Apartment Ratings (Phoenix, Scottsdale: apartments, rentals, live in)

[PhoenixSomeday]

Is there any significant shred of credibility to ratings for apartments at various apartment search/rating sites? Letting those sites tell it, there's not a single decent apartment to be found anywhere. But I have a suspicion that the ratings at these places are largely due to the "Have a good experience, tell 1 or 2 of your friends; but have a bad experience and tell 7 or 8 of your friends" phenomenon. If so, are there any reliable and fair sites to get honest and representative feedback/ratings?

There are so many places that look so nice, but when we eventually move here I don't want to end up in a very well polished turd. I know, visit before commiting - it'd just be nice to be able to weed out any obvious red-flag places without wasting a bunch of time.

[CodyW]

It's very much a case of people with bad experiences being more vocal.

Unfortunately, when you're looking online, you don't have very many options. You can try to find some neutral ground in reading the reviews online - you might be able to see past the anger some people experience and see a more truthful experience. Or you could ask around online (on these forums, etc) for some advice. Chances are rare of people having experience with a specific complex, though.

The only reliable way is to hit the pavement, and talk to people that live in the complex. They're they best source of reliable information. Unfortunately, when you're looking from afar, that isn't possible..

[grmi66]

Other option is to use an apartment locating service. The one I used had a pretty good handle on which complexes were good and which ones were bad. So it saved me from moving into a complex that looked good when I walked around, but found out that it was a popular complex for students at MMI (Motorcycle Mechanics Institute). So the complex got a little noisy on the weekends when they threw parties and all their friends showed up on motorcycles. Instead found a complex filled with workers at a local software company. Most are from India and extremely quiet.

So the service I picked was really good and found a complex that fit what I was looking for and did it within three hours. Saved me a lot of aimless driving around.

[PhoenixSomeday]

Originally Posted by CodyW

It's very much a case of people with bad experiences being more vocal.

Unfortunately, when you're looking online, you don't have very many options. You can try to find some neutral ground in reading the reviews online - you might be able to see past the anger some people experience and see a more truthful experience. Or you could ask around online (on these forums, etc) for some advice. Chances are rare of people having experience with a specific complex, though.

The only reliable way is to hit the pavement, and talk to people that live in the complex. They're they best source of reliable information. Unfortunately, when you're looking from afar, that isn't possible..

That's unfortunate. I figured as much. Had to ask though, so thanks.

Originally Posted by grmi66

Other option is to use an apartment locating service. The one I used had a pretty good handle on which complexes were good and which ones were bad. So it saved me from moving into a complex that looked good when I walked around, but found out that it was a popular complex for students at MMI (Motorcycle Mechanics Institute). So the complex got a little noisy on the weekends when they threw parties and all their friends showed up on motorcycles. Instead found a complex filled with workers at a local software company. Most are from India and extremely quiet.

So the service I picked was really good and found a complex that fit what I was looking for and did it within three hours. Saved me a lot of aimless driving around.

That's awesome, what service was this?

[grmi66]

Originally Posted by PhoenixSomeday

That's awesome, what service was this?

I used these guys and found them easy to work with: North Phoenix apartments - North Scottsdale apartment rentals

The guy who I worked with has been doing this in the Phoenix area for almost 30 years, so he knew right off the top of his head the best places to look. Made 3-4 calls and we had an appointment at the complex I picked within 90 minutes. I work from home, so needed a complex that was somewhat quiet and was told that I needed a newer complex that had stricter building codes and thicker walls. They knew what year the new codes started popping up, so that eliminated 2/3 of the apartments right away. Saved me from a week's worth of driving around.

[PhoenixSomeday]

Originally Posted by grmi66

I used these guys and found them easy to work with: North Phoenix apartments - North Scottsdale apartment rentals

The guy who I worked with has been doing this in the Phoenix area for almost 30 years, so he knew right off the top of his head the best places to look. Made 3-4 calls and we had an appointment at the complex I picked within 90 minutes. I work from home, so needed a complex that was somewhat quiet and was told that I needed a newer complex that had stricter building codes and thicker walls. They knew what year the new codes started popping up, so that eliminated 2/3 of the apartments right away. Saved me from a week's worth of driving around.

Spectacular, thanks a lot.

[Howard Roark]

You have to be a detective on the apartment ratings web sites. Years back I would see clusters of ratings made on the same day. I figured that would be from one individual. The web site stopped allowing individuals to re-rate the apartment. Although they could go to the trouble to get a different account and log on from a different ISP. But not many people do so. Now I think the ratings in some places are very apt. I've lived in my same Phoenix apartment since 2005 and I think it deserves its 77% rating. For Phoenix that is high. I don't want to jinx myself for touting it. Knock on wood!

[Howard Roark]

I will keep this in mind in case I have to move. Yes I like it very quiet, thick walls, and far far away from drunken students and rap noise. So far my place of 8 years has been fine, but things can change.

Originally Posted by grmi66

I used these guys and found them easy to work with: North Phoenix apartments - North Scottsdale apartment rentals

The guy who I worked with has been doing this in the Phoenix area for almost 30 years, so he knew right off the top of his head the best places to look. Made 3-4 calls and we had an appointment at the complex I picked within 90 minutes. I work from home, so needed a complex that was somewhat quiet and was told that I needed a newer complex that had stricter building codes and thicker walls. They knew what year the new codes started popping up, so that eliminated 2/3 of the apartments right away. Saved me from a week's worth of driving around.

[Kris000]

What Cody said is pretty much the way it is. People with a bone to pick are much more likely to post something than someone who's happy. Sometimes there are valid complaints or issues, but there's definitely a lot of made up stuff or massively exaggerated stuff on there too.