Conho – In my circumstance in 1996 it was about 10-15% more (monthly) to purchase with 5% down versus rent. I ultimately ended up renting the house out in 2000 for break even back then. In that case it probably took about 3-4 years to make owning cheaper than renting.
I like your approach to consider how many years to own before owning beats renting. Good rule-of-thumb.
