What exactly is CoStar

[Smokey Bear]

Is it just a reporting service gathering info from other sources, or do broker's actually list properties with them?

I'm finding more complete and accurate info on the local MLS, and so was wondering where CoStar gets its info.

 

[Mountain Man]

CoStar is a commercial data base and only covers the biggest metro areas. They are a brokers listing service, and appraisers sales data service. They have runners who run around "verifying" sales... but their "verification" is a joke, poor data at best. I use it on occasion, but only as a lead for big money commercial sales. CoStar is very pricey, especially considering the bad data and lack of customer service. Loopnet is a similar type data service and MUCH better priced. I'd say look into it if you are looking for commerical data.

We have other local commercial data services that give the same data as both, but much better verification and price. So like I said, I don't use CoStar or Loopnet much.

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

Cynthia:

There use to be a few people on this form who worked for CoStar. CoStar basically does what commercial real estate appraisers use to do. They collect data from public sources and put it all together and sell it to the public as verified sales. There are many aspects of the company that are lease related rather than sales information. It is my understanding they hire researchers with little back ground and train them to research sales. I do not know much about their lease data.

The data I have been exposed to is fair to average. I have found errors when checking the data with more than one source but it is getting better. However, that is not saying much because all data sources are getting easier to check with other sources. I do not use CoStar anymore in Chicagoland. It is very easy to go directly to the source. If you have MLS here you have Information Services of Illinois (ISI) which is a subsidiary of Chicago Title. ISI records all deed transfers and places the transfer information in real estate taxes for all of the 6 or 8 counties surrounding Chicago. Once you know a transfer occurred you can use Google Earth Pro, Sidwell and pictures within Cook County on line to see if the data is worth investigating further. At this point you have everything CoStar can provide. With the cost of my above method being about $2,000 a year for all the data available (CoStar misses a lot of sales) it seems a waste of money to buy CoStar comps at $50 to $75 a pop.

Steve Vertin

 

[Mountain Man]

BTW, they only include sales over 1/2 million in their data base. So if you are in a smaller town, you won't find much to help you.

 

[PL1957]

BTW, they only include sales over 1/2 million in their data base. So if you are in a smaller town, you won't find much to help you.

If you're in a small town they probably won't cover you at all.

Almost all of our CLIENTS have access to CoStar, so we better make sure we know what in there, whether we use it or not.

Are there alternatives to CoStar? Sure, but they're not as comprehensive, nor are they as easy to use. It's expensive, but in my market, I don't think you can be taken seriously unless you have it.

 

[Smokey Bear]

I have access to it, but on my last job and my current one, I've found the MLS to have better and more information. That's why I was wondering about the quality. If you're going to use a source, you should know what its limits are.

 

[PL1957]

I have access to it, but on my last job and my current one, I've found the MLS to have better and more information. That's why I was wondering about the quality. If you're going to use a source, you should know what its limits are.

I don't know what the limits of your MLS are, but the MLS's I'm familiar with have limited commercial information. For larger properties, commercial brokers don't market via the MLS. If you are dealing with smaller properties, most MLS's will have adequate information, even exceeding what you find in CoStar or LoopNet. As you get to larger properties, the relationship is reversed.

 

[Walter Kirk]

I'm one of the people who used to work for CoStar. I began working for Comps.Com which CoStar purchased. I have posted my impressions of the shoddy work that was done by Comps.Com several times.

I got fed up with the company just after CoStar purchased it. All of the employees who worked in the Philadelphia metro area quit within a period of a few weeks, when CoStar placed it's ad in the paper for new employees they stated that appraisers should not apply. I guess that they were tired of their own employees who were qualified appraisers telling them that their work product was poor.

The only thing that I would use CoStar for is identifying potential comparables. I would not depend on any of the information about the sales listed and I would question whether a sale actually occured. Given the fact that many MLS systems do not have complete commercial data services like CoStar must be used, but not trusted.

 

[Smokey Bear]

What I'm getting at is:

Do brokers LIST their properties on Costar, meaning are they the direct source of the information provided, or does Costar find the sales doing research and then just report it, however inaccurately?

On the last 2 jobs I've worked on, the local MLS was much better (more listings, more accurate), one is a 6 unit apt building, the other an auto body shop.

 

[Jerry Lieb]

Cynthia,

In our market here in So. California, Co-Star has commercial sales that don't show up in MLS. To be comprehensive in your research, an appraiser needs both MLS and another source - county records or Co-Star or something similar to Co-Star.