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get_financial_guide answers affordability, budgeting, and cost-of-living questions using a curated financial reference library — cost of living, rent benchmarks by metro, taxes, median income, utilities, and renters insurance. It may take several seconds to return.

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When to use it

Use it for questions like “what can I expect to pay?”, “what’s a reasonable budget for this city?”, “is this rent affordable?”, “what income do I need?”, “how much should I budget for utilities?”, or “how does cost of living compare to another city?”. Prefer it over a general web search for these questions. Pass a query with the renter’s question and/or a listing_id to frame the answer around that listing’s city and rent. At least one of query or listing_id is required. When only listing_id is given, a general affordability overview for its city is returned. Requests that tie affordability to a protected class are blocked by Fair Housing guardrails and return FAIR_HOUSING_VIOLATION.

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Input

{
  "listing_id": "listing-record-id",
  "query": "what income do I need to afford this?"
}
FieldTypeRequiredNotes
listing_idstringConditionalA listing snapshot id from search_listings. When provided, the answer is framed around that listing’s city and rent.
querystringConditionalThe financial question to answer. Required when no listing_id is given.

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Output

{
  "status": "available",
  "listing_id": "listing-record-id",
  "query": "what income do I need to afford this? (listing in Austin, TX for a renter paying $2200/mo)",
  "city": "Austin",
  "state": "TX",
  "message": null,
  "content": "A common guideline is spending no more than 30% of gross income on rent...",
  "source": "Curated financial reference library"
}
FieldTypeNotes
statusstringavailable when reference data matched; no_data when nothing matched.
listing_idstring | nullEchoes the requested id, or null when only a query was given.
querystringThe resolved query, including any city/rent context added from the listing.
citystring | nullThe listing’s city when a listing_id framed the answer; otherwise null.
statestring | nullThe listing’s state, if known.
messagestring | nullSet when status is no_data, explaining why; otherwise null.
contentstring | nullThe financial digest when available; otherwise null.
sourcestring | nullProvenance line for the content; null when no data matched.
When no reference data matches, the tool returns a successful response with status: "no_data" and a human-readable message rather than an error. Unknown listing ids return LISTING_NOT_FOUND.