Field instrument · St. 09 · Rent or sell
It did not sell at your number. Rent it out, or sell it anyway?
The napkin version is rent minus mortgage. That number lies, because the tax bill, the insurance, the vacant month and the water heater all land on you. This runs both sides with your own costs in it: what the house nets per month as a rental, what a sale actually puts in your hand, and the break-even line on each. If the honest number is negative, it says so.
Run it
Your numbers. Blank fields count as zero. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
The corridor zips I carry rent data for. Pick the closest one and correct the rent if you know better.
Prefilled: $2,199 median asking rent, single-family, 76179. Source: RentCast single-family asking rent via SIGNAL, as of oct 4 2026.
If you rent it out
Principal and interest. If your payment includes escrow, you can enter the whole payment and leave tax and insurance blank, but renting usually raises both (the homestead exemption ends once you move for good, and a landlord policy costs more), so separate numbers at the rental rate are more honest.
Annual bill divided by 12, without the homestead exemption if you will lose it.
Ask for a landlord policy quote; it is usually not the same premium as the owner-occupied policy.
Zero if there is none.
Percent of the monthly rent (figured on full rent, so slightly conservative). Enter 0 if you will manage it yourself.
Percent of rent set aside for empty months. For scale: 76179 single-family rentals take a median 30 days to lease (RentCast single-family rental listings via SIGNAL, as of oct 4 2026).
Percent of rent set aside for repairs and turns.
If you sell it
The price a buyer will pay, not the one you listed at. For reference, the 76179 median list price is $356K and sale listings sit a median 40 days on market (RentCast single-family active listings via SIGNAL, as of oct 4 2026).
The payoff figure from your servicer, not the balance on the statement.
Percent of the sale price. Commissions are negotiable and not set by law; add title, closing and any buyer concessions you expect to give.
Counting as zero: mortgage payment, property tax, insurance, HOA, management, vacancy, maintenance.
Monthly net if rented
Enter an expected rent and at least one monthly cost to see this.
Cash in hand if sold
Enter a sale price to see this.
The break-even line
Estimates only, not financial, tax, or legal advice. The math uses your inputs and the percent allowances you chose; it leaves out appreciation, rent growth, depreciation, capital gains tax, and repairs beyond the maintenance allowance. The prefilled rent is a zip median, not a read on your street; verify it against live comps before deciding.
How to read the three figures
- 01
Monthly net if rented
Rent minus the mortgage payment, property tax, insurance and HOA, minus the percent allowances for management, vacancy and maintenance. At or above $150 a month it clears the allowances with a little room (my rule of thumb, the same line the PCS calculator uses). Between $0 and $149 it is thin: it works only if nothing breaks. Below $0 you are paying to hold.
- 02
Cash in hand if sold
Sale price minus the loan payoff minus selling costs at the percent you enter. That is the check at closing before any tax. It is not the equity figure a lender quotes; selling costs and the payoff come out first.
- 03
The break-even line
Two lines, one per side. Break-even rent is the rent at which the rental nets exactly zero. Break-even price is the sale price at which you walk away with zero. Your expected rent and your asking price land above or below those lines, and that is the whole comparison.
- 04
What this does not count
Appreciation, rent growth, depreciation, capital gains tax, and repairs beyond the maintenance allowance. Any of those can change the answer. A tool that guesses at them is guessing on your behalf, so this one does not.
The homestead exemption and a temporary move
In Texas a homestead exemption can survive a temporary absence of less than two years, as long as you intend to return and do not establish another principal residence in the meantime (Tax Code Section 11.13(l); military service has its own exception). Move out for good and rent the house to a tenant, and the exemption comes off. I wrote up the statute, the two-year rule and what it costs in 76179 here: what happens to my homestead exemption if I rent my house in Texas. That page and this one are a summary of the rule, not tax or legal advice. The appraisal district and your CPA have the final word on your situation.
Want a rent estimate on your house instead of the zip median? Text me the address at 817-420-0833. No form, no list.