Treat the output as a directional comparison, not a guarantee. Adjust appreciation and rent growth to stress-test pessimistic scenarios before committing. When you are ready to finance, the FHA vs. Conventional 97 comparison explains which low-down-payment program fits.
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