Out of touch with reality - Research Analyst CoStar Group Employee Review

1.0
Nov 20, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good location. Nice office space at HQ, especially for a glorified call center. Some employees are very bright and committed and try to do the best job they can despite the insanity of a "metric driven" company.

Cons

Only one example is necessary to underscore the dysfunctionality of the organization. The CEO decided to create his own building rating system that would change the Class A, B, and C normally used to 1-5 stars. Not a big deal you say. To accomplish the task, he put all 700 of his researchers on the assignment for three solid weeks. Not a big deal you say. Each of those 700 researchers had to validate the ratings of 4,600 properties (4 million in total). I'll save you the math. That works out to be an average of 90 seconds per property, every minute of every day for the 3 weeks. Let me be clear, not a few hours a day, not even half days, but every 90 seconds for 8 hours a day for 3 weeks. Take a break to get coffee, and that put you behind. The metrics (this is what it means to be a metric driven company) were being watched live to make sure there were no slackers. So how did it turn out? Almost no training of the employees made any consistency questionable. Perhaps this was all worth it, but what company owner would divert his whole staff to a task of this magnitude with no real training, and here's the rub, expect them to keep up with their normal workload.

Explore other reviews about CoStar Group

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good org and team and culture

Cons

KPIs above all, inflated expectations for product

1
1.0
May 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

401k, medical benefits snacks decent base salary

Cons

Working at CoStar Group was one of the most emotionally exhausting sales environments I’ve experienced. The culture on my team was extremely male-dominated, hyper-competitive, and very much “sink or swim.” Collaboration was talked about constantly by management, but in reality the environment rewarded internal competition, territorial behavior, favoritism, and politics over actual teamwork. As one of the few women on the sales team, I often felt isolated and unsupported. Instead of mentorship or coaching, the expectation was basically: “figure it out yourself.” New hires were thrown into difficult situations with inconsistent training and unrealistic expectations, while certain reps appeared to receive stronger books of business, better territories, or more support than others. It created resentment and a toxic atmosphere where coworkers often felt more like competitors waiting for you to fail than teammates. The turnover was incredibly high, which should have been a red flag. Management pushed aggressive quotas and nonstop pressure while failing to address morale, burnout, or fairness concerns. There was also an unhealthy obsession with leaderboard culture and internal politics that made the workplace feel stressful every single day. What disappointed me most was that I genuinely believed in the product and enjoyed helping clients. Many customers loved working with me, and I built strong relationships. But internally, the environment became mentally draining. The constant competitiveness, lack of support, and toxic culture eventually outweighed the positives of the role.

5
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All