WHERE DID THE REVIEWS GO?
If you have followed RentalDiaries journey over the years, you may have noticed the very core of what it is has changed over the last few month. The reviews of rental properties are gone. But where have the gone?
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
I have largely my personal story from RentalDiaries, as it was never about me – it was about “us” the renters. However, as RentalDiaries closes a chapter, the time has come to share how my journey became ours.
In 2014 I was was living what I can only describe as my rental nightmare. As some of you know, I am part of a military family. I have great love and pride of my military life, but admittedly it comes with some unique challenges. My husband was tasked to be stationed overseas for a year, with two extremely young children I felt the desire to be closer to family. So, with a two month old, a two year old, and two pups, we made the trek across country two weeks before his departure. We quickly found a seemingly nice rental. At the time I had no idea that the lease we were signing would change the trajectory of my professional life.
For eight months I lived what I can only describe as my rental nightmare. As our year neared the end and I counted days to get out I posed the question to a group, “How do I share this rental with others so that no family walks into this home not knowing what it is?”
I didn’t expect the response I got. The amount of comments who shared a wish that there was somewhere for that, or “if you find a place let me know!” I couldn’t believe it, my exact thought was, “I read reviews for a $5 Amazon product before I buy it, why don’t we know reviews for a rental that will cost of tens of thousands of dollars over the course of a lease?” As I lamented over this, my mother said to me, “Why don’t you make it?”
FINDING A SOLUTION
To be clear, I had no background in website building, business startups or marketing. The thought of launching a website was laughable. But the seed had been planted. In 2015 I launched RentalDiaries. I began flooding military communities with requests for rental reviews. The idea was really well recieved, but over the course of the next 9 years, reviews would be slow coming. Why?
I firmly believe renters are in a vulnerable position in the rental process. Renters are screened for finances, from criminal history, for character, for pets, but renters don’t generally have established procedures to screen a property beyond a walk through. Renters don’t have the opportunity to screen landlords who have keys to the property and may or may have reputable business practices. Based off the response to RentalDiaries, I am not alone in this belief, so why are reviews not submitted.
There have been lots of lessons learned since I launched the site. There are several things I would have done different at the onset on the launch if I had the knowledge and experience then that I have now. With that said, I am not sure it would have impacted the lack of reviews, because one thing remains unchanged – renters feel vulnerable. The feedback has been consistent – renters who have endured some of the most horrendous rental property conditions and landlords are afraid their former landlords will continue to victimize them for providing transparency to what the rentals conditions are.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
In 2017 I added a blog to RentalDiaries. Now on our 18th year or renting, my husband and I have one goal when we move into a rental, to transform a rental property into a home. We’ve learned a lot. We read every line of lease now (we didn’t before 2014). We take pictures, sooooooooo many pictures when we move in. We talk to neighbors and sometimes even people who have lived there. We are so much better at record keeping. We even learned about safety measures to take when moving during a pandemic. However, we still make mistakes and learn.
The blog offered a way to share some of our experiences with renters but also to meet some incredible professionals who support renters. From home organizers to interior designers, fitness coaches to property managers, all professionals who want to be part of helping to make the rental process better.
I believe there is still a place for rental reviews, but I haven’t found the right formula for it yet. So, where are the reviews? As RentalDiaries continues to evolve, you will no longer find the reviews posted, at least not for now. The blog will remain up and dedicated to connecting renters to resources and information to ease the rental process. My hope is that RentalDiaries still has a place in making the renting process better.
To the thousands of visitors who have read reviews over the past nine years, thank you for trusting in your fellow renters.
To all of the renters who took the initiative to review properties, THANK YOU! Your courage and willingness to share your experience helped to make renting more transparent, and one day I hope we all get to have that.
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