Seems like your rent is pretty high as a comparison point. I quickly ran this through the model I have set up assuming a 420K purchase price. If you ignore the 80k down (I always do this because that money can earn interest in the bank), at a 5.75% 30 year fixed, your monthly payment including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance, and assuming $100 for HOA is a bit over $3,000. You get a tax deduction (assumed at 33%), but you’ll also have upkeep you won’t have on a rental (assumed at 300/mo.). Factoring this in, you are a bit under $2,600. Add to that the equity that you are paying down, and you are at about $2,100 a month.
From that perspective it’s a toss up. Most folks around here, though, will assume prices will continue to decline.
It comes down to what you think will happen to prices and rents in the upcoming years, and whether you are truly apples to apples on what you could rent for $2,000.
With the equity, your “all in cost” comparable to the $2,100 is a bit under $1,900, but I’d argue that is not a fair comparison.
