Insights from Turner: The 6 Things The Elite Properties Do Better

Later this month, J Turner Research will be releasing our annual Elite ORA Properties ranking. This acknowledges the top 1% of conventional communities and top 100 student properties based on their ORA (Online Reputation Assessment) Score. It goes without saying that resident satisfaction is high at these properties and anticipate that most of their reviews are going to skew positive, but what exactly do they do better than the average community? We broke down the reviews for the 1,474 properties that made The Elite and here are the six things that stood out: 

1. Customer Service on Steroids: We will start with something very unsurprising – these communities get tons of compliments about the quality of their staff, the attitude they bring, and how helpful and empathetic they are. A staggering 86% of 4- and 5-star reviews compliment their Customer Service, a notable increase from the industry standard of 74.68%. Even more importantly, only 5% of all their reviews feature a complaint about Customer Service, well down from the average of 14%. These Elite properties are dialed in on their relationships with residents and it is the lifeblood of their reputation.
2. Communication and Financial Clarity Come Natural: Last month we discussed how critical it is for properties to transparently communicate regarding all matters around the property, but especially with finances. These top communities are further evidence of the value of strong Communication. Only 3% of The Elite’s reviews feature a complaint about Communication and only 2% feature a complaint about Financial, both about 300-400% down from the national marks of 10% and 8%, respectively. It is incredibly unlikely to find a strong performing property struggling with Communication in 2025.  
3. Maintenance is the Operational Exception: Operationally speaking, The Elite properties are not like the others when it comes to Maintenance Service and Maintenance Timeliness. Interestingly, it is not that they get way more compliments – it is that they avoid complaints at unprecedented rates. Check this out: 
   
4. Pest Management and Security Issues Are Limited: J Turner Research is about to release our Internet Adventure Study, Part V. In it, we included the red flag operational areas that frequently deter prospects from touring and ultimately leasing at properties. This research was formulated by analyzing prospect behavior after they read reviews online. Our analysis yielded that two perennial death nails to a property’s bottom line are Pest and Security issues within its online reviews. As you would expect, the properties at the top of our rankings get very few complaints related to these critical areas. It is a big reason why they have strong online reputations, retain residents, and attract prospects.
5. They Get 1-Stars Mentioning Staff by Name Just Like You: It is important to remember that no property is perfect. An occasional slip-up is going to happen and often times it will originate from a poor staff interaction with a resident. It is natural to multifamily – people experiencing bad service tend to broadcast it to the public online. For these Elite properties, 66% of their 1- and 2-star reviews feature a complaint about Customer Service. This is right in line with the national average of 64%! This means it is not like The Elite are performing black magic or doing anything completely different than the average property; they have the same difficulties dealing with residents that you do. But, overall, they simply do the basics more consistently well, avoiding a large quantity of these negative interactions, which translates to fewer negative reviews online.  
6. Sky High Sentiment: You cannot outrun negative feedback by chasing 5-star reviews. Nothing proved to be greater evidence of this than 2021-2023, where multifamily saw review counts skyrocket nationwide, but sentiment get worse. The Elite properties do it the correct, more sustainable way. Just like we saw in bullet #3 about maintenance, it is the best properties’ propensity to avoid negative feedback that puts them at the top of the rankings – not an outrageous amount of positive feedback. They handle difficult resident situations well offline, so it ends up protecting their reputations online. Last month we applauded the industry for reaching a compliment to complaint ratio of 60:40%. These Elite properties are on another level, hitting a ratio of 86:14% in 2024. 

As you may have picked up, we intentionally did not discuss how many more compliments The Elite properties get regarding the fanciest amenities or nicest appliances. While there is some separation versus the average property, it is not nearly as much of a statistical difference maker. 

If you want to make The Elite next year, heed this advice: don’t make the next twelve months about chasing 5-stars through massive marketing campaigns. That’s like using Ozempic instead of focusing on diet/exercise to reach your weight loss goals. It may work for a little while, but the results are likely surface level or temporary. 

Instead, look at your corporate structure – are your operations team members involved in reviewing this feedback? If not, that is a great place to start. You have to reduce your negative feedback or you will be stuck in neutral. Many companies we are working with have shifted to making this the key component of their incentive structure for online reputation because it is both controllable and sustainable.  

Give it a shot, who knows – maybe 2025 is your year. 

ABOUT THIS BLOG: 

The insights in this blog came from utilizing J Turner Research’s text categorization tool, Einstein. Einstein uses Thought Analysis, a proprietary AI software, to objectively show you your operational strengths and weaknesses based on anything anyone has ever said about you online in reviews. What is being said is incredibly valuable because it is essentially the "why" behind your scores. Reviews are unprompted descriptions of why a resident is satisfied (left a high star rating) or dissatisfied (left a low star rating). This means that what is being complimented and complained about can be seen by owners and operators as drivers of satisfaction/dissatisfaction.