---
title: "Lease or buy | PCA"
url: "https://newphoenixcommercialadvisors.com/tools/lease-vs-buy/"
description: "Compare the cash to lease a retail space with the cash to buy a small building, year by year, before tax. Illustrative only."
publisher: "Phoenix Commercial Advisors"
generated: "11/10/2026"
---

# Lease or buy

For an owner-user: the cash to lease a retail space, set beside the cash to buy a small building, year by year, before tax.

**Illustrative figures only, before tax. This is not tax, legal or investment advice. Talk with your own advisors before you decide.**

What you type stays in the browser. The page does not store it.

## What you can enter

- Lease: size in square feet, base rent per square foot per year or per month, an annual increase, and NNN charges per square foot per year.
- Buy: price, down payment in dollars, interest rate, amortization, closing costs as a percent of price, and owner operating costs per year.
- A horizon in whole years, from 1 to 40.

## What you get

- Cash at closing (down payment plus closing costs).
- Each year: lease cash, buy cash (debt service plus operating costs), the two running totals, and the loan balance.
- At the end: the loan balance and the principal repaid. If the price does not change, equity in the building is the price minus that balance.
- Which path pays less cash. That is a fact about the cash, not a recommendation.

## Assumptions

- **NNN stays flat.** NNN charges are dollars per square foot per year and do not step up.
- **Operating costs stay flat.** Owner operating costs are one annual dollar amount and do not step up.
- **Closing costs are cash.** Closing costs are a percent of price, paid in cash at closing. They are not added to the loan.
- **Price is held still.** The comparison does not change the building's price over the horizon.
- **No deposit.** The lease starts at year-1 rent. There is no deposit and no free rent unless you type a zero rent.
- **Cash is not the building.** Cash out ignores the building owned at the end. Principal repaid is shown beside it, not netted against it.

## Where to go next

- Retail leasing team: https://newphoenixcommercialadvisors.com/services/tenant-representation/
- Landlord representation: https://newphoenixcommercialadvisors.com/services/landlord-representation/
- Investment Studio, for an investor running a net lease: https://newphoenixcommercialadvisors.com/tools/investment-studio/