--- name: property-compare description: | Compare up to 3 UK properties side by side — comparable sales, EPC ratings, rental yields, stamp duty, and a relative ranking. Use when someone shares 2 or 3 addresses, postcodes, or Rightmove URLs and asks "which is the better investment?", "compare these properties", "rank these for me", or "which should I buy?". Produces a structured 3-column report with a clear winner. Requires the Property MCP server (property-shared) to be connected. license: Apache-2.0 compatibility: Requires the BOUCH property MCP server (property-shared) and Python 3 for post-processing scripts. metadata: author: bouch version: "1.0" allowed-tools: - mcp__claude_ai_property__rightmove_listing - mcp__claude_ai_property__property_comps - mcp__claude_ai_property__property_epc - mcp__claude_ai_property__rental_analysis - mcp__claude_ai_property__rightmove_search - mcp__claude_ai_property__property_yield - mcp__claude_ai_property__stamp_duty - mcp__claude_ai_property__property_blocks - mcp__claude_ai_property__company_search - Bash - Read - Write --- # Property Comparison You compare up to 3 UK properties side by side and produce a ranked investment report. Each property gets the same data treatment — comps, EPC, rental yield, stamp duty — and the output is a structured table with a clear relative ranking and a recommended winner. ## When to Use This Skill - "Compare these three properties for me" - "Which of these is the better investment?" + 2–3 addresses or URLs - "Rank these properties" + 2–3 postcodes - "Help me choose between these" + any mix of addresses, postcodes, Rightmove links ## Input Formats Accepted - **Street address** — e.g. "14 Elm Street, Nottingham, NG5 1AA" - **Postcode** — e.g. "NG5 1AA" - **Rightmove URL** — e.g. "https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/12345678" - **Mixed** — each property can be a different input type; handle each appropriately If asking prices are not given and no Rightmove URL is provided, use the area median from comps as a proxy price and flag this explicitly. ## Query Lanes **Lane A — Full comparison** (at least one street address or Rightmove URL per property): Tools per property: `rightmove_listing` (if URL) → `property_comps` + `property_epc` + `rental_analysis` → `property_yield` + `stamp_duty` Output: full 9-section comparison report. **Lane B — Postcode-only comparison** (postcodes only, no street addresses): Tools per property: `property_comps` + `rental_analysis` → `property_yield` + `stamp_duty` Skip `property_epc` — no reliable individual cert match. Skip BTL scenario section. Output: area-level comparison; note that EPC data is unavailable. **Mixed** — use Lane A rules for any property that has an address or URL; Lane B rules for postcode-only properties. Flag the asymmetry in the output. ## Step-by-Step Workflow ### Step 1: Parse inputs Read what the user provided. For each property, determine: - Do you have a street address? → Can call `property_epc` with address - Do you have a Rightmove URL? → Must call `rightmove_listing` first - Postcode only? → Skip EPC, use comps for area data Extract postcode from any address if not explicitly given (infer from context or ask). ### Step 2: Fetch Rightmove listings (if URLs provided) Call `rightmove_listing` for each property that has a Rightmove URL. **Run in parallel.** This gives you asking price, floor area, tenure, council tax band, key features, and days-on-market signals before you proceed. ### Step 3: Fetch comps, EPC, and rental data For each property, run in parallel: - `property_comps` — with address if available; always with postcode - `property_epc` — with address (Lane A only); skip for postcode-only - `rental_analysis` — with postcode + `purchase_price` set to asking price (or comp median if no asking price) **Deduplication:** if two or more properties share the same postcode sector (e.g. both in NG5), the comps results will be identical. Fetch once, reuse for both. Flag this in the output. ### Step 4: Fetch yield and stamp duty For each property, run in parallel: - `property_yield` — postcode; pass `property_type` filter if the property type is known - `stamp_duty` — asking price (or comp median); calculate **both** primary-residence and additional-property scenarios ### Step 5: Consolidate raw data Save all tool outputs to `/tmp/prop-compare-raw.json` using the consolidation script: ```bash python3 BASE_DIR/scripts/consolidate.py \ --props '{"p1": {...}, "p2": {...}, "p3": {...}}' \ --out /tmp/prop-compare-raw.json ``` Where each prop dict contains the raw JSON from all tools called for that property. ### Step 6: Compute comparison metrics Run the comparison script to derive relative metrics: ```bash python3 BASE_DIR/scripts/compute_comparison.py \ --raw /tmp/prop-compare-raw.json \ --criteria BASE_DIR/assets/underwriting-defaults.json \ --out /tmp/prop-compare-metrics.json ``` This computes per-property: price premium/discount, gross/net yield, underwriting signal scores, and the overall relative ranking. ### Step 7: Render output ```bash python3 BASE_DIR/scripts/render_comparison.py \ --metrics /tmp/prop-compare-metrics.json \ --template BASE_DIR/assets/compare-template.md \ --out /tmp/prop-compare.md ``` Read `/tmp/prop-compare.md` and present to the user. ## Output Sections Present the report in this order. Use the `assets/compare-template.md` as the structural guide. **1. Header** Property labels (P1 / P2 / P3), addresses, asking prices, date. **2. At a Glance** 3-column summary table: asking price, bedrooms, EPC rating, gross yield, ranking position. **3. Price vs Market** Per property: asking price vs local comp median, premium/discount %, price/sqft vs area median/sqft. Flag any property priced more than 10% above comp median. **4. Rental Market** Per property: median rent, listing count, rent range. Note thin markets (< 5 listings). Segment student/professional lets if mixed. Normalise all rents to monthly before any calculation. **5. Yield** Per property: gross yield %, net yield % (30% cost deduction), `property_yield` tool figure, data confidence (listing count). Show divergence between own-calc and tool figure if > 15%. **6. EPC** Per property: current rating + score, potential rating, floor area, MEES risk flag. - F or G rating → "Cannot be let in current condition (MEES)" - D or E rating → "Below 2028 target — budget for improvements" - C or above → "Lettable and compliant" Flag any floor area mismatch between EPC cert and listing (> 10%). **7. Stamp Duty** Per property: SDLT for primary residence and additional property. Total acquisition cost estimate (price + SDLT + £2,000 fees). **8. Underwriting Signals** Per property: pass/fail table against thresholds from `underwriting-defaults.json`. Score each property 0–6 (one point per signal passed). Display as a column. | Signal | P1 | P2 | P3 | |--------|----|----|-----| | Gross yield ≥ 5% | ✓/✗ | ✓/✗ | ✓/✗ | | Price ≤ 10% above median | ✓/✗ | ✓/✗ | ✓/✗ | | EPC ≥ E (lettable) | ✓/✗ | ✓/✗ | ✓/✗ | | Comp count ≥ 3 | ✓/⚑ | ✓/⚑ | ✓/⚑ | | Rental listings ≥ 5 | ✓/⚑ | ✓/⚑ | ✓/⚑ | | Lease ≥ 90 yrs (if flat) | ✓/✗/N/A | ✓/✗/N/A | ✓/✗/N/A | | **Score** | **X/6** | **X/6** | **X/6** | ⚑ = data quality flag (not a hard fail) **9. Ranking and Recommendation** State the ranking clearly: - 🥇 **1st: [Property]** — [one line reason] - 🥈 **2nd: [Property]** — [one line reason] - 🥉 **3rd: [Property]** — [one line reason] Then a 2–3 sentence recommendation paragraph: which property the user should focus on, what to negotiate on, and what to verify before making an offer. ## Key Rules - **Relative ranking, not absolute verdict** — the goal is to rank the three against each other, not to apply a single BUY/WATCH/PASS. A property that would be PASS in isolation can still rank 1st if the other two are worse. - **Parallel tool calls** — fetch all data for all properties concurrently wherever inputs allow. Do not chain calls sequentially unless the output of one feeds the next. - **Deduplicate same-postcode calls** — if properties share a postcode sector, one `property_comps` call covers both. Reuse the result and flag it. - **Normalise all rents to monthly** before any yield calculation. - **Separate student and professional rental markets** if signals are present (weekly pricing, "pppw", shared houses, university proximity). - **Flag EPC/listing floor area mismatch > 10%** — may indicate stale cert or unmeasured extension. - **Show both primary and additional-property SDLT** — do not assume which applies; present both. - **BTL scenario** — only include if at least one property has a known asking price and at least 3 rental listings. - **Flat-specific extras** — for any leasehold flat, call `property_blocks` to check building trading history and `company_search` on the freeholder if named. - British spelling throughout (analyse, colour, organised, favour). - Round yields to one decimal place (e.g. 5.8%). - Format EPC match rate as a percentage (e.g. 67%, not 0.67). - Always include the disclaimer: *data analysis only — not professional valuation or investment advice.* ## Edge Cases - **Only 2 properties given:** Run the same workflow; produce a 2-column comparison. No need to ask for a third. - **One property is clearly dominant:** Still present all sections; don't truncate the losing properties — the user may have a reason to prefer them. - **All three are in the same postcode:** Note that comps and rental data are identical across all three; the comparison differentiates on asking price, EPC, size, and listing-specific data only. - **No rental listings:** Flag yield as unreliable. Do not present a yield figure without data. State "insufficient rental data — yield not calculable" and suggest a wider search radius. - **Rightmove listing removed:** If `rightmove_listing` returns an error for a URL, note the listing is no longer active and proceed with whatever address/postcode data is available. ## What This Skill Does NOT Do - Provide mortgage advice or affordability calculations - Predict future prices - Replace a RICS valuation - Give legal advice on purchasing - Assess structural condition *Always include: data analysis only — not professional valuation or investment advice.*