This article presents the first systematic analysis of residential satisfaction ratings from the largest consumer comment Web site for U.S. apartment residents, www.ApartmentRatings.com. Using the 464,281 tenant satisfaction ratings posted from January 1, 2000, to January 1, 2007, we examine the relative importance of seven core factors in determining tenant satisfaction: parking, noise level, landscaping, safety, building construction, office staff, and maintenance service. Cross tabulation, ordered logit, probit, and path analysis models all point to tenant relations with management office staff as the most influential factor in tenant satisfaction. The fact that the manager—tenant relationship exists for tenants but not for homeowners may help to explain why the gap in residential satisfaction between owners and renters persists even when controlling for other physical environmental characteristics.
Adam, E.K., & Chase-Lansdale, P.L. (2002). Home sweet home(s): Parental separation, residential moves, and adjustment problems in low-income adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 38, 792-805.
2.
Ahlbrandt, R.S., Jr. , & Brophy, P.C. (1976). Management: An important element of the housing environment. Environment and Behavior , 8, 505-526.
3.
Allison, P.D. (1999). Logistic regression using the SAS system: Theory and application. Cary, NC: SAS Institute .
4.
Barcus, H.R. (2004). Urban-rural migration in the USA: An analysis of residential satisfaction. Regional Studies, 38, 643-657.
5.
Bickart, B., & Schindler, R.M. (2001). Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information. Journal of Interactive Marketing , 15, 31-40.
6.
Chevalier, J.A., & Mayzlin, D. (2006). The effect of word of mouth on sales: Online book reviews. Journal of Marketing Research, 43, 345-354.
7.
Chiou, J.S., & Cheng, C. (2003). Should a company have message boards on its Web sites? Journal of Interactive Marketing, 17, 50-61.
8.
Dellarocas, C. (2006). Strategic manipulation of Internet opinion forums: Implications for consumers and firms. Management Science, 52, 1577-1593.
9.
Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2000). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. In E. Diener & E. M. Sug (Eds.), Culture and subjective well-being (pp. 185-218). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
10.
Dreier, P. (1982). The status of tenants in the United States. Social Problems, 30, 179-198.
11.
Easterlin, R.A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abramowitz (pp. 89-125). New York: Academic Press.
12.
Easterlin, R.A. (1995). Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 27, 35-48.
13.
Eckenrode, J., Rowe, E., Laird, M., & Brathwaite, J. (1995). Mobility as a mediator of the effects of child maltreatment on academic performance. Child Development, 66, 1130-1142.
14.
Elsinga, M., & Hoekstra, J. (2005). Homeownership and housing satisfaction. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 20, 401-424.
15.
Frey, B.S., & Stutzer, A. (2000). Happiness prospers in democracy. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1, 79-102.
16.
Glaeser, E.L., & Shapiro, J. (2003). The benefits of the home mortgage interest deduction . Tax Policy and the Economy, 17, 37-82.
17.
Harmon, L.C., & McKenna-Harmon, K.M. (1994). The hidden costs of resident dissatisfaction. Journal of Property Management, 59(3), 52-54.
18.
Huang, J.-H., & Chen, Y.-F. (2006). Herding in online product choice. Psychology and Marketing, 23, 413-428.
19.
Kahn, M. (2000). The environmental impact of suburbanization. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 19, 569-586.
20.
Katz, B., & Turner, M.H. (2007). Rethinking U.S. rental housing policy (RR07-10) . Cambridge, MA: Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
21.
Kelley, H.H. (1967). Attribution theory in social psychology. In D. Levine (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 15, pp. 192-238). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
22.
Kim, S.B. (1978). Landlord and tenant in colonial New York. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
23.
Kraus, M. (1971). America and the Irish revolutionary movement in the eighteenth century. In R. B. Morris (Ed.), The era of the American revolution (pp. 332-348). Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith.
24.
Kulcarni, A.V. (1983). Relationship between internal vs. external locus of control and job satisfaction. Journal of Psychological Researchers, 27, 57-60.
25.
LeBrassuer, R., Blackford, K., & Whissell, C. (1988). The Leford test of tenant locus of control: Introducing an effective measure relating locus of control and housing satisfaction. Environment and Behavior, 20, 300-319.
26.
Lu, M. (1999). Determinants of residential satisfaction: Ordered logit vs. regression models. Growth and Change, 30, 264-287.
27.
Luttmer, E.F.P. (2005). Neighbors as negatives: Relative earnings and well-being. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120, 963-1002.
28.
Martin, P.L. (1976). The Supreme Court's quest for voting equality on bond referenda. Baylor Law Review, 28, 25-37.
29.
Mayzlin, D. (2006). Promotional chat on the Internet. Marketing Science, 25, 157-165.
30.
Morin, R. (2003, February 1). Scholar invents fans to answer his critics. The Washington Post, p. C01.
31.
Morris, E.W., & Winter, M. (1978). Housing, family, and society. New York: John Wiley.
32.
Myers, D.G. (2000). The funds, friends and faith of happy people. American Psychologist, 55, 56-67.
33.
Obrinsky, S., & Stein, D. (2007). Overcoming opposition to multifamily rental housing (RR07-14). Cambridge, MA: Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
34.
Putnam, R. (1995). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital . Journal of Democracy, 6, 65-78.
35.
Resnick, P., & Zeckhauser, R. (2002). Trust among strangers in Internet transactions: Empirical analysis of eBay's reputation system. In M. R. Baye (Ed.), Advances in applied microeconomics: The economics of the Internet and e-commerce (Vol. 11, pp. 127-157). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Science.
36.
Rohe, W.M., & Stegman, M.A. (1994). The impacts of home ownership on the self-esteem, perceived control and life satisfaction of low income people. Journal of the American Planning Association, 60, 173-184.
37.
Rossi, P.H., & Weber, E. (1996). The social benefits of homeownership: Empirical evidence from national surveys. Housing Policy Debate, 7, 1-81.
38.
Rotter, J.B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80(1), 1-28.
39.
Saunders, P. (1990). A nation of home owners. London : Unwin Hyman.
40.
Senecal, S., & Nantel, J. (2004). The influence of online product recommendations on consumers' online choices. Journal of Retailing, 80, 159-169.
41.
Speare, A. (1974). Residential satisfaction as an intervening variable in residential mobility. Demography, 11, 173-188.
42.
Spector, P.E. (1986). Perceived control by employees: A meta-analysis of studies concerning autonomy and participation at work. Human Relations, 39, 1005-1016.
43.
Welsch, H. (2003). Freedom and rationality as predictors of cross-national happiness patterns: The role of income as a mediating variable. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 295-321.
