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Commentary: Apartment ratings

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Feb 10, 2006 by Darren Currin

There is a new Web site quickly gaining popularity on the Internet giving apartment owners and potential investors unique insight into apartment communities located all throughout the nation. At apartmentratings.com, apartment tenants have the ability to post specific comments about the good, the bad and even the ugly of the properties in which they currently reside.

The Web site was initially designed as yet another resource for potential apartment tenants to visit in order to gain more information about a specific property that they are considering leasing a residence at. However, the site has grown with so many comments that it has also become a great resource for owners and investors to gain some firsthand knowledge from the one opinion that counts most: the tenants. This has proven very useful for out-of- state investors who may not be as familiar with the market and are looking to gain inside information on properties before they consider purchasing.

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Since its inception, the Web site has grown to include information on well over 3,000 apartment communities located in the state. A recent check of the Web site showed that there are currently ratings for over 1,500 Oklahoma City area properties and over 1,050 Tulsa properties. In addition to tenant comments, the Web site also tracks rental rate histories for many properties, while also calculating the positive and negative comments from tenants and forming an overall likeability rating for each property.

Comments on the site can range from extremely positive such as I love living at this place, to downright nasty such as living here is the worst experience of my life. In fact, a couple of out-of-state owners in the Oklahoma City area have seen some of the negative comments from their tenants on the Web site and immediately intervened to correct some of the problems that were being reported, many of which were initially unknown by the owners.

There is one inherent problem with apartmentratings.com, which is simply there is no way to delineate which comments are legitimate. Let's face it. There are always at least a handful of disgruntled tenants at nearly every apartment complex, even at some of the best- managed complexes in the city. These are the tenants who were born to complain and are never happy with anything that management does to help meet their needs. One can tell by some of the comments that some of these tenants are just disgruntled with no legitimate or made-up complaints. The reverse is also true in that many managers and owners pose as tenants and post glowing reviews of their properties in order to lure new tenants.

Despite this problem, the Web site still offers a window into the inner workings of a property and can provide information that previously may have been difficult to uncover. For those who decide to visit the site, here is a tip: focus on those properties that have at least 10 or more comments. Properties with only a couple of comments usually do not offer an accurate picture.

Darren Currin is the vice president and research director for OKC Property Research LLC, an independent research and consulting firm specializing in Oklahoma City commercial real estate. He may be reached at (405) 491-6489, dcurrin@cox.net, or www.okcproperty.com.

Business Services Industry

Commentary: Apartment ratings

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Feb 10, 2006 by Darren Currin

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