CoStar Group Reviews

Pros

Great benefits, management, resources, and work-life balance.

Pros

Benefits and compensation are excellent
Work life balance is great because you don't have to bring the work home with you (although you'll be miserable and want to drive off the road on your way in to avoid another day of calling the same people and asking the same questions )

Advice to Management

Listen to the concerns of Research. The data lacks integrity with the unrealistic metrics that have been put in place.

Pros

Quality co-workers, lots of fun benefits, and well-compensated

Pros

I'm a fairly new employee, so my perspective may be a little bit skewed, but so far everything has been wonderful at CoStar Group. I've worked at my fair share of organizations throughout the years and I can honestly say that this was the first place where I was pleasantly surprised by the recruiting and hiring process. They were appropriately responsive and forthcoming when I requested information, the interview process was not long and drawn out, and the onboarding process has been above-average.

Other highlights of the organization include:
- Excellent benefits (not just health, but things like commuter benefits and fitness classes)
- Competitive salaries
- Generous amounts of food offered to employees at no cost
- A robust community service and corporate social responsibility culture
- Very nice LEED certified HQ building in Washington, D.C., located close to many Metro stops and bus lines
- Warm and friendly atmosphere

Advice to Management

Communication is key and people are thirsty for it. Don't be afraid to share your successes with the company. You never know how your stories/processes/information may benefit another function of the company and make people more successful or productive. Remain committed to your people -- nurturing and growing their talent -- and they will remain committed to CoStar Group.

Pros

Great office environment, awesome city views, snacks and coffee, top-notch people, and the management genuinely cares about its employees.

Advice to Management

I really like the path the company is going down. Keep it up!

Pros

Great training - 4 weeks
Work environment is very nice. Open concepts and grouped by team.
Great perks such as healthy snacks, coffee and health benefits.

Pros

You work by yourself and have full benefits.

Advice to Management

Nothing much, it's corporate job so it's not like anything will change.

Pros

I wanted to take a moment to paint a real picture of what it's like to work at CoStar. As been overly stated (even in the negative reviews) the pay is competitive, I have several friends in the office who were able to purchases their first home after commencing their work here. The benefits are top tier, which has also been stated repeatedly, and the building, in my opinion is the best in term of aesthetics and views in regards to downtown Richmond. Work life balance is phenomenal, you work 40 hour weeks every week. I want the primary focus of this review to be centered more so around the company, I’ll get to the work aspect in a bit. CoStar wholeheartedly attempts to improve its culture and work environment. I was one of the employees who was hired just a couple of months after it had moved to Richmond. Essentially ever since then, there has been some form of renovations to enhance the ambience, and feel of the work space. Most notably the complete makeover of half of the top floor into a space where employees can go and refresh. They have also recently hired an executive chef who prepares salads among many other things on a daily basis, and mind you this is on top of the $125 we are given monthly to spend in the cafeteria. It is taxed as a form of compensation, which if you use all of it comes out to around $8 bucks a month. CoStar has also sincerely immersed itself within the Richmond community following its relocation. They partner with countless organizations in the city, where researchers are given the opportunity to volunteer for causes they care about. They also sponsor several major festivals and events that take place in Richmond year round. CoStar also donated $2.5 million dollars to VCU last year for the purpose of creating a real estate analytics program. The employee pool is extremely diverse, and is made up of people of a variety of backgrounds, cultures, political views and race. The contributions CoStar has made to the city of Richmond are indisputable. Now getting to the work component of the research role. Let me begin with the fact every researcher that’s hired goes through a four week training program. The program is comprised of two weeks of commercial real estate knowledge, and gaining familiarity with the database, as well as two weeks of conducting research via calling into a portfolio of brokers with listings. You’re exposed to all expectations including metrics. My main point is, you know exactly what you are signing up to do before you get to the floor. Next I want to address metrics. If you are an individual who sets high expectations for yourself and is interested in building a role into a career with a company that is an industry goliath, then metrics will not be an issue. If you’re looking for a job that will allow you to cruise by unchallenged, then metrics will definitely be an issue. I will add this, every researcher is given ample of opportunity to improve their metrics, if they are lacking. There are processes that every manager follows, including a performance improvement plan, which is initiated after consistent low performance, and allows the researcher 30 days to improve their performance, while receiving feedback and coaching from their manager consistently throughout. Moving on to upward mobility, the research roles are the foundation of a career at CoStar. If you can prove yourself in the research department, you are given the opportunity to apply to countless other roles, all across the country. Just this past May, 20+ research associates were promoted to managers, and are currently going through a six month training program involving weeks with professional leadership consultants, and exposure to all aspects of the company. Overall I’m tremendously happy with the decision I made of staying in Richmond, and working for CoStar.

Advice to Management

Continue to engage with the community, and the city of Richmond. Happy hours are also great, having more events where the entire department can come together would be nice.

Pros

great work environment and people to be around

Pros

CoStar is a great place to work, especially right out of college. It is an overall young company and offers so much room for growth. The pay and benefits are awesome and the overall work load is not piled on you. You can manage your days accordingly and take ownership of what you need to get done without managers breathing down your back. You pretty much leave everything at work when you are done as well which is amazing and creates a really nice work-life balance.

Advice to Management

Keep up the great work! I have had great managers throughout my time with CoStar and they all made me feel like they truly believed in me and my growth with the company.