Okay place to start, but get out quickly - Research Associate CoStar Group Employee Review

2.0
Mar 27, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I can't give too harsh a review of CoStar, because it was my first job out of college. They give professionals with little to no experience a chance. The environment is very structured, which keeps most employees focused and sharp. There were frequent training classes or seminars for tips on how to improve interview skills to maintain update frequency on client portfolios. There was certainly a competitive aspect as well, listing group winners on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. The recognition, organization, and incentives here were definite pros. Also, there is a clear path of upward mobility from Research Associate, Analyst, Manager, etc. I found my Manager very accessible and also spoke with senior management a few times because I happened to be a top performer. The regular Town Halls from Andy (CEO) were also beneficial to understand the direction the company was going and how our goals should change. Simple perks like decent break area, fruit/snacks, and building amenities are pretty common in HQ offices as well. The company parties are hosted at impressive venues (museums oftentimes).

Cons

The actual employee program is one that I hope to never experience again. It felt sort of like a factory, cranking orientation groups through weeks of painfully boring training classes prior to their introduction to the actual day-to-day responsibilities. It was almost so regimented that there was zero room for creativity, suggestions, or personal growth. The career path is very limited to Sales or advancing your "Research" skills, which by the way, are not real research anyway but just google maps and archaic public record databases. The environment was also big brother-esque. Every phone call is recorded and employees are often singled out for etiquette, effectiveness, and random review. This keeps employees on their toes, but degrades the morale and overall culture of the group. I do understand the need for metrics as it relates to QA and performance reviews, but the metrics here were so stringent that again, it degraded your attitude and opinion of the company. For example, you have to log a number of phone calls (cold calls and to maintain existing portfolio) per day. These phone calls must be a certain length and quality and vary in purpose... sales deals, rentals, new business, vacant lot inquiries, etc. It can be very tedious trying to extract details on a closed deal from your clients. And you are penalized if they refuse to give you the information, no matter how persuasive you are. That to me, is an immovable KPI that is not entirely within the employee's control. The pay wasn't too great, in my opinion, although the regular review do allow opportunity for bonuses and increases to base salary. All in all, although CoStar gives people a chance, they do not invest in their employees. Point blank, the job as a Research Associate is painfully boring.

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CoStar Group Response
11y
You said yourself that CoStar Group provides a structured environment for entry-level employees and provides them with the information and skills needed to do the job. The brief, two-week period of classroom-style training provides researchers with the knowledge they need to be able to communicate with brokers. You praised the career path, but then said it was limited. Our career paths to analyst and manager roles include training on forecasting trends for markets and how to work with employees, respectively, and take employees beyond the standard duties of the researcher to develop new skills not yet used in their daily work. We offer tuition reimbursement and ample training opportunities internally to focus on certain areas of the industry, which is only the starting point of our personal and monetary investment in our employees. As with every job, there has to be some measurement of work to be able to evaluate the quality of work. We do need our researchers to be active on the phone to communicate with clients, but call number requirements have not been a focus for some time. We do not penalize researchers for being unable to obtain particular details, though they are expected to ask for the information. Calls are recorded, as they are in most communications-based companies, to check for quality, but also for researchers to listen back to the call and check for details they may have missed while inputting information into the system. All researchers have access to their own phone calls for this purpose. Our turnover rate is on par or less than industry standards for jobs with employees with 2 years or less tenure. In regards to compensation, CoStar’s philosophy is to pay competitive with the market and to pay for performance. The Research Associate is an entry level position and we provide our trainees with the knowledge and skills they need to be able to do the job and we compensate fairly for that role. Increase pay through annual merit increases and quarterly bonuses – as our researchers gain more expertise and are able to provide increased services to our clients, we work hard to recognize their efforts and ensure compensation is commensurate with associates’ performance levels. It’s important to note that our information is not free to the public, but because of the high quality of work our researchers do we are able to maintain a 92% renewal rate among subscribers and a 98% renewal rate for clients who have been using the information for more than five years. Few companies can report renewal rates close to ours.

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Cons

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