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Move to a new home

Last updated October 18, 2026

Enter a new home you might buy this year. The tool runs every way of handling the properties you already own, selling, renting out or keeping each one, against not moving, and ranks them by the monthly paycheck each leaves you.

The new home becomes your main home in the plan. Its mortgage payment, property tax, insurance, HOA dues and upkeep are its monthly cost.

Property tax starts as an estimate: the price times your state's average rate (Tax Foundation, 2024, from Census data). That average includes owners who bought long ago. Where assessments are capped until a sale, as in California and Florida, a buyer pays more, so the estimate runs low there. The listing's tax history is the better figure.

A property you sell is sold this year at the price you expect, which starts at its current value. Selling costs (6% unless you change them), the mortgage payoff and the tax come off first; only your current main home gets the home-sale exclusion. The tax uses the real federal brackets (0%, 15% and 20%) and the 3.8% net investment income tax, with all of this year's sales taxed together and, if you are still working, on top of your salary. Click a row to see each sale itemised.

What your sales free pays the closing costs, and the rest goes into the down payment. Where that is under 20% of the price, the row takes just enough from your cash and taxable investments to reach 20%, up to the extra from savings you allow. A row whose sales already reach 20% takes nothing. So each row has its own down payment and borrows the rest. Sale money beyond the price goes into your savings.

A row whose down payment is under 20% of the price says how much more it needs. Below that, a lender usually requires mortgage insurance, which the plan does not charge.

Closing costs start at 3.5% of the price, the middle of the 2% to 5% the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gives. The interest rate starts at Freddie Mac's average for a 30-year fixed loan, checked daily for the latest week. Use your lender's Loan Estimate when you have one.

Your main home's sale is tax-free up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 married filing jointly) whether or not you buy again; gain above that is taxed even if it goes into the new home. A rental sold to buy a home you live in is taxed, because a 1031 exchange only defers tax into another investment property.

A property you rent out earns the rent you enter, after its own expenses. A property you keep stays as it is, costs and all.

Before you retire, a higher housing cost means you save less each year, and a lower one means you save more. From retirement, housing costs are part of your spending, as everywhere else in your plan.

"Down payment", "Mortgage payment" and "Housing cost change" are exact. The paycheck and chance of success are simulated, like every other Compare tool. Click a row to see your savings by age, against not moving.