Your property's online reputation is in the hands of your residents, and as it turns out, just a few reviews from grateful –or disgruntled – renters can drastically alter your ORA ranking.

There was a lot of moving around on the Top 50 between April and May. Most properties moved at least a few spots, but a few made leaps and bounds in their online reputation, like Three Willows Apartments in Richmond, Va. managed by Thalhimer that moved a total of 31 spots, up to No. 33.

One of the biggest drops on the list was Silverdale Ridge Apartments in Silverdale, Wash. managed by Dobler Management, which dropped a steep 17 spots from No. 21 to No. 38.

However, unlike last month’s update on the Top 50 rankings—where ORA scores were largely changed due to 5,888 properties being added to the data—only 700 properties were added between April and May, putting emphasis on the number of reviews and ratings on the sites.

It just goes to show even a few new reviews for an apartment can completely change a property’s online presence—and could ultimately determine whether a prospective renter will sign with you.

With six properties in the Top  50, Drucker and Falk continues to reign as the management company with the most properties in the ranking. Hawthorne Residential Partners came in a close second with five properties.

Has your property’s online reputation changed this month? Check out May’s ORA rankings below.


Rank Change Property
(City)
Management ORA Score
1 The Kensington
(Boston, MA)
Bozzuto 95
2 Mesa Pines
(Costa Mesa, CA)
Pan American Properties 94
3 Pohlig Box Factory
(Richmond, VA)
Privately Managed 93
4 Westminster Tower
(Tacoma, WA)
Dobler Management 93
5 Whisper Hollow
(Maryland Heights, MO)
Banner Property Management 93
6 Hampshire Apartments
(Schenectady, NY)
Tri-City Rentals 93
7 Hawthorne at Bridford
(Greensboro, NC)
Hawthorne Residential Partners 92
8 Natchez Landing
(Metairie, LA)
1st Lake Properties 92
9 9 Kensington Gate Apartments
(Tacoma, WA)
Dobler Management 92
10 -1 Brunswick House
(Washington, DC)
WC Smith 92
11 Madison Exeter
(Reading, PA)
Madison Apartment Group 92
12 Towne House
(St Louis, MO)
Berkshire Property Advisors 92
13 Barton House Apartments
(Arlington, VA)
Schlosberg Properties 91
14 1 Old Donation Apartments
(Virginia Beach, VA)
Drucker & Falk Real Estate 91
15 Emme
(Emeryville, CA)
BRE 91
16 1 Union Street Flats
(Westfield, IN)
JC Hart 91
17 2 Ashford Club
(Tallahassee, FL)
RAM Partners 91
18 -8 Salisbury Green Apartments
(Concord, NH)
The Hodges Companies 91
19 3 Old Town on the Monon
(Carmel, IN)
Barrett and Stokely 91
20 4 Zenith Meridian
(Englewood, CO)
Shea Apartments 91
21 27 Liv North Gate
(Gilbert, AZ)
IPA 91
22 8 Madison Greenview Terrace
(Lancaster, PA)
Madison Apartment Group 91
23 -9 Madison Reed Farm
(Reading, PA)
Madison Apartment Group 91
24 26 WaterWall Place Luxury Apartments
(Houston, TX)
Greystar 91
25 1 The Crossings at Red Mill Apartments
(Virginia Beach, VA)
Drucker & Falk Real Estate 90
26 The Place at Fountains at Sun City
(Sun City, AZ)
MC Residential of Texas 90
27 19 Hawthorne at the Meadows
(Kernersville, NC)
Hawthorne Residential Partners 90
28 -5 Park Place One Apartments
(Philadelphia, PA)
Fidelity Management 90
29 -2 Village Park Apartments
(Encinitas, CA)
Gaines Investment Firm 90
30 -1 Hawthorne at Main
(Kernersville, NC)
Hawthorne Residential Partners 90
31 1 Mirasol
(Tampa, FL)
Privately Managed 90
32 -12 Walden at Oakwood
(Flowery Branch, GA)
United Residential Properties 90
33 31 Three Willows Apartments
(Richmond, VA)
Thalhimer 90
34 Ridgewood Apartments
(Port Neches, TX)
Privately Managed 90
35 -10 St. Andrews Apartments
(Newport News, VA)
Perrel Management 90
36 -3 1600 Glenarm Place
(Denver, CO)
Red Peak Properties 90
37 -3 Brewster Commons at River Chase
(Covington, LA)
1st Lake Properties 90
38 -17 Silverdale Ridge Apartments
(Silverdale, WA)
Dobler Management 90
39 Broadway Lofts
(San Diego, CA)
AIMCO 90
40 -5 Sunset Garden Apartments
(West Covina, CA)
Sun Garden LLC, 90
41 -1 Carrington Park
(Montgomery, AL)
Greystar 90
42 -3 Bexley House
(Columbus, OH)
JRK Property Holdings, Inc. 90
43 IMT Thousand Oaks
(Thousand Oaks, CA)
IMT Residential 90
44 -8 50 West Broadway
(Boston, MA)
Corcoran 90
45 -4 Del Ray Central
(Alexandria, VA)
Riverstone Residential 90
46 Avalon Shelton
(Shelton, CT)
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. 90
47 -16 Radius Urban Apartments
(Newport News, VA)
Drucker & Falk Real Estate 89
48 1 Chestnut Tree Apartments
(Birmingham, AL)
Sterling Resident Services 89
49 14 Grandview Apartments
(Lowell, MA)
Princeton Properties 89
50 -3 The Hallmark
(Sherman Oaks, CA)
Carlo, Inc 89

Click Here to see the Top 100 ORA Power Rankings.

Please Note: The national average score is 52. Properties with the same score are ranked based on the number of reviews. Higher number of reviews leads to a higher ranking. A change marked N/A means the property was not added to the ORA Power Rankings until after 2014.

Methodology

In an ongoing series of ORA™ Power Rankings, each month MFE publishes a new ranking of apartment properties and management companies based on different parameters. ORA™ Power Rankings is powered by J Turner Research. To arrive at the aggregated score, J Turner Research tracks and analyzes the online reputation of more than 54,000 apartment properties across multiple ratings websites, on a monthly basis. To overcome the challenge of multiple ratings scales, the company has devised a statistical model to establish a single score for each property. This score, based on a 0-100 scale, serves as a benchmark to compare and contrast individual properties—and portfolios—nationally.

Questions?

Please contact the J Turner Research team: [email protected].