How Important are Online Ratings?
December 22nd, 2009 | 
Author: 
After an owner of 7,000 apartment units recently put his hands up in exasperation when I brought up the subject of online apartment ratings, I decided to do some research on the topic. I looked up one of his apartment complexes and the first google result was apartmentratings.com. Of the 167 reviews posted since 2001, most were negative and boiled down to a few categories: incompetent management, unfriendly leasing agents, too many bugs, the walls were to thin, and it took too long for snow removal. Despite a new website with live chat capability, rental rates and availability information, virtual tours, and floor plans, the online image was not very good because of the negative ratings.
Online apartment rating websites allow anonymous users the freedom to post with no accountability. Anyone can post anything. Because of the way google and other search engines rank websites, the rating sites are often the first search result to show up when a potential renter searches for an apartment. So, how much weight do renters give to online apartment reviews when deciding to rent an apartment?
Not satisfied with the generic content available online that states the obvious, i.e., that it is important for property managers and owners to protect their online reputation, I surveyed 10 of my classmates who graduated with me in 2009 and are now renting their first non-college apartments. Of the ten, four live in NYC, two in Boston, three in DC, and one in San Francisco. The results, in descending importance are:
- Price
- Location
- Online Review
- Word of Mouth
- Amenities
Clearly, price and location are the most important factors. But once a potential renter has decided on a location and price range, the online review can be the difference between your apartment being rented or your competitor’s. One friend that lives in DC opined that she “took the online reviews with a grain of salt, and if there was a mix of reviews, I didn’t pay much attention. But if they were all negative, that was obviously a sign to stay away.”
Another said that he “used online reviews as a way to judge the management” and that the reviews are “specifically harsh to bad management, and point out problems that were hidden from people when they initially signed the lease.”
The main point I took away from my informal survey was this: online reviews are becoming increasingly important and cannot be ignored. Online reputations must be constantly managed. Negative reviews are bound to happen no matter how wonderful the property and the management are. Someone will be disgruntled because their neighbor has the TV on too loud, the maintenance guy wasn’t there instantaneously, or the management had the nerve to charge the late fee that the renter agreed to when signing the lease.
There are several ways to combat negative reviews. One way is to post anonymous positive reviews about your property. I’ve heard of property owners having interns pretend to be tenants and post positive online reviews. I wouldn’t recommend this. Readers can sniff out this content as fake, and it can really tick off tenants and cause them to write even nastier reviews, which you cannot delete. Managers must respond to online reviews and use the sites as a forum to engage in constructive conversation. A negative review about cockroaches that has a follow up comment posted by management saying:
“Thanks for alerting us to this problem, although we cannot address the issue unless you report it to us. Please contact the maintenance department and we will work to solve the problem. Sincerely, ABC Apartment Company Management”
shows other readers that management is actively trying to solve the problem and cares about the tenant’s needs.
Another approach is to flood the internet with positive content and to strive to have your content rank higher in the search results than negative ratings. Potential renters don’t often look below the first few search results, so if you can control that content, you will minimize the impact of negative reviews. Some ways to control this content include improving the search results of your website (ways to do so can be found here), creating a blog to post positive content about the apartments, and making sure that you post apartment listings on as many apartment search sites as possible.
Managing an online reputation is time consuming and difficult, but essential to attracting new tenants.
Richard Weidel, a graduate student in the Cornell University Program in Real Estate, can be reached at richard.weidel@gmail.com
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Rich, this is an interesting post and highlights the way the internet and social media is changing the business. While searching for my first apartment in NYC, I didn’t pay too much attention to the online reviews. Rather, I spoke with some of the current residents of the building to get a less biased opinion of the building. Since posting reviews is anonymous, it’s my opinion that one will only post if they had an exceptionally bad experience. This brings up a needed change to the rating websites. There needs to be some sort of accountability, you should be able to post anonymously, but required to register, which will allow management to better interact with the tenant.
I think the only solution is responding to the bad reviews and solving the issues, rather than taking a round about approach to flooding the net with positive reviews. It should be abut fixing the problems, not hiding them. Unfortunately for tenant in NYC, vacancy rates remain extremely low and give all the power to the landlord.