Renting vs Buying a Home: Real Life Financial Literacy and Life Skills

Have you heard people say that renting is throwing money away? Is that always true? This comprehensive high school financial literacy and life skills lesson helps students understand the costs of renting vs buying a home. This is crucial information that is often not taught in schools. Make sure your students are prepared for making real-life financial decisions down the road!

What's Included:

6 Page PDF:

Title Page/Teacher Instructions

Handout that explains parts of a mortgage: principal vs interest and a sample of an amortization schedule

Handout that explains about the costs of renting vs buying and which ones are "unrecoverable." 100% of your rent is unrecoverable, but there are very few other costs associated with renting. The interest of your mortgage, strata fees, HOA fees, property taxes, home insurance, closing costs, realtor fees, maintenance, repairs, and more are all unrecoverable costs of buying: these can add up quickly too!

2 Page Research Project: Students look for homes in their area to buy and rent and calculate which one is a better deal based on the information they have learned.

Bonus Handout that explores the nuance of the situation: for example, if people are good at saving or not (optional).

Grades to Use With:

This lesson is designed for high school students in regular or special education classrooms. The handouts are written at a simple reading level and the math skills required are using percents written as a decimal: for example, calculating 35% of your monthly income by multiplying your income by 0.35