Is Costar worth the money?

Question

Hi Everyone,

Anyone have any first hand experience with Costar? My small family business owns and manages some commercial properties in the inland empire, CA. I'm the only "computer savvy" one and I want to try and use some programs or subscriptions in our favor. I've  been contemplating buying the Costar package (which is around $4000 a year). I can deal with the price if the information can create the value in my next transaction. I did a quick google search to hear from other people and the results weren't great. The majority of complaints seemed to be about their customer service which doesn't seem to apply to me. I would like to use their service to research comps, trends or statistics and find any information on my market to better negotiate my leases. If anyone has any suggests with Costar or a different software/subscriptions id love to hear them.

Thanks!

-Patrick Taber

John Wijtenburg · Answer

Information is so ubiquitous today that CoStar is slowly starting to lose dominance. The value you'll get from it really depends on your objectives.

I managed an acquisitions team for a family office for five years, and we only got robust services like CoStar after making a few transactions two years in. It was helpful for comps and market data. We also used it for sourcing off-market deals and special situations.

Generally, if you're very active, CoStar is a must. If you're only doing a couple deals per year, you can probably get all the data you need by building good relationships with brokers, e.g. comps and market trends. They'll provide this info for free to further your relationship.

Some other considerations:

• CoStar - good for lease and sale comps
• Real Capital Analytics - good for sale and refi comps - also collects some lender data
• Trepp - THE source for CMBS data, including property performance
• CityFeet - on market sale and lease information
• Crexi - on market sale information
• Reonomy - property information with owner names and contact info
• LandVision - GIS with multiple data layers

There are many more, but these are the ones that I've used or heard good reports.

Blaire Kang · Answer

Reonomy is an affordable alternative that not only runs sales comps but also provides debt, tax, and ownership information on over 49 million properties in the U.S.

Subscriptions start at $34/month!

Ellie Perlman · Answer

I have CoStar, and they are good when it comes to rent info. Their weakness is in the sale comps info. I live in Cali, and customer service has been great. Another good option is Yardi, which should be cheaper.

John Wijtenburg · Answer

Not really. New sources are coming and going on a regular basis. CoStar is expanding like crazy via acquisition, which comes with more data but also more market concentration and pricing power.

Depending on where you are farming, the free public county and state databases are always good sources for data. GIS is becoming more common for aerial search, and paid public record aggregator services seem to be improving data quality.

These days, a VA overseas dedicated to data and outreach is probably the best investment you can make. Here are some tips:

- establish a solid plan with clear objectives and measurable success

- work in small, weekly project sprints that make data collection, clean up, and enrichment manageable and less daunting

- have a daily huddle (10-15 min meeting) to track progress and handle issues/questions

Kenneth Ch · Answer

Thanks for this post. Any updates based on 2023 changes.

Gene Crapanzano · Answer

Does anyone know what Costar bases its pricing on?  They seem to ask a lot of questions up front and then formulate a price.  Seems to me like it should be based on market maybe but not what you already own...

Steve Morris · Answer

Strange, I think CoStar does way better with sales comps than rent surveys.  Just strikes me that they use apartments.com (owned by CoStar) to generate ASKING lease comps.

What exactly do you want to do with the info?  $4K a year is significant if you're not using it regularly.  If it's just to negotiate leases, probably more accurate you call up the appropriate landlords and ask what they're charging - It's what CoStar does.

Gene Crapanzano · Answer

What is everyone paying for Costar on average?  Every time I call for a quote they ask me more questions then I ask them about what I own, looking for, etc.  Then they come up with an astronomical price. Last  time they quoted me $895 a month.  I think that's a little high especially when there might be better alternatives at this point.  I also hear its negotiable.

Jingru Sui · Answer

Great information on the comparison of each company.  Thanks a lot. If I want to find more off market deals for multifamily, which one do you think is better Costar or Reonomy?I find it hard to locate the true owner on Costar ? I've never use Reonomy before but based on the demo they run I think the function to locate true owner is great. What do you think? Thank you!

Is Costar worth the money?

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