CoStar Real Estate Manager vs. VTS

Gen-Y and younger will have no problem learning how to use CoStar but its not very intuitive for the older generations (they have to hunt and peck for what they are looking for and have no idea how to manipulate the reporting features)

Incentivized

VTS is well suited for any leasing environment; we use it exclusively for our in-house team, but it is also very functional for brokers and outside agents. We have some people who travel extensively, and they are able to keep abreast of activity through the mobile functionality of VTS. It provides a good set of email digests and reports on key items such as lease expirations and daily activities.

Incentivized

• Nothing
• Charging my card
• Nothing

• Provides real-time detailed reporting to our clients.
• Allows team collaboration and keeps everyone on task and organized.
• VTS is specifically customized for our day to day business transactions which allows for our team complete business transactions in a timely and efficient manner.

Incentivized

• In our market (Portland, OR), not enough users implement the tools that could make CoStar so much better. For example, I specialize in medical but brokers and owners don't take the time to mark medical as an approved use in their buildings so I have to search much longer and cross-reference the data by contacting the brokers directly.
• I find it really annoying that when I download documents CoStar doesn't use smart technology to automatically name my files. It is especially irritating since every piece of marketing we post to CoStar has a relevant file name yet when we download the same file we have to rename it.

Incentivized

• Uploading market data is difficult. They still have you email a document to them.
• Fluidity of pricing. This is getting better, but it's still a bit awkward. On my end, we pay by the square foot. But we have a multi-year contract, so it's annoying to have to continually work on the billing as our portfolio trades and acquisitions are finalized.
• Self help section. Emailing support is very quick and easy. Generally you get correct and helpful information very quickly. But their knowledge library is not robust enough yet.

Incentivized

There is literally not one good thing that I can say about CoStar. They charge my card $450/month because I signed a one-year contract. They provide very little data and properties and most of the time it is inaccurate. Their customer service is atrocious. They overpromise, underdeliver. STAY away from using Costar!

We looked at a number of products when making the decision to go with VTS. What we found was that most of the other products in the space were either real estate addons to SalesForce, or an additional module to a software that was focused on another use, like accounting or property management. VTS was the only product we reviewed that was born, bred, and focused on commercial real estate. It became apparent that it was best in breed at the time, and they have been aggressive at making product enhancements and continuous improvement to stay the leader in their space.

Incentivized

• Since CoStar has linked with LoopNet we have had fewer bad data calls. By which I mean old data from LoopNet that was available to the general public is now more regularly updated through CoStar so we have less confusion with our clients.

Incentivized

• VTS has helped with efficiencies.

Incentivized