Across the country, apartment rental rates are falling and vacancies are rising, making renting an appealing alternative to buying. But there are a number of factors to consider besides costs.

Typically, the choice of renting versus buying is seen in financial terms, and tools like the Rent vs. Buy calculator can shed light on the financial tradeoffs. But unless the cost difference is extreme, the decision may hinge on issues that are harder to measure but no less important.

Renting is a short-term commitment, typically 12 months, sometimes only one. If the place proves unsatisfactory, you can move fairly soon.

Obviously, buying is a bigger commitment, perhaps a bigger commitment today than it was a few years ago, since home prices are not rising. It can easily take 10 or 15 percent appreciation to offset the various costs involved in buying and selling a property: title insurance, lawyer’s fees, mortgage application fees and points, realtor’s commission.

In good times, a home’s value will grow enough in three or four years to cover these costs, and home ownership does make financial sense over the long term. But today it might be smart to assume you won’t break even until you’ve had a home for seven, eight, even 10 years.

That could be a problem if you lose your job, want to move for a better one, or need to trade up because you get married or have children. For many people, the option of getting out quickly is, by itself, enough reason to choose renting over buying.

The short-term commitment of renting also means you can look at properties you might never consider buying. You might find a place that’s convenient to work but doesn’t have very good schools. For buyers, school quality matters, even if they don’t have children, because it affects property values. A renter without children can ignore this issue.