Hey there, I’m the author. Bear in mind that rent is usually more expensive than a mortgage, because most landlords prefer to turn a profit and often/usually have their own mortgage to pay. Comparing one to the other is sort of comparing apples to oranges.
$1250 looks about in-line with CraigsList listings for STL for 3+ beds outside of the downtown area. Obviously this is an averaged value, and you’re always at the mercy of the contributors when the prices are crowdsourced-- an “acceptable” apartment might be $800/mo for one person, while the next could live in no less than a $1500/mo palace. With enough data points, you tend to arrive at a decent average. However, these kinds of things are why I offer the lifestyle setting, which adjusts the total budgets up and down by a multiplier to account for things that aren’t on the limited list of crowdsourced budget items, and to account for people’s personal lifestyles. I won’t go into all the nerdy details, but if you’re interested, the detailed budgeting methodology is in the FAQ. Hope you had a fun time playing around with it.
