How to use the LandlordIQ MCP server

By RentalAnalytics Editorial Team · Published October 28, 2026

Key takeaways

• On October 28, 2026, estimate_rent for ZIP 78704, 2 bedrooms, apartment returned a $1,945 median, a $1,673 to $2,256 band, Fair Market Rent of $1,817, and confidence 90. fallback was false.
• lookup_hud_rent returned that same $1,817. HUD's FY2027 notice calls FMR the 40th percentile gross rent for recent movers into standard quality units. It is the voucher figure, not market rent.^[1]
• The same payload reported cpi_shelter_yoy of 0.032 and ACS 2024 5-year B25031 published rent of $2,069, margin of error $136, as of 2024-07-01. That ACS note says occupied-unit median, not asking rent.^[6][7]
• POST to https://rentalanalytics.com/mcp with no API key. api.rentalanalytics.com did not resolve in public DNS that day. Open the Rent Estimator, the Cap Rate Calculator, and the Cash Flow Analyzer.

Where do you send the call?

POST JSON-RPC 2.0 to https://rentalanalytics.com/mcp. A browser GET returns HTTP 302 to the guide. A JSON GET returns HTTP 405. No API key and no session. The terms limit requests to 60 per hour per IP.^[8][9]

Accepted protocol versions are 2025-11-25, 2025-06-18, and 2025-03-26. On October 28, 2026 the answer was 2025-06-18, server name RentalAnalytics rent tools, version 1.0.0. Instructions: Fair Market Rent is the 40th-percentile voucher figure, and a missing ZIP is not a cue to invent a number.

How do you connect Cursor or Claude Desktop?

Cursor uses the url below. Claude Desktop sets type to http on the same URL. See the MCP guide.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rentalanalytics": {
      "url": "https://rentalanalytics.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

To call it yourself, use the five steps that succeeded on October 28, 2026.

1. Point the client at https://rentalanalytics.com/mcp. Cursor uses a url field. Claude Desktop uses type http and the same url.
2. POST initialize with protocolVersion 2025-06-18. On October 28, 2026 the server answered that version and named itself RentalAnalytics rent tools, version 1.0.0.
3. POST tools/list. Sixteen tools came back. Read each inputSchema before you call.
4. POST tools/call. For a rent read, name estimate_rent and pass zip 78704. Bedrooms default to 2 and property_type defaults to apartment.
5. Read structuredContent. Use display_usd for the rounded dollars, confidence for the score, and source for the provenance string. If isError is true, stop and do not fill the gap.

What does a rent call return?

This request returned HTTP 200 for ZIP 78704 in Austin. Rounded dollars were in display_usd: median 1945, low 1673, high 2256, and fmr_40th_published 1817. confidence was 90 and fallback was false. The metro was Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX MSA. The result is not the OpenAPI envelope.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "estimate_rent",
    "arguments": {
      "zip": "78704",
      "bedrooms": 2,
      "property_type": "apartment"
    }
  }
}

The source string was: "HUD FY2027 50th-percentile (area) × ZIP FMR/SAFMR bedroom shape + BLS CPI Shelter. Statistical median estimate, not MLS asking rent." cpi_shelter_yoy was 0.032. The methodology calls that 3.2 percent year over year as of July 2026.^[7] ACS 2024 5-year B25031 came back as published 2069, margin of error 136, as of 2024-07-01.^[6]

lookup_hud_rent returned 1817 for Travis County, as of 2026-10-01. HUD's September 1, 2026 notice says: "HUD's FMR calculations represent HUD's best effort to estimate the 40th percentile gross rent paid by recent movers into standard quality units in each FMR area."^[1] 50th percentile rents are a separate file.^[3] See How to estimate rent the right way. A zip of "abc" returned HTTP 200 with isError true and the text "zip must be a 5-digit U.S. ZIP." Bedrooms on estimate_rent run from 0 through 8. The methodology's type adjustments are plus 8 percent for single-family, plus 5 percent for townhouse, plus 2 percent for condo, and minus 3 percent for a duplex unit.

Which tools came back from tools/list?

tools/list on October 28, 2026 returned sixteen tools. Only estimate_rent, calculate_cap_rate, and calculate_cash_flow are linked below as live calculators. Required names come from that response.

Tool	Title	Required arguments
lookup_hud_rent	HUD Fair Market Rent by ZIP	zip, bedrooms
estimate_rent	Statistical median rent	zip
calculate_cap_rate	Cap rate	purchase_price, annual_gross_rent, vacancy_pct, op_expenses_annual, property_type
calculate_cash_flow	Cash flow	purchase, rent
calculate_dscr	DSCR	monthlyRent, loanAmount, ratePct, termYears
calculate_amortization	Amortization	principal, annualRatePct, years
compare_str_ltr	Short-term vs long-term rent	nightlyRate, occupancyPct
advise_lease_renewal	Lease renewal	current_rent, zip
lookup_covered_market	Covered-market snapshot	none; slug, city, or state optional
calculate_opex	Operating expense benchmark	taxes, insurance, maintenance
lookup_rent_to_income	Rent-to-income	state
lookup_gross_yield	Stored gross yield	state
calculate_gross_yield	Gross yield from rent and value	monthly_rent, value
illustrate_1031_exchange	1031 exchange illustration	salePrice, transferDate
illustrate_cost_segregation	Cost segregation year 1	basis, land_percent, cost_seg_percent
lookup_city_rules	City landlord-tenant digest	none; slug, city, or state optional

calculate_cap_rate property_type is single_family, small_multifamily_2_4, multifamily_5_plus, or condo. calculate_cash_flow needs purchase and rent above 0, and its description uses a 3 percent closing estimate. lookup_city_rules is an editorial digest for planning, not legal advice. Match names to this table, including on the AI agent playbooks page.

What does openapi.json still advertise?

openapi.json is OpenAPI 3.1.0, version 0.1.0. It lists seven GET tools plus /manifest.json and /healthz. The documented body is an envelope: data, confidence_score from 0 to 100, data_freshness, data_source, and error. The score text says 0 on error, 72 to 92 for a direct HUD anchor, 50 to 71 for a blend, and 1 to 49 for a fallback. Required query names are zip_code on get_market_rent and get_landlord_market_summary, city and state on get_vacancy_rate and get_regulations, metro on get_rent_growth, and current_rent plus zip_code on get_lease_renewal_recommendation. get_cap_rate_benchmark marks nothing required.

The servers array names https://api.rentalanalytics.com. On October 28, 2026, DNS at 1.1.1.1 returned NXDOMAIN for that host. Do not paste the example dollar amounts. llms.txt still says HUD FY2026 in one paragraph. The live source string says FY2027, effective 2026-10-01. Use the no-key POST. The file's optional X-API-Key is not in the terms or the MCP guide.

Which on-site calculators are live?

Open the Rent Estimator, the Cap Rate Calculator, and the Cash Flow Analyzer. This call's page field pointed at the Rent Estimator. The other tools in the table stay on the server. lookup_hud_rent points at Section 8 for the 40th-percentile voucher figure. Read inputSchema before you pass arguments, and do not fill a missing ZIP with a guessed rent.

Frequently asked questions

Where do you send a LandlordIQ call?

The working server is https://rentalanalytics.com/mcp. POST JSON-RPC 2.0. There is no API key and no session. A browser GET is redirected to /mcp/, which is the guide. A GET that asks for JSON returns HTTP 405. The terms page limits this API to 60 requests per hour per IP.

Is HUD Fair Market Rent the same as market rent?

No. The FY2027 Federal Register notice says HUD's FMR calculations estimate the 40th percentile gross rent paid by recent movers into standard quality units. On October 28, 2026, lookup_hud_rent for ZIP 78704 and 2 bedrooms returned $1,817. estimate_rent returned a $1,945 apartment median. Keep $1,817 as the voucher figure.

Does the MCP server use the OpenAPI envelope?

The OpenAPI file requires data, confidence_score, data_freshness, data_source, and error. The live MCP result does not use those names. estimate_rent puts dollars in display_usd, the score in confidence, and provenance in source. A bad ZIP sets isError to true and returns a text message. It does not set an error field on an envelope.

Which calculators on the site should I open?

Open the Rent Estimator, the Cap Rate Calculator, and the Cash Flow Analyzer. Those pages match estimate_rent, calculate_cap_rate, and calculate_cash_flow. tools/list also returned thirteen other tools on October 28, 2026. This guide does not link those other pages as live calculators. Read each tool's inputSchema before you pass arguments.

Why not call api.rentalanalytics.com?

On October 28, 2026, a DNS lookup at 1.1.1.1 returned NXDOMAIN for api.rentalanalytics.com. openapi.json still lists that host and seven GET paths. The same day, https://rentalanalytics.com/mcp answered initialize, tools/list, and tools/call. Use the MCP server. Do not paste dollar amounts from the OpenAPI examples.

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Sources

1. HUD, Fair Market Rents for Fiscal Year 2027, Federal Register, September 1, 2026 - https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/01/2026-17891/fair-market-rents-for-the-housing-choice-voucher-program-moderate-rehabilitation-single-room
2. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents - https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html
3. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 50th Percentile Rent Estimates - https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/50per.html
4. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FY2027 50th percentile rent workbook - https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/50thper/FY2027_FMR_50_area.xlsx
5. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FY2027 Fair Market Rents workbook - https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmr2027/FY27_FMRs.xlsx
6. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year table B25031, Median Gross Rent by Bedrooms - https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25031
7. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI Shelter, series CUUR0000SAH1 - https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SAH1
8. Model Context Protocol specification, revision 2025-06-18 - https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-06-18
9. JSON-RPC 2.0 Specification - https://www.jsonrpc.org/specification
10. RentalAnalytics, Methodology - https://rentalanalytics.com/legal/methodology