CoStar Group reviews

2.7

34% would recommend to a friend

(3,018 total reviews)
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Andrew C. Florance

32% approve of CEO

38% positive business outlook

CoStar Group has an employee rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 3,018 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The CoStar Group employee rating is 22% below average for employers within the Real Estate industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
3.0
Aug 15, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good Training, Excellent Colleagues, Innovative Products. Paid expenses, full array of tech devices given to employees(Apple & Lenovo) & plenty of branding with apparel etc...

Cons

Management has a hard time figuring out how to figure anything out. There is a lot of frustration because of how decisions are made and who is put into the better roles. Senior leadership grasps at straws to come up with a new strategy, which never seems to be well thought out and as employees we are just to supposed to deal with it.

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CoStar Group Response
10y
Thanks for providing feedback on your experience as an employee. The Sales department has recently undergone significant changes because of rapid expansion of the company, primarily through acquisitions that have added a large number to the sales force. In order to adequately integrate all the sales forces together, the task was approached from multiple angles and the pros and cons weighed before any decision was made. On the individual level, the leadership team considered a number of factors before determining the most appropriate role assignment. We continually assess what roles/levels are needed in each market and make changes regularly as business needs dictate, and do quarterly reviews of career path promotions as well. We know necessary structural changes won’t always please everyone, but we have been able to better position the department for future growth as our members of the sales force continue to close outstanding deals and make significant headway in the industry. We value our employees’ feedback, both current and former, and take reviews like this into account as we work constantly to make CoStar Group an even better place to work.
2.0
Mar 5, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

+ Good benefits package, much better than most benefit packages in the private sector. + Free food, snacks and transit reimbursement. + Solid base pay (but bonus was another thing).

Cons

+ Metrics, hands down. Insane focus on them, even to the point of being highly counterproductive. Even better, I found out management was deliberately slowing down the CRM client at the end of the bonus period to diminish the bonuses researchers qualified for. I thought at first I was just being paranoid, but then found irrefutable evidence supporting it. Deep credibility loss of the company at this point, especially since they quietly buried my findings. + 2 minute phone calls. Had a top multifamily client who initially was providing essential data, but never ending continuous calls and harassment by sales and other researchers reversed the high profile client's relationship completely and refused to provide ANY information going forward. I don't blame the researchers/sales at all, they had to keep up with their calls somehow. Also, just FYI, one reason you lost a major client in my market (who shall remain nameless) was due to the phone calls. So, good decision to keep this "award winning" metric. + Bonuses. Was told I did everything necessary to earn a bonus one quarter, and it was not paid out despite verbal assurances from Director. That's NOT ok, I kept my end of the bargain in every measure, but the company refused to honor their end of the bargain, and were quite aggressively arrogant about it as well. Needless to say, after that, I merely focused on minimum standards. Why waste my time and resources to end up with nothing? Well, ok, I did get something, a lack of motivation that the clients could read like a book, even over the phone. And no, I wasn't deliberately unmotivated, just kind of hard to keep positive when your misleading me for nonsensical reasons. + Culture. Based on backstabbing, gossip, and frivolous reasons for getting people fired. As much as the company denies this, it's pretty obvious. I was there for 8 plus years, pulling the wool over my eyes is not going to work at this stage. I have every reason to believe the petty culture will continue. Ironically, I was on the good end of this culture, but felt silently ashamed to be a part of it. + Big Brother Atmosphere. People were afraid to hang out in the break room, for good reason. People felt it was bugged, and some conversations I overheard between managers, directors and even VPs confirmed they were at least spying on their employees in weird ways. Yes, it's your company, but does management have enough to do? Maybe 2 minute phone calls for each manager, that way you can keep them busy and explain the overhead to the stockholders.

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CoStar Group Response
11y
We appreciate the feedback, but I wish you would have shared it before you left the company two years ago, as it would have been far more relevant and useful. Our company has massively grown in the last two years and the research department has changed significantly. I have no knowledge of management attempting to reduce bonus opportunities for employees, but Research Associate bonuses are based on a more qualitative assessment now reviewed by both the manager and director to examine that researchers are being awarded fairly. All researchers aside from those on a clearly communicated corrective action plan receive quarterly bonuses. Since you left two years ago, we turned our focus away from quantitative metrics to examine the quality of work our researchers are able to do, and as a result we have seen great progress in the accuracy of our work. But your claims about the company spying on its employees are pretty far-fetched. I can assure you no one has the time to sit and listen to break room conversations.
1.0
Mar 9, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you fall for the propaganda, it's unlimited income potential. Not being stuck in an office all day was certainly a plus. Got some free shirts and a free trip to Maryland for (ahem) training. Met some great co-workers. Got to drive a fun Prius. Decent health care.

Cons

Oh man, where to begin.. From day 1, no make that day -7 (in training) the software had numerous significant glitches. Couple that with no hands on training and you can exponentially increase the amount of time spent to try and meet the required level of performance. (Mostly) clueless managers with no power to actually help those they supervise. A performance/ quality bar that is too high and rigid, instead of tailored to the specifics of the region. GPS tracking and recording of every movement. Continued attempts to create a "competitive" atmosphere, even where it is not conducive. I'm going to stop here, since I could go on for a while with specifics that most people probably won't understand without actually doing the job. Suffice it to say that this company talks a good game up front. The reality is that it has a high turnover rate, is paranoid, has a big brother type culture, has intolerant and inflexible policies and management, and the emperor has no clothes. Work here if you want no life, no appreciation and minimal pay. P.S. Have a good shrink on retainer. Now drop and give me 20.

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