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| Message from the Founder |
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October 11, 2006: Big day, as the Northeastern University newspaper published an article about Landlord Review.
This is the first article about the website and I hope that those NU kids read it and get inspired to check out the site and write some reviews.
Take a look at the article
here,
which requires registration to view (but anyone can register).
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September 28, 2006: I rec'd a cool email from an anonymous fan today.
I went to look for apartments yesterday for the first time in a few years
and was trying to explain to my new roommate that landlords can really ruin
your living experience. I then thought of the idea to start a webpage to
review landlords because I have talked to many many many other people that
have had similar problems as I had- with no retribution to the landlord.
Looks like you have a great start to that idea with your website. My idea
was a little different in target area - everyone I talked to seemed to have
problems in a College Town and remember these problems still to the day.
With the fresh set of faces every year it is real easy for a landlord to
just keep ripping people off (which after looking at your site appears to be
a problem in cities as well) In my situation one of my roommates talked to a
lawyer about filling a suite, and was told this landlord gets sued about
once a year. I will never forget that guys name, but I live no where near my
college town these days.
Anyway I just wanted to say good luck with your website and getting the word
out. I think it is much needed out there. Think about adding a College
Rentals section.
Thanks,
CC
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September 24, 2006: I'm still trying to get the word out on the site. I've contacted college newspapers at Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Northeastern,
Boston University telling them about the website and hope that they'll pick up the story. I've also written to the Boston Phoenix and Weekly Dig (weekly 'zines) to see if
they want to cover it. Also looking at the hub of all WOM (word of mouth), NYC. Going to contact Village Voice and some other publications to see what they say about the
website.
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September 20, 2006: New city added - Portland, OR.
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August 18, 2006: Not so sure that I love the Google ads. The problem is (as I'm sure you've seen) is that all of the freakin' ads
are targeted for landlords, not tenants. I'm trying to figure this out so tenants have meaningful ads that they'll click on and make me a little bit of dinero.
But it doesn't seem to be going so well so far. As I tweak the site and ads, I hope that you'll see this improve. AND THEN CLICK AWAY!!!
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July 21, 2006: We've just added our first new city. Your can now review your landlords in Atlanta.
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June 31, 2006: Two months down and word is getting out. We've set up all the Google stuff so we are easy to find and even advertised on www.Facebook.com.
We're definitely targeting the college and young professional crowds in metro cities, so if you have the means to get the word out to these folks, plesae let me know!
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May 30, 2006: Been a little slow lately, but that's because I'm now a father! Just had a baby girl a few days ago. Very exciting, but I fear that I
won't be able to promote Landlord Review as much as I'd like over thee next few months.
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April 24, 2006: Welcome to Landlord Review! Do you know what the primary cause of a "bad rental experience" is? It is the landlord or
management company treating the tenant unfairly. And the tenant is the one that has to suffer, either by putting up with
it or by breaking the lease, incurring the monetary penalties with breaking the lease, and then deal with the
inconvenience of moving. A bad landlord leads to stress and financial loss, and until now there was no way of knowing what
to expect from your landlord until it was too late.
As a renter for over 12 years in various cities, I know that it is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to learn anything about a landlord or
management company before signing a lease. The information just isn't out there. In general,
it doesn't seem like anyone is actually looking out for tenants, so I've created Landlord Review so we
can start taking care of each other.
I think that it's ridiculous that tenants are expected to commit thousands and thousands of dollars to a landlord or
management company when you know nothing about them. Would you buy
a $15,000 car without doing any research? Of course not. It's this
"information imbalance" that Landlord Review will try to correct. Shout
the praises of good landlords, and warn each other about the bad ones.
Only by banding together can we hope to make the bad landlords better,
reward the good ones with referrals, and make the tenant experience a
better one for all of us.
Check back as I'll be writing on a semi-regularly basis on the progress and reception of Landlord Review.
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If you have something to share, just send me an email at founder@landlordreview.com.
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