Using CoStar vs. Using Smaller / Cheaper Competitors
I hope you're all doing well. I am doing some research on CoStar and trying to understand the value prop. The price seems pretty extreme relative to that of some peers (Reonomy, Compstak, Yardi Matrix). Has anyone either used one of those services in lieu of CoStar or otherwise considered piecing a few of those vendors to get you something that's 90% of the way there? Thanks all.
[{"id": "hpgiq9r", "text": "There is nothing of similar quality on market. If you can't afford costar, you're simply not competitive.", "replies": [{"id": "hpgnuo3", "text": "What\u2019s a ZJ? \n\nIf you have to ask big man, you can\u2019t afford it.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hph9hsy", "text": "I ask this question so often but no one ever answers it. \n\nWhat do you use costar for? Ground lease / lease comps? \n\nOutside of that, why would you spend the money on it?", "replies": [{"id": "hpicqhh", "text": "I've used it for commercial and residential lease comps, market trends. But someone once asked me if they should purchase CoStar for their study on retail lease trends, and I advised against because CoStar data simply isn't complete / granular/ current enough for what they wanted to do. When CoStar is good, it's good. But it's often not good.\n\nIf you're a small outfit, it's hard to justify the cost. For that money, spend time learning Python and writing scripts that scrape the web for the info you want. If you're a larger outfit, it's more compelling. Hypothetically, say I worked for consulting firm and I secure a $30k contract for an economic impacts study that will take me 6-8 weeks to turnaround and I can line up similar work/scope/pay back-to-back, then I can easily budget for CoStar. Or if I worked for a well-funded govt agency and the budget wasn't really my concern, I'd ask for CoStar as part of my arsenal of tools.", "replies": [{"id": "hpioydl", "text": "This. \n\nIf I'm needing big box or strip mall data, CoStar is decent. Not great, just decent. I scrape for anything else. \n\nI also use the local MLS. It isn't awesome, but it usually gives me some low hanging fruit. Some of the counties in our metro collect sale information that can be verified. \n\nOther than that, there's always a broker or three that can be contacted that aren't assholes about leases. Just don't expect too much.", "replies": [{"id": "hpkbd19", "text": "For sales comps I just use the counties GIS system / landglide. \n\nFor lease comps I contact brokers. \n\nI do mostly tenant rep work and have never needed costar or python or scripts.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpgj8zz", "text": "A couple factors come into play such as what you really need (listings? comps? tenant/owner data?), and where you are located. Most of the alternatives you mentioned are still growing and some of their markets are stronger than others. Compstak from my understanding, has a decent set of data in the coastal area's like LA/NY due to their time already spent in those markets, but are still building out other area's in the country. \n\nJudging strictly by your username, if you are in Georgia, and more specifically in the Atlanta market, you should look into Catylist. They have had a substantial presence in that market for quite some time now and likely offer a decent alternative to CoStar at a much friendly price.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpgjhtb", "text": "Costar is expensive. What is worse, is that you realize that you are the ones supplying the product, they just sell it back to you. \n\nCompstak depends on market but is getting better. But it will not have availability ect. Yardi is for multi-family, Reonomy I never really used. \n\nIt is like a Bloomberg terminal for CRE. What competitor is there to that? \n\nI guess it depends on what it is your company does. If it is just NNN retail sales, sure, you can get by with something else. \n\nIf it is office leasing in a major metro, you are fucked. \n\nIf it is retail leasing, use craigslist LOL.", "replies": [{"id": "hph9mms", "text": "Can\u2019t believe this got downvoted. This is so accurate. \n\nEvery time they call me (which seems like a daily recurrence) I ask them if they are going to give me costar for free? When they say no, I ask why I would give them the information for free?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpgktgp", "text": "We use Landvision ay my firm. Works 100 times better than CoStar, not sure of pricing though.", "replies": [{"id": "hpj22t5", "text": "What do you use it for?", "replies": [{"id": "hpn2okt", "text": "It\u2019s basically google maps with who the owner is (LLC and/or name of owner) plus outlines of property, great sales comps, property descriptions, etc.. basically everything you\u2019d need to get info on an owner. Can also see an owners whole portfolio if they have multiple properties", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpglp70", "text": "I have tried crexi and the interface is fucked up, they also sell you a \"pro\" account that claims to give you \"market intelligence\", but then withhold 50% of that info and try to upsell you on \"pro full\".\n\nAlso, I had unpublished drafts of properties that I had not got the full exclusive on get published on crexi's end, which was a major fucking disaster. Their Filipino support people  had no clue why this was a big problem. \n\nThey promised to send a written explanation,  and as we were on the phone, their entire website went dark, lol...  Very sketchy operation it seems.\n\nAnyways, by the time you go from \"pro\", to \"pro-full\", you are getting close to a costar subscription.\n\nInterestingly, I just spoke with costar and they changed their pricing plans, lady told me $455/mo for the *entire country*, not just my backwater.\n\nThis is for a broker, not sure what you do, price might be different. \n\nCall for yourself, but she said they changed their pricing plans in back in July, I hate them as much as the next guy, but at this price it is an easy choice. Get it now before they jack rates up again (once crexi is litigated out of existence). \n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nGood luck", "replies": [{"id": "hpgu7uo", "text": "I was a user of Crexi when it was free and I was so impressed, really thought they had a chance to compete with Costar. They are now a pay option and I do use them as well as CoStar, however it's just not the same. It's more of a supplement than a replacement.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hph6jqc", "text": "They quoted me $1300/mo a year ago for a single user on ONLY 3 COUNTIES IN MY STATE, what the fuck?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpgmsch", "text": "The property appraiser and Internet is free. But if your time is worth anything just pay for costar/loopnet and go on about your way.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpgp87s", "text": "That\u2019s like asking the question should I buy a car? Or should I walk. Walking may get you there, it\u2019ll just take you 3000 years. Unfortunately I don\u2019t think you can actually do commercial real estate for a living (as a broker or similar role) without CoStar", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpgu01s", "text": "Costar is literally the best software, but unfortunately also the worst option. Other companies simply don't have the data or money to compete with costar and if they do, they get sued into oblivion (RIP Xceligent).\n\nUnfortunately they are all too aware of this and will continually increase prices while changing offerings in a way that's beneficial for their pockets and if you can't pay, you can't play. Some markets/offices may be able to get away without using it, but in most cases you'll be at a disadvantage to everyone else with access.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpgwi0v", "text": "As others have said all though costly and far from perfect, costar is simply a requirement for this industry.  Without it you simply can not provide the data to your clients in a fast and convenient way. Others sites like Crexi can be used in parallel but can\u2019t replace it still.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hph39yi", "text": "So, questions:\n\nAre you in a metro?\nWhat is/are your asset class(s)? If MF, under or over 50 units?\nWhat data are you looking for?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hphadcn", "text": "The sad fact is Costar is the best option for a listing agent like myself. They are a monopoly and total trash and there should be anti trust action taken against them. Since this is merica and that will never happen. Our best bet is to be subversive in order to take down the beast. Every time they call me to get comp information I politely withhold and start talking to the rep about unionizing. Burn them down from the inside and never disclose information to them.", "replies": [{"id": "hpiocgv", "text": "This is a little tiny monopoly in an area of the economy that doesn't directly affect 99.9% of the population. There is no political 'win' in attacking CoStar. The best we can do is to contribute to our local MLS. \n\nI know brokers hate doing it, but that is the only way.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpheuuz", "text": "Are you a broker or investor?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hphuh78", "text": "What would it take for a software startup to enter this area and succeed?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpiav5i", "text": "Really depends on what data you're looking for. I've used CoStar for NYC data, in some cases it was quite helpful (market data/comps for commercial lease-ups in FiDi) and other cases total crap (data on retail leases in Midtown, and institutional nonprofit purchase/sale/leases city-wide). Either way, data isn't consistently reported across listings and is frequently *too* incomplete, since it's self-reported most of the time.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hpl1eio", "text": "I'd check out [MyEListing.com](https://MyEListing.com). It's a newer platform, but actually free to use without the tiered subscription BS others try to pitch. They already have a pretty good presence in most of the more populated cities in the US, and they also give you demographics reports and their comp software for free. Seems to be structured like Google where they offset the cost of the site by selling ad spaces instead of users paying a subscription.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]