Condo FIRE Calculator
See how condo ownership costs extend your path to financial independence — and what happens if you rent and invest the difference instead.
Your Finances
Condo Costs
Your FIRE Comparison
Where each path stands after 25 years
Rent & invest
Own the condo
Total Net Worth: Rent & Invest vs. Own
25-Year Comparison
| Year | Condo Cost | Rent Cost | Difference | Portfolio (Rent) | Portfolio (Own) | Net Equity | Net Worth (Own) |
|---|
How this is calculated
- Two different questions, two different numbers. Total net worth includes the condo's net equity, so it answers "which path leaves me richer?". Investable portfolio excludes it, because that is the number that sets your FIRE date — you cannot withdraw 4% a year from the condo you live in.
- The down payment is real money. It comes out of Current Savings, so the owner starts with a smaller portfolio and the renter keeps theirs invested. If the down payment exceeds Current Savings, the owner starts at zero and the shortfall is flagged.
- The mortgage is amortised, not assumed. Principal and interest are computed from price, down payment, rate and term. Principal paydown builds equity, and the payment stops at the end of the term — which sharply lowers the owner's FIRE number in later years.
- Costs grow at different rates. HOA fees and special assessments grow at the HOA rate; property tax and insurance grow at general inflation; rent grows at the rent rate. Nothing is frozen in nominal terms.
- Equity is shown net of selling costs, because paper equity is not spendable equity.
- Neither path is credited with a tax deduction. Since 2018 the great majority of filers take the standard deduction, so mortgage interest is not deductible in practice for most owners. If it is for you, the owning side is understated.
- What is not modelled: maintenance inside the unit, PMI below 20% down, moving costs, the risk of a non-warrantable building losing conventional financing, and the possibility of an assessment far larger than the annual figure entered.
Accelerate your path to financial independence
The W-2 Trap maps 80+ exit strategies from wage dependency. The Condo Trap reveals every hidden cost before you buy. Together, they give you the complete FIRE playbook.
Frequently Asked Questions
HOA fees reduce your monthly savings rate, which is the single biggest factor in reaching FIRE, and they compound. A $450/month fee rising 6% a year reaches about $760/month by year 10 and $1,362/month by year 20, totalling roughly $296,000 over 25 years — none of which builds equity. In the calculator's default case that carrying cost is the main reason the owning path does not reach financial independence within 40 years while the renting path does. Put your own numbers in; the answer moves a great deal.
Toward net worth, yes. Toward your FIRE date, mostly no. Financial independence is funded by withdrawals from liquid assets, and you cannot withdraw 4% a year from the condo you live in. Home equity becomes spendable only if you sell and rent, sell and buy something cheaper, or borrow against it — and borrowing adds a payment rather than removing one. That is why this calculator reports two separate figures: total net worth, which includes your equity, and investable portfolio, which is the number that actually sets your FIRE date.
In most scenarios modeled here, renting a comparable unit and investing the difference reaches FIRE sooner, because the FIRE date is driven by liquid portfolio rather than net worth. On total net worth the answer depends almost entirely on appreciation: the calculator shows the exact appreciation rate your condo would need to break even, so you can compare it against what condos in your market have actually done.
Special assessments are lump-sum costs that drain your investment portfolio, and the loss is larger than the cheque: a $10,000 assessment also costs every dollar that $10,000 would have earned. The calculator takes an annualised figure and grows it at your HOA rate, on the reasoning that an assessment funds the same building reserves the monthly fee does. In the default case, entering $2,000/year rather than zero lowers the owning path's 25-year net worth by about $241,000 — most of which is forgone compounding rather than the assessments themselves.
To reach FIRE in 15-20 years, you typically need a 40-60% savings rate. Condo carrying costs (HOA, insurance, taxes, assessments) can consume 15-25% of gross income on top of the mortgage, making high savings rates extremely difficult. If your total condo costs exceed comparable rent by $500-1,000+/month, you may need to earn significantly more to maintain the same FIRE timeline.
Yes, in two ways. Condo owners must fund carrying costs — HOA fees, insurance, taxes — that historically rise faster than general inflation, so the FIRE number must be higher to sustain them. But the mortgage itself ends: once the loan is paid off, the owner's required spending drops sharply, and this calculator models that payoff rather than running the payment forever. Renters keep paying rent for life, but retain the flexibility to relocate to a cheaper market.