Online reviews can tell a bigger story, with most falling into one extreme or the other.
SEATTLE—While Millennials are now buying houses, approximately 34% of Americans are still renting, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council. Because the reviews people share online can tell a bigger story, Rent.com took a look at apartment reviews to examine what trends are evident in the data.
Most apartment reviews fall into one extreme or the other–either very positive or very negative. In the last six months, 72% of all online reviews gathered in this data were either a 1 or 5 (on a scale from 1 to 5). And some states skew more positive than others when it comes to reviews. Nationwide, the average reviews sit right in the middle of the scale at 3.2.
Apartment staff and management are the biggest factor in determining whether an apartment reviewer has a positive or negative experience. Staff, manager, management and office are all terms that fall into this category and half of all reviews analyzed mention at least one of these topics.
Parking is another major factor, with 14% of reviews mentioning it. Many times, renters struggle with not enough parking in general, guest parking and parking close enough to units.
Based on states with at least 50 reviews, the most positive reviews are for multifamily properties in Idaho, New York and Delaware. These reviewers rate apartments in those states above 4 stars on average.
The most negative reviews were found in Washington and Oregon, with average ratings of 2.1 and 2.3 respectively.
“In Oregon, there were complaints all over the board about the apartment itself, maintenance and the lack of management response. Other complaints include mold, old carpet and lack of fixing broken items like dishwashers,” Brian Carberry, director of content at Rent.com tells GlobeSt.com. “In Washington, the complaints focus on the lack of staff/management support and responsiveness. Staff says amenities will be fixed and then they aren't, and staff is not in the office at the end of the day to retrieve packages.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
