CoStar vs. CompStak

[Mountain Man]

Most in the ATL are using Xceligent now. Cheaper and better data.

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

Last year I said I was going to build an MLS commercial system. I have completed the State of Indiana and we are half way completed with Illinois. The truth is this thing cost a lot more time and money than I imagined; however, I have to say this system is friging awesome. The data has been confirmed with three sources, buyer, seller and title insurance company. It provides all motivations for the transaction, financing and conditions of sale. Further it provides more physical detail about the property than most appraisers can dream. In the next week or so it will be ready for beta testing and I am looking for participants. This will be the foundation for all other states and was one of the reasons it took a year to build. If you would like to participate as a beta tester contact me at svertin@aol.com.

I plan on having better data, sell it cheaper and covers every county and township within the states involved. This is unlike any system out there. People who have seen this are blown away. All I have to do, after completing testing is market the thing, but I believe it will sell itself.

 

[PL1957]

I plan on having better data, sell it cheaper and covers every county and township within the states involved. This is unlike any system out there. People who have seen this are blown away. All I have to do, after completing testing is market the thing, but I believe it will sell itself.

Steve, I'm curious. What is the depth of the market for such detailed info? All other proprietary data sources primarily market themselves to brokers, not appraisers. Are there enough appraisers out there to support a "good" data service, as opposed to a "good enough" service?

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

Steve, I'm curious. What is the depth of the market for such detailed info? All other proprietary data sources primarily market themselves to brokers, not appraisers. Are there enough appraisers out there to support a "good" data service, as opposed to a "good enough" service?

That is a great question. We mulled it over for about 2 weeks and came to the conclusion the cost to provide either is about the same. The greatest cost involved is software development. Which is pains taking. When people were b****ing about the time it took to put up the Obama Care website the truth is, it was done amazingly fast given my experience with large data sets. Further you may have read or heard about Oregon closing their health care site because they could not get it to operate correctly and they are not the only state. It is extremely complicated when using massive RDBMS using SQL. Crashes are common if not put together correctly or there is not enough memory. So there is considerable planning even before development. These are the sort of things that cost the most not the type data in-put into the system. Fortunately I have a very close relative who is a CEO for Cisco Systems. He was paramount in directing me to the right people.

As we have discussed before, the data itself is free. It is simply a matter of knowing where to look, what to look for then it is a matter of getting your hands on it. If you are an old timer such as myself, you were doing this long before any of these systems (CoStar, LoopNet....) existed. Further I still work in many County in the States that I am licensed in that do not have MLS systems of any kind. My business model has never been restricted to Chicagoland. So I have nearly 30-years experience finding this stuff. Putting it together with the software developers was a humbling experience.

Further I believe anyone who uses a system (including brokers) really want the best data available. Do you work the State of Indiana? If so when this is ready for beta testing I would be honored if you would like to be involved. You can see first hand what I am talking about. The only cost involved is using the system when appraising in the state and reporting errors or flaws within the software or within the data presented.

 

[josephdifranco]

Very impressive Steve and best of luck. It would be nice to have some competition in this space.

 

[PL1957]

CoStar Group drops piracy lawsuit, but can it claim victory?

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingt...up-drops-piracy-lawsuit-but-can-it-claim.html

 

[leasedfee]

Best wishes Stephen. This industry badly badly needs fresh ideas and the bucks to support it. Here there has been no real progress in data and arguably a decline during the last decade despite doubling of values and extensive new building stock. Denver's commercial Realtor's association destroyed their MLS system by switching platforms twice during that time. It was much more user friendly and very well populated with data circa 2000. Now that they're on Xcelligent it is a ghost town. . . . As I'm a cowardly lion I will quote Revelations 13:3-5. "One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months."

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Leased...it does seem like it is hopeless to fight...the optimist in me says sooner or later we get an upper hand. But with the power of the NAR and the ABA, when we do we best make the best of it as quickly as possible because that fatal blow will heal.

Rev. 6:10, "How long, oh Lord...."

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

We are in the second week of beta test (which will last for 30 days). I was fortunate enough to get 20 MAI's throughout the state (one in also every district) to help test the system. I could not have gotten a better team. The feed back has been extremely helpful in final development and in uncovering bugs.

Very interesting article about CoStar. They are starting to obtain the reputation that AT&T had when they were a monopoly. No one wanted to deal with them but since they were the only game in town everyone was forced to. I believe when a better mouse trap comes and the price is very reasonable customers will flee CoStar service just like they did AT&T. They are not helping their reputation by suing everyone.

The time and money involved in development of this project has been staggering. I understand why CoStar had to go public at one point.

 

[leasedfee]

Thinking aloud. When I started as a research grunt in the mid-90s it had occurred to me that it'd be great if we could save every broker brochure and every article for each and every address. It'd be one massive file room and pipe dream. . . . . It would be interesting if a wiki approach could be created about every property. (( Wikipedia is a terrific cultural contribution. Its topics on history, science, math, literature, music, and biographies are remarkable. Its entry about appraisal is pathetic -- and wrong. ))

With a "property wiki", you could attach new paper articles, old brochures, interior photos, floor plans, sales tid-bids, gossip, and tid-bits. It could be searchable for current listings, past listings, current sales, and past sales. The biggest challenge is how to get brokers, owners, developers, appraisers, tenants, assessors to contribute material. You'd have to have some sort of quid pro quo mechanism -- but people might be willing to contribute if they could get what they wanted out of it. Heck, assessors kinda have already built this as a tightly closed proprietary system. . . . . Some of our poorer counties have much better online public data than our wealthier counties. Go figure.