Welcome to The Resident. Each month, we explore multifamily reputation and sentiment data. Our research is based on the Widewail Multifamily Reputation Index, a database of 400,000 resident reviews. For more, go to widewail.com/data.
This review is real and pulled directly from Google. 4-stars, by John:
“We are very pleased to have found this property. The floor plans are very generous, and the grounds are gorgeously kept. The amenities are wonderful, especially the pool. Parks are nearby, and shopping is very close and incredible. Chris is the clubhouse's best point person and has been welcoming!!! Thank you, Chris. The appliances are of lower quality than expected. The pool is fantastic (a huge reason why we moved here), but we have learned it needs constant attention because it's enormous, and hopefully, the pool restrooms will be up and running soon. Been closed all year. Sam is the head of maintenance. The man is incredible. He works his tail off. The residents are very nice. It's a very quiet and lovely place.”
This review conveys tension: a clash of expectations and reality. We see this in our data analysis. A resident's relationship with a single topic can evolve, good to bad or bad to good, over the duration of a lease.
The question is: Will John renew?
His view of the community is mostly positive.
| John's Positives |
John's Negatives |
Topic Ranking, Renewal, Positive (Ranking out of 49 topics) |
Topic Ranking, Renewal, Negative (Ranking out of 49 topics) |
| Pool |
Pool |
19 |
20 |
| Aesthetics |
|
9 |
|
| Location |
|
3 |
|
| Onsite Teams |
|
1 |
|
| Maintenance |
|
2 |
|
| Noise |
|
27 |
|
| Neighbors |
|
13 |
|
| |
Appliances |
|
31 |
Above, I’ve laid out each topic John mentions and its associated topic ranking for reviews during the renewal lifecycle stage for the industry on average – i.e., how impactful this topic is on renewal when mentioned in a positive or negative context.
John is impressed with many influential topics and disappointed with two low-impact topics.
But, the pool is bothering John the most. It's not meeting expectations.
In more general terms, we see this trend in industry-level feedback data for “amenities.”
During the Tour phase, amenities tend to attract. Positive mentions are 60% over the benchmark, making amenities the #3 driver of positive tour reviews.
But have a look at the 10 most common negative review topics during the renewal stage:
| Rank |
Topic |
Benchmark |
Renewal |
Renewal vs. Benchmark |
| 1 |
maintenance |
34% |
41% |
20% |
| 2 |
management |
29% |
38% |
31% |
| 3 |
rent |
10% |
26% |
164% |
| 4 |
communication |
22% |
25% |
14% |
| 5 |
onsite teams |
20% |
19% |
-3% |
| 6 |
safety/security |
16% |
16% |
0.7% |
| 7 |
parking |
11% |
16% |
42% |
| 8 |
leasing process |
7% |
16% |
111% |
| 9 |
move out |
8% |
13% |
66% |
| 10 |
amenities |
7% |
13% |
80% |
Negative mentions of “amenities” spike 80% over the benchmark, moving up from the #17 driver of negativity in all reviews to the #10 driver when filtered for renewal reviews.
John’s point about the pool illustrates this nicely.
“The pool is why we moved here” turns to “we learned it needs constant attention” turns to “it has been closed all year.”
Expectations set at the beginning of the lease linger and influence the resident’s perspective down the road.
Action item: with leasing season wrapping up, do your communities have any amenities that could cause problems this year? Act early and communicate clearly to set expectations.
Shifting the narrative now will minimize the expectations gap.
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We've also put out some informative reports on measuring resident experience. Find them here.
Jake - Director of Marketing
