Rent vs. Buy: The Real Louisiana Math

What five years of renting costs

Say your rent is $1,400/month and rises a modest 3% a year. Over five years you'll pay roughly $89,000 — and own exactly nothing at the end. That's not a criticism of renting; flexibility has genuine value. It's just the number nobody calculates.

What five years of owning costs

A comparable starter home might run a similar monthly payment once taxes and insurance are in — sometimes a bit more. The differences:

• Part of every payment comes back to you. Each month, some of your payment reduces your loan balance. That's forced savings you get back when you sell.
• Your biggest cost is frozen. A fixed-rate principal-and-interest payment never rises for 30 years. Your rent will never make that promise.
• Louisiana's homestead exemption shields a chunk of your home's value from property tax for owner-occupants, keeping that line item friendlier than in most states.

The honest asterisks

Owning has real costs renting doesn't, and pretending otherwise helps no one:

• Insurance. This is the big one in south Louisiana. Homeowners insurance here costs meaningfully more than the national norm, and flood insurance may be required depending on the zone. Budget for it honestly — our calculator has a dedicated insurance field for exactly this reason.
• Maintenance. A common rule of thumb is setting aside about 1% of the home's value per year. When the AC dies in a Louisiana August, that's your problem now — and your fund's job.
• Transaction costs. Buying and selling both cost money, which is why owning tends to win only if you stay put roughly 4–5+ years.

So which wins?

The genuinely honest answer: renting wins if you might move within a few years; buying tends to win if you're staying. The longer you stay, the more the frozen payment and the equity snowball tilt the math your way. The mistake isn't choosing either one — it's renting for a decade by default without ever running your numbers.