New Apartment Review and Social Networking Website

Online, December 17, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The newest user review and social networking website went live late November 2010. The website is donotrent.com. The review platform is based on tenant experiences, past or present, renting apartments, on or off campus student housing, rental homes, vacation rentals and more. The site allows users to search and post reviews in every city in the United States. Users can also post pictures of the apartment and rate using a unique 5-star rating system, choosing ratings ranging from "Not That Bad" to "Absolute Nightmare." Although the name, donotrent.com, implies and actually encourages negative reviews, users can also post positive reviews. "The reviews that users post are meant to help future tenants become more aware of possible issues and ask the agent or landlord tough questions before they sign a lease", says Cerny, a Chicago based real estate professional and co-founder of the site. Landlords are welcome to respond to posts about their properties if they believe a review is inaccurate or if a problem has been corrected.

Besides the review side of the website it is built around a social networking core, which includes a messaging page, public blog/conversation page and a classified ads section. The main difference between Donotrent.com and their competition is that they appeal to the next generation of internet users by having a social networking aspect to their site. Unlike the competition that has dated features and no social networking, Donotrent.com uses Facebook connect along with the AddThis sharing service. Both of these features will allow users to stay connected with friends by sharing posts and messages instantly on their favorite social networking sites.

It happens all too often, an interested party walks through a beautifully furnished unit with an agent or landlord and decides to sign a lease because everything looks perfect. It is very obvious that the agent or landlord is not going to mention that they receive numerous noise complaints for the neighbors throwing parties all the time or that the unit has a mold problem in the kitchen ceiling which they continue to just paint over. Donotrent.com allows users to easily share their experiences in order to help future tenants make an informed decision about signing a lease after they read the apartment reviews. The goal is to make leasing agents, landlords and property managers more accountable by hopefully disclosing more information to prospective tenants.

The layout and review system of donotrent.com is similar to the popular review site Yelp. The main difference is that its niche is rental property reviews and not reviews of every single business in the world. It will only be a matter of time before we start to see other review sites that focus on niche markets since quality on a specific topic, business or interest will always trump quantity.

For more information regarding this website visit www.donotrent.com