The council recommends
On: "Should I buy a house or rent?"
Top pick
Rent Now and Invest the Difference
Renting is the superior immediate decision unless you plan to remain in the home for at least 5 to 7 years. Purchasing carries significant upfront closing costs, illiquidity, and maintenance burdens in current high-rate environments. Renting while aggressively investing your excess savings into broad-market index funds preserves flexibility and capital.
Runner-up
Buy a primary home only if you have a 20% down payment, an emergency fund, and a guaranteed 7+ year horizon.
Wildcard
Rent your primary residence for lifestyle flexibility while house-hacking a small multi-family rental property.
Best time
Rent for the next 12 months, tracking local price-to-rent ratios and mortgage rates quarterly.
88%
aligned
All experts unanimously recommend renting in the near term absent specific long-term financial commitments.
Where they agree
✓Renting is the safer default choice when local finances and timeline are unknown.
✓Buying requires a multi-year horizon (5 to 7+ years) to overcome heavy transaction costs.
✓Purchasing real estate carries high non-recoverable costs like maintenance, taxes, and interest.
Where they diverge
↔Minimum required time horizon varies between 5 years and 7 years across models.
↔One model explicitly recommends investing the rent-versus-buy cost difference into index funds.
↔Confidence levels vary widely from 45% (skeptical of missing data) to 75% (strongly pro-renting).
The 3 takes
GPT-5.6 TerraLens · risk & commitment horizon
Rent for the next 12 months unless committed to staying at least 7 years with intact reserves.
72% confident
Claude Sonnet 5Lens · financial readiness & metrics
Default to renting unless holding for 5+ years with a strong down payment and healthy local metrics.
45% confident
Gemini 3.7 FlashLens · opportunity cost & liquidity
Rent immediately and invest surplus cash into diversified low-cost equity index funds.
75% confident
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Synthesized from 3 independent expert passes. Treat as informed input, not a guarantee — your own judgment is the final vote.