CandidCost is machine-readable by design

Estimate 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 integer cents; rates are fixed-precision percent strings.

Compute 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 response is integer cents.

Return 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); percent metrics are fixed-precision strings (…Pct). Each distribution carries a ledger receipt hash for verification.

Return 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.

No parameters.

Find 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.

Classify 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.

Estimate 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 current annual tax (from the listing), a state (or county FIPS) for the reassessment rate, and insurance, returns the year-1 escrow, the year-2 ongoing escrow, the temporary catch-up peak, and the jump. Money is integer cents. This decomposes the mechanics; it is not a prediction of your specific bill.

Decompose 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 the cash and financed shares of the overpay, the extra monthly P&I, the lifetime cost of overpaying, and its ratio to the earnest money. Money is integer cents. Educational decomposition — it names the two numbers so they can be compared; it never tells the user to walk or stay.

Compare 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 on the cash a buyer would tie up. Dollar inputs are US dollars; money in the response is integer cents. Appreciation, rent growth, and investment return are user-set assumptions. Tax deductions are excluded (documented simplification). Educational decomposition — it reports both net costs and the break-even year; it never says rent or buy.

Verify 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.