The consolidation of information in the real estate market is ever increasing as we have noted with the Zillow/Trulia consolidation .. The next to come along is the Costar / Loopnet merger.
Imagine my surprise yesterday when I clicked the"Subscribe to Property Comps"
Get full Access for $74.95/Month and got "Thank you for your interest! To learn more or to make a purchase, please contact one of our associates" Well I dutifully call wondering why I need to call .. I end up getting a call back saying o no we have changed that you must now sign a contract for 12 months at $169 a month .. Like I explained I'm just doing a 4 Commercial BPOS at $100 a pop I don't mind paying the $74 to get access to the comps whichis all over your website I dont need a $2000 a year plan ... and secondly there is not even a mention of this anywhere on their site. But the answer was well we have to change the website but this is OUR PRICE take it or leave it
Costar now effectively owns Commercial data period .. We don't allow airlines to merge like this without going through hoops to prove its not "anti trust" from my 10ft level this is the same. The small guys will continue to be pushed out of every Real Estate market it seems...
The net net .. You cant afford to accept commercial bpos ... Its not cost effective .. so these are my last I will battle through and get them done without Costar ...
Comments
There is another option for commercial comps, this is NOT in every state!! Xceligent.com is reasonable for commercial data. I pay approx. $60 per month for the service. I am a member of the Denver Metro Commercial Association of REALTORS. My Association has a partnership with Xceligent for a reasonable rate. You will have to check if the service is in your state and what the cost is per month! I hope that helps someone.
antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov
Agreed and at $125 and $200 for a full income that takes three hours its a no go. Like I told them the small broker is getting pushed out completely the fact remains they now control the commercial data market ..
Yeah, even though I am a primarily commercial broker, I quit doing commercial BPO's. With the BPO companies not paying what they use to for the BPO's and LoopNet now charging sky high fees just to get sold comp information let alone just to have listing access, I said to hell with it. No more commercial BPO's. I don't work for a major commercial brokerage that pays for my LoopNet/CoStar access.
So I wonder how they got to corner the market with such ease ...
Willie there is no other source that I have found Loopnet is not very good anyway for BPOS half the info is out of date no pictures constant pop ups wanting you to pay for this pay for that. The bottom line is pay Loop 160 a month or pay Costar 440 a month. The only other way is to stay 100% local and use the MLS and property appraiser for data ( via IMAPP) if you have access to it. At least I can complete a commercial I still refer to Loopnet for listings most of them are available.