Receipt-backed US home-buying calculators for true ownership costs, affordability, and closing-fee benchmarks.
Calculates full monthly home ownership costs (principal, tax, insurance, PMI, HOA, maintenance), affordability limits from income and debt, closing-cost benchmarks from CFPB data, and rent-vs-buy comparisons. All numbers are sourced and receipt-verified. Helps buyers understand the gap between lender approval amounts and true monthly costs.
Try asking Muse: "Show me the real monthly cost of owning a $400,000 home in New Jersey with 10% down at 6.5% interest, including property tax, insurance, and maintenance."
Source: Found in the official MCP Registry (com.candidcost/mcp) · First listed September 24, 2026
Each bar is one check, every 15 minutes. Green means it answered. Last checked 17 min ago.
What Muse can see: It does not ask you to sign in, so it cannot see your accounts. It only sees what Muse sends it from your request.
Before it acts: Read what Muse plans to do before you approve it, and remove the app from Muse when you stop using it.
musedirectory.ai is not part of Meta. More about how Muse handles your information
Not in Muse's Connectors list yet, but Muse can still use it. Copy the request below and paste it into Muse. Muse asks before it shares anything with the app's site. Meta does not review apps used this way, so only use ones you trust. We tested this in the Muse app on September 24, 2026: Muse used an app's link directly this way and returned a live answer.
https://candidcost.com/api/mcpNot in Muse's Connectors list yet. Muse can still use it: its page gives you a request to paste into Muse.
CandidCost is a remote MCP server, so any assistant that can add a custom connector by link can use it. Same link, same tools.
In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Connectors (called Apps & Connectors on some accounts).
Under Advanced settings, switch on Developer mode. That is what lets you add a connector by link.
Choose Create, give it a name, paste the link as the MCP server URL, and save. If it needs a sign-in, ChatGPT asks for it here.
Start a chat, open the tools menu, pick the connector, and ask. ChatGPT asks before it runs a tool the first time.
Custom connectors need a paid ChatGPT plan, and on Team, Enterprise and Edu accounts only an admin can add them. Our "Working" label means the server answered us; it cannot tell whether your plan lets you add it. All connectors that work in ChatGPT
In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors.
Choose Add custom connector, give it a name, and paste the link.
If it needs a sign-in, Claude sends you to it. Then turn the connector on in a chat from the tools menu and ask.
Custom connectors are available on paid Claude plans; on Team and Enterprise accounts an admin may need to add them. Our "Working" label means the server answered us; it cannot tell whether your plan lets you add it. All connectors that work in Claude
https://candidcost.com/api/mcpResponse time at the last check: 205ms. Worked in 99.5% of checks over 30 days.
Screened, no issues found
Screening looks for known threats and hidden instructions at the time of the check, and runs again weekly and whenever the tool list changes. It cannot see the server's code, so only connect what you need and review what Muse asks to do. How screening works.
true_cost_estimateEstimate the full monthly cost of owning a home — principal & interest, property tax, insurance, PMI, HOA, and maintenance — and contrast it with the lender "approval" payment (PITI+PMI) to reveal the hidden monthly gap. Dollar inputs are US dollars; all money in the response is affordability_estimateCompute front-end (housing) and back-end (total debt) DTI budgets from income and debts, and the home price implied by the binding limit. Reports the standard 28/36 thresholds without ever telling the user what they "can afford". Dollar inputs are US dollars; money in the responsfee_benchmarksReturn closing-cost and rate-spread percentile distributions (p25/p50/p75 + mean) for a US state, computed from the row-level CFPB HMDA LAR for originated, first-lien, home-purchase loans. Cells with fewer than 25 records are suppressed. Dollar metrics are integer cents (…Cents);benchmark_ratesReturn the latest benchmark mortgage rates (e.g. 30-year and 15-year fixed) from the Federal Reserve (FRED), each with its observation date and ledger receipt. Rates are fixed-precision percent strings.search_dpa_programsFind down payment assistance (DPA) programs by US state and/or buyer type. Includes national programs. Each result links to its official government source and carries a ledger receipt and last-verified date.decode_loan_estimate_feeClassify a mortgage Loan Estimate fee by CFPB section and control class (set by lender, shoppable, third-party, government, or prepaid), with a plain-language explanation and an educational question a buyer could ask. Omit "fee" to list the full catalog.payment_shock_estimateEstimate why a mortgage payment often jumps in year two: escrow at closing is sized from the seller's current tax bill, but the county reassesses at your purchase price, and RESPA spreads the resulting escrow shortage over 12 months. Given the purchase price, the seller's currentpressure_checkDecompose the tradeoff a rushed buyer faces: the earnest money at risk by walking away versus what overpaying to "win" costs over the life of the loan. Given the earnest money at risk, the overpay amount over your walk-away price, down-payment percent, rate, and term, returns therent_vs_buy_estimateCompare the net cost of owning against renting over a holding period and find the break-even year. Owning nets upfront cash and recurring carrying costs against sale proceeds (appreciated value − selling costs − remaining loan); renting nets rent paid against the investment gain verify_receiptVerify a CandidCost ledger receipt hash (full sha256 or short "3f9a…c21e" form). Confirms the receipt exists and that its dataset hash chain is intact, proving the underlying data has not been altered since ingestion.https://candidcost.com/api/mcpNot in Muse's Connectors list yet, but Muse can still use it. Paste this into Muse: "Use CandidCost to help me. It is a free service with an MCP server at https://candidcost.com/api/mcp. It does not need an API key. Ask me before you share anything with it." Muse asks before it shares anything with the app's site. Meta does not review apps used this way, so only use ones you trust. We tested this in the Muse app on September 24, 2026: Muse used an app's link directly this way and returned a live answer.
At the last check (November 13, 2026, 14:45 UTC) the endpoint was working, answering in 205ms. Over the last 7 days it answered 100% of health checks. It is checked every 15 minutes.
It was screened on September 24, 2026 with the result "screened, no issues found". Screening checks the domain against threat feeds and reads the tools for hidden instructions and requests for passwords or card numbers. It cannot see the server's code, so grant only the access you need.
It exposes 10 tools, including true_cost_estimate, affordability_estimate, fee_benchmarks, benchmark_rates. For example, you could ask Muse: "Show me the real monthly cost of owning a $400,000 home in New Jersey with 10% down at 6.5% interest, including property tax, insurance, and maintenance."
This listing was added from public sources (Found in the official MCP Registry (com.candidcost/mcp)). If you build CandidCost, claim it to correct the details and get your badge.
Paste this on your site or README. It always shows the latest check.
<a href="https://musedirectory.ai/connector/candidcost"><img src="https://musedirectory.ai/badge/candidcost.svg" alt="CandidCost on musedirectory.ai" width="236" height="40"></a>