You've watched the new homes go up around the neighborhood. Maybe you've slowed down driving past one. And then you did the quick math in your head and figured there was no way.
Fair enough. A two-bedroom apartment in Franklinton runs around $1,800 a month. A new three-bedroom house is going to cost more than that, and nobody at Homes by Thrive is going to pretend otherwise.
But "more expensive" and "not worth it" aren't the same thing. So here are the real numbers, including the ones that don't flatter us.
Renting a 2BR here
$1,799/mo
Franklinton average. You'll never see a dollar of it again.
Buying on Hartford
$2,388/mo
$435,000 home, 20% down, 6.69% fixed, with the tax break applied.1,2
So buying runs roughly $600 more a month. Put down 5% instead of 20% and that gap widens to around $1,200, since you're borrowing more and paying mortgage insurance on top.
If the only thing you care about is what leaves your account on the first, renting wins. Easily. We're not going to argue that one.
The part that changes everything
Rent disappears. A mortgage doesn't.
Every dollar of rent you've ever paid is gone. That's not a knock on renting, it's just what renting is. A mortgage payment splits: some goes to interest, and some goes straight into something you own.
In your first year on Hartford, roughly $300 a month lands in your own pocket instead of someone else's. And that number climbs every single year you stay.
Five years in: what you'd have to show for it
Renting at $1,799/mo with 3% yearly increases, vs. buying a $435,000 home with 20% down at 6.69%
| Scenario | Total paid | Retained |
|---|---|---|
| Renting | $114,614 | $0 |
| Owning | $143,296 | $90,815 in equity |
Here's the honest version. Over five years, buying costs you close to $29,000 more out of pocket. What you get back is somewhere around $90,000 in equity on top of your down payment, assuming a modest 3% a year in appreciation. Net, that puts you roughly $60,000 ahead of where renting would have left you.3
That's the whole trade. Pay more now, keep more later.
And it only works if you stay put. If you think you'll be moving in a year or two, keep renting. We mean that. The first few years of a mortgage are mostly interest, and you'd spend more without getting far enough ahead to make it worth the trouble.
The tax break
This is the number doing the heavy lifting
Property taxes on a $435,000 home in this school district run about $7,500 a year. That's roughly $630 every month, and unlike your mortgage rate, it doesn't budge when the market does.4
Without a tax break, that alone would push your payment past $3,000 and we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. Homes on Hartford has a 15-year abatement, and it's the main reason the numbers above hold together. Columbus offers these in neighborhoods it wants to see grow, and Franklinton is one of them.
If you want to understand exactly how they work, we broke it all down in our guide to tax abatements.
What full property taxes would run on a $435,000 home here. Across the 15-year abatement, that's north of $110,000 you're not paying. This one holds steady no matter what rates do.
No surprises
Here's every dollar in that payment
| Line item | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Loan payment (principal & interest) | $2,243 |
| Homeowners insurance (estimate) | $145 |
| Mortgage insurance | $0 with 20% down |
| Property tax while abated | See note 2 |
| Roughly | $2,388 |
Putting 5% down instead? Your loan payment goes up, mortgage insurance gets added, and you land closer to $3,000 a month.
Your real numbers will look a little different. Rates move week to week, insurance depends on your carrier, and every buyer's situation has its own wrinkles. Think of this as the shape of it, not a quote. When you're ready for actual numbers, we'll run them on the day you ask.
Curious what this looks like with your numbers? We'll run a real estimate on a specific home using your rate and your down payment. No pressure, no obligation.
Come see them
The two homes we've been talking about
Homes on Hartford is on S. Hartford Avenue in East Franklinton, a mile west of the Scioto Peninsula and about five minutes from downtown. Both homes are finished. You could move in next month.
41 S. Hartford Avenue
$435,000
3 bed · 3.5 bath · 2,306 sq ft
Finished basement · 2-car garage
45 S. Hartford Avenue
$439,000
3 bed · 3.5 bath · 2,306 sq ft
Finished basement · 2-car garage
Both are the Summit plan, and the finished basement comes standard instead of costing you extra. Worth putting next to the monthly numbers: that's 2,306 square feet, against about 1,010 in the average Columbus two-bedroom apartment.5 You're not just paying more. You're getting more than twice the space.
A few things worth reading first
- How tax abatements actually work, in plain English
- What a preferred lender can save you at closing
- Every home we have ready to move into right now
- All of our Columbus communities, side by side
- Looking at other neighborhoods? There's Quarry Trails out by the Metro Park, and Jeffrey Park over in Italian Village
- Who we are and how we build
You're probably wondering
