We’re 58, retiring early, and moving to a pricier US city to be near our kids. Should we sell our house and invest to cover $1,900/month in rent or is buying still the best move long term?

Should you rent or buy?

Many seniors today are choosing to age in place because there’s a shortage of homes for sale and prices are high.

Although they may have a lot of equity in their homes, they may still not have enough cash to facilitate moving and financing a new home. In this case, the couple plans to use the proceeds from the sale of their home either as a down payment for a new home or to help pay for rent over time.

There are costs to preparing, vacating, selling and closing a home. Staging, concessions, commissions, taxes and attorney fees can all add up to 10% to 15% of the selling price. Using Zillow’s home sale proceeds calculator with default expenses, our couple will be left with about $317,000 to work with.

If they invest the proceeds and use the 4% rule, they can withdraw $12,680 per year or $1,056 per month to use toward rent, with the rest coming initially from investment income and then Social Security.

Using this rule, they expect the money to last about 30 years, which should be adequate, as the average life expectancy in the U.S. is about 22 years for a 58-year-old male and 26 years for a 58-year-old female.

Of course, many people live longer and not everyone is able to age in place, meaning the couple may need to change their living arrangements at some point. Still, it’s a reasonable estimate of how long at least one of them will need to rent.

If they buy a house, they plan to use savings for the closing costs, which typically range from 2% to 5%, so they’ll have the entire $317,000 for the down payment. According to the Realtor.com rent or buy calculator, renting at $1,900 a month or buying a $500,000 house with a down payment of $317,000, shows — using the calculator defaults for Fort Lauderdale — that buying becomes cheaper than renting after 11 years.

Since this is much shorter than the time they expect to live in their new location, it makes financial sense for the couple to buy rather than rent for this move.

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Non-financial considerations for a move

There are also considerations beyond financial ones in the ‘buy vs. rent’ decision. Living in an apartment can make it easier to move, although there may be fees to break a lease.

This is an important factor when moving to a new city — especially if you’re moving to be closer to your kids. As you spend time in the new location, you may discover that you don’t like living there or that a different area of town would suit you better. It may also turn out that your kids move away for work or other reasons, and then you’ll need to decide whether to follow them.

Apartment living can also come with fewer extra costs. You won’t have to pay property taxes or maintenance costs, and you may pay less for insurance. Some rentals even include part or all of your utilities. Many retirees find they enjoy not having to do their own maintenance or yard work as they get older and, depending on the building, find it comforting to have better security and potentially even a concierge.

On the other hand, apartments can mean less freedom to personalize your space and you may have to deal with noise from neighbors. If you’re moving from a house to an apartment, your move is also likely to result in significant downsizing, which may be difficult as you sort through a lifetime of keepsakes and belongings — deciding what to take and what to toss.

In contrast, buying a house allows you to build equity and may have tax advantages. And if the house is large enough, you may even be able to use it to generate rental income. You can still have noisy or annoying neighbors, but it could be easier to build lasting friendships because people often stay in homes they own longer than they stay in rentals.

More and more people will be facing the decision of where to spend their retirement. When it comes to rent vs. buy, it’s important to think through all the pros and cons — both financial and non-financial.