Let’s take a house that rents for 2000/month. I’ll use 6.25% 30-year fixed rates. 10% down loans can be obtained from FHA, you’d pay a little extra in closing costs and you’d have to pay 0.5%/year in mortgage insurance, but they do exist. (So I’m told)
It probably does not cash-flow as a rental property above 250k. (I’m too lazy to do the math and I don’t have a rental cash flow calculator handy)
At 285k, you can buy it with 10% down and PITI would be equal to rent.
If you view money you pay towards principal as “forced savings”, and you include tax benefits, owning starts making sense somewhere in 370-430k range, depending on your tax situation.
If you can afford to put 20% down, mortgage insurance goes away; even assuming 5% forgone interest on your down payment, you can justify buying the house as high as 475k.
