Housing Intel vs Compass MCP
A side-by-side look at the Housing Intel and Compass MCP MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Housing Intel for real estate work as a local process; choose Compass MCP for real estate as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Housing Intel when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Real Estate domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
case_shiller_metro_compare, housing_market_snapshot, housing_property_report.
Choose Compass MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Real Estate domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
compass_search_properties, compass_get_property, compass_get_saved_homes.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Real Estate | Real Estate |
| Quality signal | 61/100 · Good | 61/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 1 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 10 | 18 |
| Full listing | View Housing Intel | View Compass MCP |
Tools & capabilities
Housing Intel tools 10
case_shiller_metro_compareCompare Case-Shiller home price indices across multiple US metros in one call (the 20-city composite). For each metro returns latest level, 3-month change, 12-month change, all-time peak, drawdown from peak, and a softening flag. Output also ranks metros softest → strongest. Use for "which metros are softening", "Case-Shiller for [list of cities]", "compare housing prices in X, Y, Z" queries — picks the right per-metro FRED series IDs (DNXRSA, PHXRSA, TPXRSA, etc.) so callers don't have to. Available metros: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Washington DC. NOT A CURRENT-MARKET READ: Case-Shiller is monthly, published on a roughly two-month lag, and each value is a three-month moving average — so the newest observation is typically 90-120 days old and describes a trailing quarter. The `freshness` block states the exact age of the call you made.housing_market_snapshotGet national housing market overview: mortgage rates, housing starts, Case-Shiller index, unemployment, construction employment. Optionally add metro-level prices (e.g., "Denver", "Atlanta"). For comparing Case-Shiller across multiple metros use case_shiller_metro_compare instead. THE COMPONENTS DO NOT SHARE A DATE — they are weekly, monthly and quarterly official statistics, each published on its own lag, so one call can span months of vintages. `freshness` states the span in days and names the oldest component; read it before comparing components against each other.housing_property_reportAnalyze a property by address and zip code. Returns valuation estimate, sales history, tax assessment, and detailed characteristics.housing_rental_analysisEvaluate rental investment potential by address and zip code. Returns estimated rent, fair market rents, and CPI rent trends.housing_affordability_checkCheck housing affordability in a market. Returns mortgage rate, median price, monthly payment, required income, and HUD limits. Optionally specify metro (e.g., "Denver"). The inputs are official statistics on DIFFERENT cadences — a weekly mortgage rate against a quarterly median price — so the monthly payment is an illustrative ratio of published figures, not a live quote. `freshness` states the span and the age of each input.housing_employment_outlookAssess labor market health for housing demand. Returns employment, construction jobs, residential building employment, unemployment rate, and job openings. All BLS monthly releases; each series carries its own `observation_date` and `cadence` (JOLTS runs an extra month behind CES/LAUS), and `freshness` states the span. `snapshot_date` is the call date, not the data date.housing_signal_scanScan 45+ housing indicators for anomalies and reversals. Flags unusual moves across rates, starts, sales, prices, wages, unemployment, and rent. Each signal carries its own `observation_date` and `cadence` — series here span weekly (mortgage rate) to quarterly (median sales price), and Case-Shiller is additionally a 3-month moving average, so "turned negative" does not mean "this month" for every series. `freshness` states the full span and the oldest component.housing_mortgage_historyFreddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey — the weekly US mortgage INTEREST rate (the annual percentage borrowers pay on a home loan, e.g. 6.5%), back to 1971. This is the borrowing cost paid by home buyers. Returns the latest snapshot, a time series for the requested window, and min/max/avg stats. Sourced from Freddie Mac directly (not FRED), ingested weekly by the Pipeworx data pipeline.housing_market_screenRank US metros for rental cash flow in ONE call — the "which markets are best for a landlord" view. Returns metros sorted by gross rent yield = (Zillow median monthly rent × 12) ÷ Zillow typical home value. No per-metro orchestration and no API key. Use for "best/worst rental markets", "highest-yield metros", "where does rent go furthest vs. home prices". Tune with direction (top = highest yield / best cash flow, bottom = lowest), limit, and optional home-value bounds. rent_as_of and home_value_as_of are two independent Zillow queries and can land on different months; `freshness` says whether they matched this call.housing_metro_demandDemand + rent-durability signals for a shortlist of US metros in ONE call — population & 5-year growth, renter share, median household income, and unemployment, straight from Census ACS. Deterministic by metro (CBSA-keyed) — NO FRED series-ID guessing. Pass `metros` ("City, ST", e.g. the top results from housing_market_screen). This is the Stage-2 "is the demand real?" filter on a yield shortlist — high yield in a shrinking metro is a trap. No API key needed. HIGHEST-LAG SOURCE IN THIS PACK: figures are a Census ACS 5-YEAR rolling average (currently 2018-2022, released Dec 2023) — for structural demand, not a current-quarter read. `freshness` states the exact age.
Compass MCP tools 18
compass_search_propertiesSearch Compass listings by location (city, ZIP, neighborhood) and optional filters. Resolves free-text via slugification into Compass's URL routing, then fetches the SSR search-results page and extracts the embedded listings array. Compass server-renders ~41 listings into that page (its `num`), and `total_items` reports the full market count. PAGINATION (issue #87): Compass no longer paginates the SSR search via any URL — `/page-N/`, `?page=N`, and `?start=N` all canonicalize back to page 1 and return the identical listings, so only the first SSR page (~41 listings) is reachable through this primitive. `offset` is honored WITHIN that page, and `next_offset` is emitted only when more listings remain within it — it is never a false cursor that re-fetches page 1. TO REACH BEYOND THE FIRST PAGE, narrow with `price_min` / `price_max` / `beds_min`/`beds_max` to bucket the result set into <~41-listing bands (price-banding), then search each band. Returns each matching listing's address, price, beds/baths, sqft, lat/lng, the Compass homedetails URL (`_lid/` form, content-addressed by `listing_id_sha`), and the stable `_pid/` URL via `property_url` and the surfaced `pid` field. The per-listing `primary_photo_url` / `primary_thumbnail_url` are omitted in the default `compact` view (they are Compass CDN URLs a model cannot see); pass `view: "full"` to get them, or `compass_get_property_photos` for the whole gallery. USE `pid`/`_pid/` FOR LONG-LIVED REFERENCES (trackers, sheets, bookmarks) — sha-based `_lid/` URLs change when a property is delisted and relisted. Use the sha-based URL to fetch the current listing record. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.compass_get_propertyFetch a property's full Compass record. Pass either `url` (a full Compass homedetails URL or path from a compass_search_properties result) or `listing_id_sha` alone — when only the sha is supplied, the tool fetches /listing/<sha>/view, which redirects to the canonical /homedetails/<slug>/<sha>_lid/ page. Returns address, neighborhood, beds/baths, sqft, lot size (`lot_size_sqft` plus the derived `lot_size_acres` = round(sqft / 43560, 2), null — never 0 — for condos / missing lots), price + price-per-sqft, monthly charges, MLS status, amenities, schools, parcel number, and the canonical Compass URL. Also returns `extracted_features` (lake_front, hot_tub, basement, furnished, dock, community) keyword-parsed from the description. DESCRIPTION HANDLING: The raw `description` (Compass marketing copy) is omitted by default — pass `include_description: true` to keep it. `extracted_features` is always populated and usually sufficient. URL FORMS: Compass exposes two URL shapes for a listing. `_lid/` (content-addressed by `listing_id_sha`) — what this tool fetches and what `url` returns — is the form to use for reading the current listing record. `_pid/` (opaque short ID, in `property_url` and the surfaced `pid` field) is **stable across re-listings** and is the right choice for any long-lived reference (trackers, sheets, bookmarks); sha-based URLs go stale when a property is delisted and relisted. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.compass_get_saved_homesNot yet supported — Compass renders /overview/favorites via an auth-scoped GraphQL we have not yet identified. Throws a clear error explaining the limitation.compass_get_saved_searchesNot yet supported — Compass renders saved searches via an auth-scoped GraphQL we have not yet identified. Throws a clear error explaining the limitation.compass_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.compass_get_price_historyFull listing history for a Compass property — Listed / Sold / Pending / Price Change / Delisted events with date, price, and MLS attribution. Returns three arrays: `events` covers this listing's events, `history` aggregates events from prior listings of the same property, and `events_normalized` merges both into a shared cross-MCP schema (`{date, type, price?, price_change_pct?, source_mls?}` with a fixed type enum: Listed | PriceChange | Pending | Contingent | Sold | Withdrawn | Relisted | Delisted). Pass either `url` (the full Compass homedetails URL or path) or `listing_id_sha` alone — sha-only calls fetch /listing/<sha>/view, which redirects to the homedetails page. Note: most of this data is already returned inline on `compass_get_property` (the events[] / history[] arrays live on the same listing record); call this tool only when you want the merged + normalized timeline. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.compass_compare_propertiesFetch 2 or more Compass properties and align their facts side-by-side. Each target may supply `url` (a full Compass homedetails URL or path) or `listing_id_sha` alone — sha-only targets fetch /listing/<sha>/view, which redirects to the homedetails page. Returns the full per-property record per row (with `extracted_features` populated). 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`), `retryable` and `error`, and the envelope reports `count` / `ok` / `errored`. Calls are concurrent, and the whole call is bounded by an overall deadline: any row still unsettled when it is reached comes back as `{ status: "pending", retryable: true, error }` with a top-level `pending` count — re-run just those targets. The raw `description` is omitted from each row by default — pass `include_description: true` to keep it. The redundant `summary` table is also opt-in via `include_summary: true` — by default only `results[]` is returned, which already carries every fact.compass_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.compass_get_property_photosThe full photo gallery for a Compass listing — every image in listing.media[]. Each entry returns the original CDN URL plus a thumbnail URL and pixel dimensions. Pass either `url` (the full Compass homedetails URL or path) or `listing_id_sha` alone — sha-only calls fetch /listing/<sha>/view, which redirects to the homedetails page. By default only photos (category 0) are returned; set `include_all_categories: true` to also include floorplans and other media. Returns `{ listing_id_sha, count, photos }`. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.compass_healthcheckRound-trips a small public www.compass.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.compass.com-side problem'. Read-only, no auth required. Call this when a real tool fails and you want to know which hop broke.compass_get_by_addressResolve a free-text street address to a Compass listing's canonical URL and identifiers in one call. Walks three rungs: first the structured typeahead `POST /api/v3/omnisuggest/autocomplete` (the primary rung — Compass's address-suggest API, which routes around the AWS WAF that 403s the SSR free-text path, issues #78/#79), then `/homes-for-sale/?q=<address>` (the free-text rung) and — when those return no verified match — a slug-based search at `/homes-for-sale/<city-state-or-zip>/` (the search-fallback rung, issue #71). Each candidate is verified against the query (case + street-type abbreviation normalization, then whole-token equality, issue #45) before being accepted. Returns `{ url, listing_id_sha, pid, address, resolved, matched_via }` where `matched_via` is `"typeahead"`, `"freetext"`, or `"search_fallback"` so callers can see which rung found the match. When no rung matches, returns `{ resolved: false, error: "no listing matched" }` rather than leaking a wrong URL. When the lookup was blocked by a sign-in / AWS WAF challenge instead, it returns `{ resolved: false, status: "auth_required", error, hint }` — NOT a miss: sign in to compass.com in the browser and retry. The `url` is the stable `_pid/` form when Compass provides a `navigationPageLink` (preferred for trackers/bookmarks — sha URLs go stale on relisting), falling back to the `_lid/` form otherwise. Read-only; safe to call repeatedly.compass_bulk_getFetch up to 200 Compass listings in a single call. Returns one structured row per input target (no side-by-side summary table — use `compass_compare_properties` for that). Each row is either `{ listing_id_sha, url, status: "ok", property }` on success or `{ listing_id_sha, url, status, error_kind, retryable, error }` on failure (`status` = `error_kind`) — one bad target never fails the whole call. `retryable: true` (a bridge `timeout` after one retry, an unreachable `bridge_down`, issue #73) is NOT a missing listing, so retry it (a cold bridge usually succeeds on the second call) rather than concluding Compass has no record; `protocol` / `other` are real misses. Targets accept the same `url` / `listing_id_sha` shape as `compass_get_property`. Calls fan out concurrently. The whole call is bounded by an overall deadline: a slow or hung row never wedges it — any row still unsettled when the deadline is reached comes back as `{ status: "pending", retryable: true, error }` alongside a top-level `pending` count, so re-run just those targets. The envelope also reports `count` / `ok` / `errored`. `extracted_features` is populated per row. The raw `description` is omitted by default — pass `include_description: true` to keep it.- +6 more on the listing page
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.
Housing Intel
{
"mcpServers": {
"housing-intel": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-housing-intel"
]
}
}
}
Compass MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"compass-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"compass-mcp"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Housing Intel is categorized under Real Estate and uses a local stdio subprocess. Compass MCP belongs to Real Estate and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Housing Intel for real estate work and Compass MCP for real estate.
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.
Housing Intel has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. Compass MCP has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. 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 housing-intel and compass-mcp as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Housing Intel has a quality signal of 61/100 (Good) with 1 views, 0 installs and 1 GitHub stars. Compass MCP has 61/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.