ann arbor is overrated.

The new MSA housing rating site (you’ll need a U of M account to access it) is endlessly entertaining. Well, not really endlessly. There aren’t that many ratings posted on it so far. Our favorite: “The landlord…actually had to change our joint unit into two separate units, including my room into a dining room and my roommate’s into a kitchen, for the city inspector at one point.”

Landlords have been almost universally opposed to the site, because they believe that only disgruntled tenants will post. And, in fact, just about all of the reviews of private houses are mixed or negative. So what about dorms and apartment complexes? You’d expect the dorm reviews to be pretty harsh, since the U is not known for its lavish housing, and unlikely to retaliate by kicking someone out of the dorms for a bad review. But actually, the dorm reviews are overwhelmingly positive. And reviews of large apartment buildings and complexes are at least half positive, with none of the horror stories that appear in the house reviews. The tenants with the most to lose — it’s not too hard to figure out who you are if only four people live in your building — are the ones who have gone out on a limb the most. At some point, perhaps these smaller landlords will realize that it’s not the tenants, it’s them.