SU added to OffCampus landlord, apartment rating website
SU is the most recent addition to OffCampus, a landlord and apartment rating website created by a Cornell University senior. The database allows students to leave reviews of properties and managers and rate building features. Danny Amron | Daily Orange File Photo
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Cornell University senior Jude Coe launched OffCampus for a computer science course. He founded the landlord and apartment rater website because finding off-campus housing for students is difficult, OffCampus’ Chief Marketing Officer Walter Hunt said.
Syracuse University students have also cited difficulties finding an off-campus lease. Hunt said SU is the newest school to be added to the growing tool’s database.
Hunt, a senior at the University of Vermont, runs the company’s Instagram account for Syracuse, which made its first post on Jan. 30. To increase the number of reviews students are posting, the site’s landmark Instagram account is offering rewards for people who leave reviews.
“The biggest thing is just getting people to sign up…leave a review and contribute,” Hunt said. “What we’ve noticed is people actually get on the site. People leave really, really helpful reviews, and we can also see from the analytics that they come back (to the site) a bunch of times.”
Students are required to create an account using their student email address in order to access the reviews. While no Syracuse landlords have been reviewed, 12 apartments have been reviewed.
OffCampus uses artificial intelligence to create a summary of the reviews for each building and posts it on its dashboard.
Hunt compared OffCampus to other review sites like Rate My Professor and Glassdoor, but for student housing. In addition to writing reviews, students can also indicate whether or not they would choose to renew their leases and can rate different building features such as safety, maintenance and noise.
SU students must live on campus for two years if not living in a Greek life house or commuting, according to SU’s housing policy. After the requirement is met, it is up to the students to decide where they will live off campus.
Sophomores Cora Wendle and Lucy Savarie, who have already made their housing plans for the next academic year, both said OffCampus could help connect those who may not know of any students planning on passing their leases down.
“It’s harder for people who aren’t involved in organizations where they know older people,” Wendle said. “Just because most of housing does happen through leases being passed down.”
Hunt said after the site first launched, some local property managers reached out and were “positively receptive” to OffCampus.
Lauren Stedman, the community manager for Victory at Syracuse, said she thinks the platform will be beneficial for students to provide honest feedback for each other.
“I’m very excited to learn about it and to play around and see the feedback that I get at Victory Syracuse,” Stedman said. “It’s wonderful that there is a safe place for the students to go and communicate with one another and help give advice to younger students (and) older students.”
Stedman said students should know qualities they want in a living space before beginning their off-campus housing search. She said students should create a list of the building features they want, like whether they want homes like Victory or apartment-style living such as Theory Syracuse.
Madison Clark, the sales and marketing manager for The Standard, wrote in a statement to The Daily Orange OffCampus would be helpful for the new apartment building to learn about potential areas of improvement.
“The Standard would really benefit from being on a trustworthy platform like this,” Clark wrote. “It gives students a reliable place to hear honest feedback and allows us to showcase the positive experiences our residents have with our team.”
The Standard is still currently under construction and expected to be ready for students to move in by August, according to The Standard’s construction plan.
Currently, only one Victory property has been reviewed on OffCampus. The resident rated the apartment four out of five stars and said they “100% would renew.”
Molly Tracy, a sophomore education major, currently lives in a house about a 10-minute walk away from campus. She said she prioritized parking when it came to deciding where to sign a lease so she could easily get to her placement school.
After Tracy transferred to SU last year from the University of Colorado Boulder, she was exempt from the housing requirement if she chose, and elected to live in an off-campus house. For Tracy, the OffCampus website is a tool that’s “very much needed.” Tracy said she thinks OffCampus will also help put parents’ minds at ease.
“I feel like looking for houses as a college student is kind of a scary process, especially with off-campus houses, because a lot of times you’re far away from your family,” Tracy said. “This is the first big, adult decision you’re having to make on your own. ”
