Online Apartment Reviews Worthless or Not?
March 5, 2011 8:32 PM Subscribe
Are online apartment reviews reliable? Or does the voluntary response effect make them worthless?
I'm looking at new places and considering apartment complexes, some of which are reviewed online (e.g. apartmentratings dot com). I've stayed at such a complex only once before, which had pretty mediocre-bad reviews (and a few scarier ones) but ended up being completely pleasant. There's obviously a disproportionate of complainers who vent on these sites, but should I take into account these reviews at all or evaluate the apartments without them?
I'm looking at new places and considering apartment complexes, some of which are reviewed online (e.g. apartmentratings dot com). I've stayed at such a complex only once before, which had pretty mediocre-bad reviews (and a few scarier ones) but ended up being completely pleasant. There's obviously a disproportionate of complainers who vent on these sites, but should I take into account these reviews at all or evaluate the apartments without them?
I was just recently looking for our first apartment in a long time (moving to a new city and renting for a while before buying a place). Last time I searched for apartments (1999), these kinds of reviews weren't very common, but now they're everywhere.
I've found that, even more than other types of online reviews, apartment reviews tend to be heavily skewed toward people who are pissed off in some way. Virtually every apartment building or complex I've looked up has had scathing reviews. For the ones with which I have personal experience (e.g. having friends who live there), they're almost always way overblown. Some of the complaints seem relatively legitimate, but are individual (e.g. an annoying bad neighbor). But others are just outlandish. I recall one review of a friend's complex that claimed the pool is so filthy it's unusable. The pool looks pristine to me, and regularly has a good group of people using it. My friend has lived there for four years and said it's always been very well maintained and popular. WTF?
There are, of course, some bad apartment complexes out there. But given that even the good ones have horrible reviews online, I've given up on using the reviews. I just stopped looking at them.
posted by sharding at 8:55 PM on March 5, 2011
I've found that, even more than other types of online reviews, apartment reviews tend to be heavily skewed toward people who are pissed off in some way. Virtually every apartment building or complex I've looked up has had scathing reviews. For the ones with which I have personal experience (e.g. having friends who live there), they're almost always way overblown. Some of the complaints seem relatively legitimate, but are individual (e.g. an annoying bad neighbor). But others are just outlandish. I recall one review of a friend's complex that claimed the pool is so filthy it's unusable. The pool looks pristine to me, and regularly has a good group of people using it. My friend has lived there for four years and said it's always been very well maintained and popular. WTF?
There are, of course, some bad apartment complexes out there. But given that even the good ones have horrible reviews online, I've given up on using the reviews. I just stopped looking at them.
posted by sharding at 8:55 PM on March 5, 2011
I think reviews are a good way to find out what will likely annoy you about a place, but almost never a reason to write someplace off. Eg, I lived in a complex for awhile which had reviews that contained exactly two pieces of information:
- rent is high and gets higher every time you renew your lease
- it takes 5 minutes for the hot water to come on because the pipes are so old
I decided these were things I could live with. But indeed, that 5-minute wait in the morning did start to drive me a little batty, and our rent did seem to keep rising. That said, beyond those two issues it was a pleasant place to live.
If the reviews read "People here keep dropping dead spontaneously" or "The walls are falling down in chunks" or something severe like that, I would take heed. But you can assume that the reviews reflect the worst aspects of the sentiment of residents of the complex, not the average case.
If you live in a place where Yelp is popular, it can be the exception to this rule. eg, in the Silicon Valley people are so used to reviewing everything on Yelp that they may review their complex just for kicks. (Look on Yelp for apartments near Mountain View, CA - there are definitely positive reviews out there.)
posted by troublesome at 9:02 PM on March 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
- rent is high and gets higher every time you renew your lease
- it takes 5 minutes for the hot water to come on because the pipes are so old
I decided these were things I could live with. But indeed, that 5-minute wait in the morning did start to drive me a little batty, and our rent did seem to keep rising. That said, beyond those two issues it was a pleasant place to live.
If the reviews read "People here keep dropping dead spontaneously" or "The walls are falling down in chunks" or something severe like that, I would take heed. But you can assume that the reviews reflect the worst aspects of the sentiment of residents of the complex, not the average case.
If you live in a place where Yelp is popular, it can be the exception to this rule. eg, in the Silicon Valley people are so used to reviewing everything on Yelp that they may review their complex just for kicks. (Look on Yelp for apartments near Mountain View, CA - there are definitely positive reviews out there.)
posted by troublesome at 9:02 PM on March 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
My vote's for not reliable; every place I've ever lived has had reviews saying it was roach infested, even when this was never a problem for us. Also one place we lived, the review complained about "Portuguese maintenance men breaking into our apartment to watch our DVDs" and as far as I know this never happened.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:40 PM on March 5, 2011
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:40 PM on March 5, 2011
I seem to be the exception to this rule - where I live has been pretty darn good, and the online reviews said as much. I doubt they were planted by the manager, because she repeatedly demonstrated her very poor writing skills in notes posted around the building.
posted by Metasyntactic at 9:44 PM on March 5, 2011
posted by Metasyntactic at 9:44 PM on March 5, 2011
Look for what they say. Everywhere--okay, not absolutely everywhere, but tons and tons of different apartments anyway and most of the places I've ever lived--is too expensive, the landlord's slow to make repairs, and the hot water takes forever. This is how apartment living is. Places near campuses are almost always going to have noisy neighbors. Places near train tracks have trains. Young people very frequently don't get their deposits back because they take incredibly lousy care of the places they live. The sun sets in the west and water is wet.
But sometimes they'll mention more specific stuff, and this is what I look for. Specific recurring maintenance issues, and that kind of thing--if one person says it I might not give much stock to it, if it's repeated a lot then it might really be bad. Things to look at, not simply things that would remove a listing from my prospects, mind. I've caught water damage once because at least one review mentioned a mold problem, that was subtle enough I might not have seen it otherwise, so I tend to check now just to see what folks are saying. And one place, for instance, I might not have thought to look since I was looking in the fall, but it turned out the AC units were massively underrated for the size of the apartments. Definitely don't take them as a given, but I don't think skimming them for potential problem areas hurts as long as you take them with a grain of salt.
posted by gracedissolved at 9:53 PM on March 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
But sometimes they'll mention more specific stuff, and this is what I look for. Specific recurring maintenance issues, and that kind of thing--if one person says it I might not give much stock to it, if it's repeated a lot then it might really be bad. Things to look at, not simply things that would remove a listing from my prospects, mind. I've caught water damage once because at least one review mentioned a mold problem, that was subtle enough I might not have seen it otherwise, so I tend to check now just to see what folks are saying. And one place, for instance, I might not have thought to look since I was looking in the fall, but it turned out the AC units were massively underrated for the size of the apartments. Definitely don't take them as a given, but I don't think skimming them for potential problem areas hurts as long as you take them with a grain of salt.
posted by gracedissolved at 9:53 PM on March 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have found apartment review sites useful. If the reviews are mostly obvious shills by the management, then the management is unethical and will likely screw you over. Avoid.
If there are more than a couple negative reviews in the last six months, and these do not seem like they are written by people with unreasonable expectations of apartment living ("ZOMG I can hear my neighbors!") or competitors but mention specific and similar complaints, that's a definite red flag.
If there is none of the above, it's generally fine.
But the best tactic is to watch Craigslist and avoid places that are constantly posting ads. It indicates they are desperate to get their units occupied. This is almost always for good reason. (Sometimes it is because they have just finished a remodel, which could be an exception.)
posted by kindall at 9:57 PM on March 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
If there are more than a couple negative reviews in the last six months, and these do not seem like they are written by people with unreasonable expectations of apartment living ("ZOMG I can hear my neighbors!") or competitors but mention specific and similar complaints, that's a definite red flag.
If there is none of the above, it's generally fine.
But the best tactic is to watch Craigslist and avoid places that are constantly posting ads. It indicates they are desperate to get their units occupied. This is almost always for good reason. (Sometimes it is because they have just finished a remodel, which could be an exception.)
posted by kindall at 9:57 PM on March 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
The last time I rented an apartment, I relied on online reviews and found them extremely helpful. However, my technique was to completely ignore the "star" rating and skim all the reviews for each place I was interested in for themes.. you'll find that the really bad places stand out because the same issues will be repeated by multiple people. Often they are quite amusing, too.
The place I ended up renting didn't get a very good rating overall, not much higher than some of the nightmare places I avoided, but the issues that people were complaining about (impossible parking, overflowing dumpsters, neighbor noise etc) were relatively minor ones that I knew wouldn't bother me much. While I lived there I definitely found these complaints to be true, and was glad I knew in advance.
I think this is much more effective for huge complexes that have a lot of turnover.. it's much more difficult to weed out the 'crazy' bad reviews from the normal bad reviews in a smaller complex.
posted by everybody polka at 11:20 PM on March 5, 2011
The place I ended up renting didn't get a very good rating overall, not much higher than some of the nightmare places I avoided, but the issues that people were complaining about (impossible parking, overflowing dumpsters, neighbor noise etc) were relatively minor ones that I knew wouldn't bother me much. While I lived there I definitely found these complaints to be true, and was glad I knew in advance.
I think this is much more effective for huge complexes that have a lot of turnover.. it's much more difficult to weed out the 'crazy' bad reviews from the normal bad reviews in a smaller complex.
posted by everybody polka at 11:20 PM on March 5, 2011
I had the same problem, eventually picked an appartment that was reviewed by someone as "SATAN'S LAIR", and lived there pleasantly for a year.
posted by tvdveer at 7:27 AM on March 6, 2011
posted by tvdveer at 7:27 AM on March 6, 2011
Every single place I've ever lived (5th apartment building in 5 years) has bad reviews online. Usually it is just things like "the people in the office are MEAN" or "maintenance takes FOREVER." I have yet to have a problem with any place I've ever lived.
The time I read about rat problems, I did not move into that complex. But I had reason to suspect that they were probably true since the complex is in a wooded area, is habited mostly by college students, and is pretty old. One of the best reviews of the place was something like "when i had a rat in my apartment they came right away and got it so I don't know what everyone is complaining about." So yeah, I chose somewhere else.
What I have noticed is that any time someone posts a positive review online they are accused of working for the complex. So who knows what is true. Take most of them with a grain of salt.
posted by magnetsphere at 12:19 PM on March 6, 2011
The time I read about rat problems, I did not move into that complex. But I had reason to suspect that they were probably true since the complex is in a wooded area, is habited mostly by college students, and is pretty old. One of the best reviews of the place was something like "when i had a rat in my apartment they came right away and got it so I don't know what everyone is complaining about." So yeah, I chose somewhere else.
What I have noticed is that any time someone posts a positive review online they are accused of working for the complex. So who knows what is true. Take most of them with a grain of salt.
posted by magnetsphere at 12:19 PM on March 6, 2011
We SO wish we'd trusted the reviews of our current complex. Everything they report has proved to be absolutely true in our experience.
posted by Mertonian at 12:25 PM on March 6, 2011
posted by Mertonian at 12:25 PM on March 6, 2011
Always pay attention to the context of each review to figure out whether the author is a good tenant or a problem child. In my experience, mentions of huge rent increases after the first year usually means the management company wanted the tenant to leave. I've lived in three buildings with "they bait and switched me!" complaints, and my rent increases have always been small to non-existent. Same rule applies to security deposits being withheld. One of my previous buildings had copious complaints about that, and they literally refused to let me pay for some damage caused by the movers when I moved out.
However, a consistent, specific complaint across multiple entries, particular if it's one of the few negatives in each review, is something to investigate.
posted by backupjesus at 12:52 PM on March 6, 2011
However, a consistent, specific complaint across multiple entries, particular if it's one of the few negatives in each review, is something to investigate.
posted by backupjesus at 12:52 PM on March 6, 2011
I've found that, even more than other types of online reviews, apartment reviews tend to be heavily skewed toward people who are pissed off in some way.
Ditto. I had to find a place fairly quickly a few months ago, and was a bit concerned at the high number of negative reviews for my current building (noisy neighbors, tiny floorplans, lots of street noise, etc). As it turns out, most of the complaints were overblown, and I've been quite happy here.
I think the best approach is to read them, but only in addition to checking the place out yourself, learning everything you can about the area, and talking to current residents if possible. If the managing company owns other complexes or buildings in the city, you might want to look at reviews for those as well to give you a better idea of their reputation among tenants.
posted by photo guy at 5:52 PM on March 6, 2011
Ditto. I had to find a place fairly quickly a few months ago, and was a bit concerned at the high number of negative reviews for my current building (noisy neighbors, tiny floorplans, lots of street noise, etc). As it turns out, most of the complaints were overblown, and I've been quite happy here.
I think the best approach is to read them, but only in addition to checking the place out yourself, learning everything you can about the area, and talking to current residents if possible. If the managing company owns other complexes or buildings in the city, you might want to look at reviews for those as well to give you a better idea of their reputation among tenants.
posted by photo guy at 5:52 PM on March 6, 2011
Response by poster: All of these are really good answers and I don't think it's possible to mark any as "best." Thank you all for contrbiuting.
posted by mnemonic at 7:08 PM on April 5, 2011
posted by mnemonic at 7:08 PM on April 5, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'm in a complex now that has been fantastic. If I had read the apartment reviews online, I'd have never gone anywhere near the place.
Find a good management company, tour the apartment building, perhaps talk to some residents who are available when you go on a tour. But don't trust the apartment review sites; certainly don't let them veto a place you'd otherwise like.
posted by JakeWalker at 8:53 PM on March 5, 2011 [1 favorite]