Homes MCP vs Exa MCP Server
A side-by-side look at the Homes MCP and Exa MCP Server MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Homes MCP for real estate work as a local process; choose Exa MCP Server for search & data extraction as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Homes MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Real Estate domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: other.
- You want tools like
homes_search_properties, homes_get_property, homes_calculate_mortgage.
Choose Exa MCP Server when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
web_search_exa, web_fetch_exa.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Real Estate | Search & Data Extraction |
| Quality signal | 63/100 · Good | 73/100 · Great |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | other | No auth required |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 5,162 |
| Directory activity | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 11 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 21 | 2 |
| Full listing | View Homes MCP | View Exa MCP Server |
Tools & capabilities
Homes MCP tools 21
homes_search_propertiesSearch homes.com listings by free-text location (city, ZIP, neighborhood). Optionally filter by property_type (single_family/condo/townhouse/land/mobile/multi_family), listing_type (for_sale/sold/for_rent/open_houses/new_construction), and sort (newest). Slugifies the location into homes.com's URL routing (e.g. 'Atlanta, GA' + condo + for_sale → /atlanta-ga/condos-for-sale/). Parses the embedded Schema.org JSON-LD to return each listing's address, price, beds/baths, sqft, primary photo, listing agent + brokerage, and the homes.com property URL. `location` is required and must contain Latin letters or digits — a blank or unsluggable location (e.g. only punctuation or non-Latin script) is rejected with an error rather than returning an empty result. KNOWN CAP: homes.com server-renders ~40 listings per page; the response carries `truncated: true` + `total_estimated` when the market has more. To enumerate a busy market, price-band or sub-area your search until each segment fits under the cap. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.homes_get_propertyFetch a property's full homes.com record. Pass `url` — the full property detail URL (e.g. from a homes_search_properties result's `url` field). Parses the page's Schema.org JSON-LD plus DOM-side sections to return address, lat/lng, beds/baths, sqft, year built, price, status, listing agent + brokerage, highlights, estimated monthly payment, total views, Matterport tour URL, floorplan URLs, schools, HOA fee, lot_size_sqft plus the derived lot_size_acres (round(lot_size_sqft / 43560, 2); both null — never 0 — for condos and listings with no lot), parking, heating/cooling, MLS ID/source, and date posted/modified. Also returns `extracted_features` (lake_front, hot_tub, basement, furnished, dock, community) derived server-side from the listing description so callers don't have to keyword-parse marketing prose. Pass `include_price_history: true` to inline the same data `homes_get_property_history` returns (`listing_events`, `ownership_events`, `lien_events`, `events_normalized`) under `price_history`. Pass `include_tax_history: true` to inline `homes_get_tax_history` records under `tax_history`. Both are off by default; opting in costs nothing extra over the dedicated tools (same page fetch). The raw `description` is omitted by default; pass `include_description: true` to opt back in. `listing_agent` carries name / job title / profile url only; pass `include_agent_contact: true` for the agent's telephone and email. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.homes_calculate_mortgageLocal-only mortgage payment calculator. Returns a full PITI breakdown (principal + interest, property tax, insurance, HOA, PMI) and total interest over the life of the loan. No network call — fully deterministic, safe to use for scenario comparison without burning a fetch. Provide either `down_payment` OR `down_payment_percent`; defaults to 20%. Property tax can be given as `property_tax_annual` or `property_tax_rate` (% of home price). PMI applies automatically when LTV > 80% and `pmi_rate` is provided.homes_compare_propertiesFetch 2 or more homes.com properties and align their facts side-by-side. Each target supplies a `url` — the full homes.com property URL (e.g. from a homes_search_properties result's `url` field). Returns the full per-property record (with server-side `extracted_features`, `hoa_monthly_usd`, `days_on_market`, `price_drop_*`, `lot_size_sqft` + the derived `lot_size_acres`, and `portal_url_hyperlink`). Per-target errors are captured per-row — one bad target will not fail the whole call: a failed row carries `status` = `error_kind` (`timeout` / `bridge_down` / `protocol` / `other`) plus `retryable` and `error`, and the envelope reports `count` / `ok` / `errored`. Calls are concurrent and bounded by an overall deadline: any row still unsettled comes back `status: "pending"` (retryable) with a top-level `pending` count — re-run just those targets. The raw `description` is omitted by default; pass `include_description: true` to keep the marketing prose. `listing_agent` omits the agent's telephone/email unless `include_agent_contact: true`. The cross-row `summary` table duplicates per-property fields (~30% of response weight); it is OPT-IN via `include_summary: true`.homes_calculate_affordabilitySolve for the maximum home price you can afford under the standard 28/36 DTI rule. Inputs: monthly income, recurring monthly debts (car loans, student loans, etc.), down payment, interest rate, and optional property-tax rate / insurance / HOA / loan term. Output: max home price, the binding constraint (front-end vs back-end), and the full PITI breakdown at that price. Same math across the realty MCP cohort (@chrischall/realty-core). No network — pure local math.homes_get_property_photosThe full photo gallery for a homes.com listing. homes.com's JSON-LD only exposes one primary image, so this tool scrapes every <img> tag on the property detail page and filters to the homes.com CDN. Pass `url` — the full homes.com property URL or path (e.g. from a homes_search_properties result's `url` field). Returns `{ property_id, url, count, photos: [{ url, position, alt? }] }`. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.homes_healthcheckRound-trips a small public www.homes.com URL (/robots.txt) through ContextMint Bridge (your signed-in browser tab) and returns diagnostics: the bridge's role (host/peer/null), port, version, the extension link (linked / pair pending / not attached / never answered), the elapsed round-trip time, and a plain-English hint distinguishing 'bridge never came up' from 'extension not connected' from 'this browser can't serve a capability' from 'real www.homes.com-side problem'. Read-only, no auth required. Call this when a real tool fails and you want to know which hop broke.homes_get_property_historyDEPRECATED — prefer `homes_get_history` (combined timelines + tax) or `homes_get_property({ url, include_price_history: true })`. Same data, fewer round trips. Will be removed in a future major version. Three timelines for a homes.com property in one call: `listing_events`, `ownership_events`, `lien_events`. Also returns `events_normalized` mapped onto the cross-MCP enum. Each `events_normalized` row is `{ date, type, price?, price_change_pct?, list_to_sale_pct? }` — `price_change_pct` only on `PriceChange` rows; every other row carries homes.com's "List to Sale" figure as `list_to_sale_pct` (e.g. the sale-to-list ratio on a `Sold` row), never as a price change.homes_get_tax_historyDEPRECATED — prefer `homes_get_history` (combined timelines + tax) or `homes_get_property({ url, include_tax_history: true })`. Same data, fewer round trips; note that `homes_get_history` returns the tax array as `tax_records` (not `records`). Will be removed in a future major version. Year-by-year property-tax records: tax paid, total assessed value, land/improvement split.homes_get_historyCombined history endpoint — replaces `homes_get_property_history` + `homes_get_tax_history` with a single fetch. Returns `{ property_id, url, listing_events, ownership_events, lien_events, events_normalized, tax_records }`. Pass `url` — the full property detail URL. Series are `[]` when the listing doesn't carry that section. Cross-MCP-normalized `events_normalized` carries the same enum across siblings (Listed/PriceChange/Pending/Contingent/Sold/Withdrawn/Relisted/Delisted). Each `events_normalized` row is `{ date, type, price?, price_change_pct?, list_to_sale_pct? }` — `price_change_pct` only on `PriceChange` rows; every other row carries homes.com's "List to Sale" figure as `list_to_sale_pct` (e.g. the sale-to-list ratio on a `Sold` row), never as a price change. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.homes_get_nearby_listingsScrape the nearby-links section of a homes.com detail page (the tabbed list of `<ul id="nb-Property">` near the bottom of the page) and return the nearby active listings. Pass `url` (the property whose neighborhood to inspect). By default returns the For Sale tab; pass `include_rentals: true` to also include the Rentals tab. Optional `limit` caps the count. Returns `{ property_id, url, count, listings: [{ property_id, url, address?, tab }] }`. Note: the nearby section is a curated cross-link list, not a comparable-sales set — only URL + address are exposed (no price/beds/baths/sqft/photo). To enrich a row, call `homes_get_property` on its url. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.homes_get_market_reportFetch homes.com's recently-sold listings for a city/ZIP/neighborhood and derive a market summary: count, median sale price, and average $/sqft across the sample. Pass `location` — free-text (e.g. 'Brooklyn, NY', '30311'). `location` is required and must contain Latin letters or digits — a blank or unsluggable location (e.g. only punctuation or non-Latin script) is rejected with an error rather than returning an empty result. Returns `{ region, slug, sold_summary, sample_sold }`. Note: homes.com's sold page typically returns ~40 recent listings — this is a sample-based summary, not an exhaustive market index. Read-only.- +9 more on the listing page
Exa MCP Server tools 2
web_search_exaSearch the web for any topic and get clean, ready-to-use content. Best for: Finding current information, news, facts, people, companies, or answering questions about any topic. Returns: Clean text content from top search results. Query tips: describe the ideal page, not keywords. "blog post comparing React and Vue performance" not "React vs Vue". Use category:people / category:company to search through Linkedin profiles / companies respectively. If highlights are insufficient, follow up with web_fetch_exa on the best URLs.web_fetch_exaRead a webpage's full content as clean markdown. Use after web_search_exa when highlights are insufficient or to read any URL. Best for: Extracting full content from known URLs. Batch multiple URLs in one call. Returns: Clean text content and metadata from the page(s).
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Homes MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"homes-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"homes-mcp"
]
}
}
}
Exa MCP Server
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa-labs-exa-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"exa-mcp-server"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Homes MCP is categorized under Real Estate and uses a local stdio subprocess. Exa MCP Server belongs to Search & Data Extraction and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Homes MCP for real estate work and Exa MCP Server for search & data extraction.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Homes MCP is listed as free. Auth: other. Exa MCP Server is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add homes-mcp and exa-labs-exa-mcp-server as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Homes MCP has a quality signal of 63/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars. Exa MCP Server has 73/100 (Great) with 11 views, 0 installs and 5,162 GitHub stars.