Tuscaloosa ranked in top 10 for renter satisfaction

By Clara Goode

Tuscaloosa is among the top-ranked college cities for providing rental satisfaction to residents according to ApartmentRatings.com, a popular apartment review Web site.

In a ranking of the top 100 largest university cities, Tuscaloosa came in sixth among such cities as Athens, Ga., and Knoxville, Tenn.

According to Joe Ewaskiw, public relations manager for the Web site, this is the first time they have ever collected all the information that has been gathered by their site over the last 10 years.

The rankings are determined by the input of residents who live in the given area, Ewaskiw said. The site understands those who browse their site are mainly youth who have just graduated high school and college students.

Residents rank different apartment complexes based off of such factors as noise, price and convenience. According to Ewaskiw, ApartmentRatings.com contains around 900,000 complexes that have been rated.

Ewaskiw said the site does not make any sort of deals with rental companies to ensure good ratings. The Web site is independent, and the only profit it makes is based off its advertisements.

Ewaskiw also said he believes the ratings on the site to be pretty accurate based off of the fact that all of the ratings are done by residents themselves.

“We send our congratulations to all the cities and towns that made it to the top 10 … we think it’s a good thing that people are happy with where they are living,” Ewaskiw said.

Some students said they think that the rating is justified, while others, however, questioned the ranking.

Jared Lovett, a junior majoring in journalism, currently lives in University Downs.

“It’s overpriced, too loud, and it’s right by the train tracks,” Lovett said.

Lovett said when he and his roommates renewed their lease, the apartment owner bumped their rent up by $40. They had been living there for two years when this happened.

Lovett, who said that he came into the deal at the last minute and didn’t have much to do with picking out the space, is currently searching for a new place to live.

“Based on my apartment renting experiences I wouldn’t say it’s [the satisfaction rating] entirely accurate…but I do have a lot of friends who like it,” Lovett said.

Rebecca Paxton, a senior majoring in communicative disorders, is currently renting a townhouse on Kicker Road.

Over the summer, however, Paxton used to work for a real estate company. Paxton said she thinks that the rating is deserved.

“In a college town, they know that there’s a large demand for living spaces and that this demand is very diverse,” Paxton said.

Paxton lived in an apartment for two years. Now she has to drive to campus, which she said is sometimes inconvenient. But at the same time, she said, it is still nice to really leave campus to go home.

“It has its pros and cons, but I do enjoy having more space,” Paxton said.

Paxton said that she thinks the companies work extra hard to keep the students happy especially in the changing economy.

“I have been very pleased with my rental experience on and off campus,” Paxton said.

INFOBOX: Top Ten Towns:

1. Davis, Calif. – University of California – Davis (UC Davis)

2. Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia (UGA)

3. Amherst, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst)

4. Ann Arbor, Mich. – University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (U-M, U of M)

5. Albany, N.Y. – Excelsior College (EC)

6. Tuscaloosa, Ala. – The University of Alabama (UA)

7. Madison, Wis. – University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW)

8. Knoxville, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee (UT, UTK)