CoStar Alternatives

[Jwalker]

Hello, we are a small office with only 4 of us. and have for the longest time been using loopnet/costar. However as I'm sure you all noticed they raised their prices to something we cannot realistically afford. What are some good alternatives, we do all types of properties in rural areas and some that require nationwide searches. We're open to anything.

Forgive me if this has already been posted, I'm not the best at searching through threads.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Yes. Not cheap. But if you are using nationwide sales??? Then surely you best be charging a nationwide price, especially rural. Curious what kind of property is so scarce you need to leave Texas...or is the nondisclosure an issue? I do poultry farms, auction barns, and have done rural fire stations, schools, hangars, warehousing, small town stores, etc. Only a couple of those did I need to resort to LoopNet and no more than a couple of adjacent states. If it isn't any closer than that is it really comparable? So once I ID a property sale, sometimes it is simply an issue of driving there and asking the owner.

I do mineral rights and quarries. Occasionally I help a machine appraiser with a disposal well or small facility of oil, and again I feel like direct contact with the owner or seller is superior to LoopNet. But again, I'd simply add to your fee sufficiently to cover the expense of LoopNet if that is the only source you have.

 

[Jwalker]

Sounds like you're in a similar market to us, 99% of the time we stick to our local MLSs for data because the markets are generally local. But, Occasionally we have been asked to appraise large scale industrial properties, the most recent being 1 million sf complex. We only do maybe 1-2 a year if that but we must consider a national market to be effective. We just don't know if there even are any alternatives to CoStar, we have called other appraisers in our region but everyone is old school so were just weighing options. We wouldn't want to double the fee just to cover those couple jobs a year if we don't have to.

Even if we paid a fee for access for a limited ammount of time that would be enough.

The client that requests these has been loyal so we just don't want to double the fee on them without exploring all other options

 

[Deleted member 126639]

Hello, we are a small office with only 4 of us. and have for the longest time been using loopnet/costar. However as I'm sure you all noticed they raised their prices to something we cannot realistically afford. What are some good alternatives, we do all types of properties in rural areas and some that require nationwide searches. We're open to anything.

Forgive me if this has already been posted, I'm not the best at searching through threads.

First, I would try to explain to them your situation and see if you can get on a sliding scale. Then, you need to seriously expand your business to make it feasible.

To me, I don't understand the argument. Costar at most costs the equivalent of 2 residential appraisals a month. 2 days of work to have the only real data source, and what has become a de facto monopoly is not bad.

Costar can good to appraisers. They only get 10% of their revenue from appraisers and are not out to screw us. You just need to increase your efficiencies, take on residential work for supplemental income, or get higher fees from doing more complex work. Dropping Costar means you'll be doing the lowest end work, permanently.

 

[Michael P Jacobs MAI]

What RebelNYC said... it's the cost of doing business. It should be the last thing you drop right up there with your car and computer. If you think you're not making money now, wait until your clients learn you don't have data on hand. It might be time to ask some very difficult questions. It breaks my heart to lay it down like this to you, but...

 

[Jwalker]

First, I would try to explain to them your situation and see if you can get on a sliding scale. Then, you need to seriously expand your business to make it feasible.

To me, I don't understand the argument. Costar at most costs the equivalent of 2 residential appraisals a month. 2 days of work to have the only real data source, and what has become a de facto monopoly is not bad.

Costar can good to appraisers. They only get 10% of their revenue from appraisers and are not out to screw us. You just need to increase your efficiencies, take on residential work for supplemental income, or get higher fees from doing more complex work. Dropping Costar means you'll be doing the lowest end work, permanently.

It sounds like the next time we get a request for one we're just going to have to include the subscription cost in the bid.

We cover a large area and only average one a day if the appraisal is local, otherwise were spending half the day driving. For just residential we can each average 3-4 a week. Commercial jobs average 1 a week.

The point is we maintained our subscription only for these 1-2 jobs a year when we needed it. All other jobs can just be done with other local data. There are only 4 other commercial appraisers in a 75 mile radius, who also to our knowledge do not use CoStar. It doesn't make since to dedicate 2 appraisals a month for the one or two jobs a year.

 

[RCA]

Prices have dropped tremendously this past year. I have been on the verge of signing up for my area. But I am busy with some other things. But, yes at some point, I will start accepting commercial orders ... possibly.

Besides which, they more or less have a monopoly. But if you get stuck with their contract, you have to be sure you are going to get enough business to make, I would say about 5 times the cost (a good ball figure, my way of thinking).

Of course the problem is that you may be able to get business only at the cost of marginal profit. But, I'm semi-retired ....

 

[George Hatch]

It sounds like the next time we get a request for one we're just going to have to include the subscription cost in the bid.

We cover a large area and only average one a day if the appraisal is local, otherwise were spending half the day driving. For just residential we can each average 3-4 a week. Commercial jobs average 1 a week.

The point is we maintained our subscription only for these 1-2 jobs a year when we needed it. All other jobs can just be done with other local data. There are only 4 other commercial appraisers in a 75 mile radius, who also to our knowledge do not use CoStar. It doesn't make since to dedicate 2 appraisals a month for the one or two jobs a year.

Reading the user reviews of the various companies CoStar runs - including COMPS - is a real eye-opener.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I've always used LoopNet to find the sales I need and no more, so the cost is per comp - much less than monthly, but for 4 people, not too bad is it? They bypass is to find the sales on independent sites and physically research them. No step for a stepper.

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[Pittsburgh Pete]

Do you have only one access subscription or four? Took a bit of time but I was finally able to reduce are connections from three to two and we saved a significant amount of money. Contact you local Costar rep and see what he can do for you.