Cape Coral real estate Rent vs Buy Guide
Should you buy or should you rent? While our Cape Coral real estate office does not specifically handle rentals in Cape Coral we are familiar with rental rates and availability of rentals available in Cape Coral.
Just as a sampling I searched for available single family homes in SW Cape Coral (actually 33914 zip code). Only 21 came up in our local MLS. Of course not all owners & property managers use the MLS but a majority do. The rates ranged from one at $900 a month and the others started at $1,100 and went up from there. These were simple 3 bedroom houses, some with pools and a couple on the water. The ones on the water were over $2,000 upwards to $2,800. The average rental rate in SW Cape Coral (for a 3/2 single family home in 33914 zip code) ranged from $1500-1700/month.
If you can possibly buy now you will save money. In this current market you can still buy 3 bedroom homes in SW Cape Coral for under $150,000. Let’s quickly assume you were going to obtain a 3.5% down FHA loan. The scenario would look something like this:
Purchase Price: $150,000
Down payment required: $5,250
Ask seller to pay up to 3% of your closing costs: $4,500 credit given towards closing costs
Possible interest rate: 5%
Loan Amount: $144,750
30 year loan
Insurance: $1,200/year (guestimates)
Taxes: $1,500/year (guestimates)
Your total monthly mortgage payment would be: $773.00 plus $118.00 for PMI
If you escrow in (usually required) your taxes & insurance that would be a total of $1116.00 per month.
Over a 5 year period that is a savings of $23,040.00 in payments alone (comparing $1,500 a month in rent) (90,000-$66,960)
If you figure even a 3% value increase each year you’d earn an additional $22,000 making the total savings (without factoring in repairs/maintenance) $45,040.00
You own your own home and have the security of knowing you are the one in the driver’s seat. Sure, you’ll need to make sure you have money in savings in case something needs repaired on your Cape Coral house.
Ready to start your search for your new Cape Coral home? You can do that here: Search Cape Coral homes for sale. You can also call us at the office at 239-542-8521 or email inquiry@floridafutureagents.com to get started! We look forward to hearing from you!