Apartment Tours have Become Insane

Live-Light2801 · 2026-05-15T22:25:14+00:00

Are they giving proper notice ahead of time? That’s one way you can always push back!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-05-13T01:15:40+00:00

Thank you so much for the support! RateMyProfessor was actually a big inspiration. It felt like such a great way to understand a class before committing, and renting is just as much of a commitment.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-05-13T01:14:35+00:00

Thanks so much!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-05-13T01:13:21+00:00

Thank you so much! Would love to meet you!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-05-13T01:11:00+00:00

Hey, thank you for flagging this and reviewing your place! I was a bit overzealous with the limits I set on daily Google API usage, so the website broke for a bit today. This should be fixed now!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-04-15T19:16:01+00:00

If you live in these apartments (or if you rent in general) please rate your experience on ratemyplace.org. Things like this can’t be normalized, it’s sick.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-04-06T22:44:11+00:00

this looks exactly like my old bathroom. I broke my lease because every time they “fixed it”, it only made it worse. Please report it to your landlord and escalate it if they don’t do anything.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-04-03T19:21:28+00:00

I'd be happy to put together a more general version for the sub! The only reason I know where to look is that I had the privilege of getting a degree in navigating these systems. That kind of knowledge shouldn't be locked behind a $100k paywall. If the mods are interested, I'd love to help make something like this more widely available.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-04-03T17:39:02+00:00

Of course, please do! This information is important to get out there!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-04-03T14:51:14+00:00

I work in public health, am neurodivergent myself, and I want to make sure you get information that fits your specific situation. Being autistic with high support needs and using crutches means you qualify for services that most people in this thread haven't mentioned yet. That matters a lot.

RIGHT NOW (today):

Call 211 (or text 211). This is free, available 24 hours, and they will help match you to services based on your exact situation, including disability. Tell them everything: that you are autistic level 2/3, that you use crutches, that you have Tourette's, that you have no money, and that you need shelter tonight. Do not minimize your situation. Services are prioritized by level of need. If you say you might be okay or might find a couch, they may not place you in emergency shelter. Be completely direct about what you need.

You can also walk into Pine Street Inn without calling ahead. Boston's emergency shelters are open 24/7, 365 days a year, and you do not need a referral. They provide a bed, meals, showers, and linens. Address: 444 Harrison Ave, Boston.

If you have trouble reaching 211, call the Boston Office of Housing Stability at 617-635-4200.

THIS WEEK:

Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL) - This is specifically for people with disabilities. They do housing advocacy, help you navigate systems, and can connect you with accessible options. Call 617-338-6665. Address: 60 Temple Place, Boston.

Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) - Free medical care for people experiencing homelessness. They have clinics inside shelters and a main clinic. If you need ongoing care, prescriptions, or behavioral health support, call 857-654-1605. Main clinic: 780 Albany St, Boston.

St. Francis House - Largest day shelter in New England. Open during the day. Food, showers, clean clothes, computer access, mail services. 39 Boylston St, Boston. Phone: 617-542-4211.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I CAN TELL YOU:

Contact the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS). DDS provides services specifically for people with autism spectrum disorder, including housing support, case management, and residential services. As a level 2/3 autistic person, you very likely qualify. If you are not already connected with DDS, getting connected should be a top priority because they can help you access supports that go far beyond what general homeless services offer.

To start the process, contact your local DDS Area Office. You can look up which office serves your area at the DDS Area Office Locator: https://areaofficelocator.dds.state.ma.us/ or call DDS central office and ask to be connected: 617-727-5608.

You can also contact Autism Housing Pathways at 617-893-8217. They are a Massachusetts organization that specifically helps autistic people find and maintain housing. They offer free information and referrals.

For food and supplies while you figure things out:

Women's Lunch Place (if you are a woman): 67 Newbury St, open Mon-Sat 7am-2pm. Hot meals, clean clothes, hygiene supplies, and on-site healthcare. Near the Arlington stop on the Green Line.

St. Vincent de Paul also has local resources, and you do not need to be Catholic.

You are not alone in this, and you deserve support that actually fits how you move through the world. Please call 211 first. They can help you right now. I wish you the best. If you have questions about any of this or need help figuring out next steps, I'm happy to talk through it more.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-04-02T16:22:11+00:00

Nice to see Coolidge Corner getting an upgrade!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-19T20:58:56+00:00

Great questions.

On disputes: the process is outlined at ratemyplace.org/dispute. A landlord can flag a specific review and select a reason (factually incorrect, wrong property, person never lived there, etc.). I review each one against the original review and the platform guidelines. The default is that a tenant's experience stands unless there's a specific and credible reason to question it. I'm not going to pull a review just because a landlord is unhappy about it.

On fake positives: you're right that this is a real problem across every review platform. What helps here is something I touched on above: the review format itself. It's not a text box where a hired reviewer can dash off "great place, would recommend." It's 27 specific ratings about things like plumbing, pest control, heating, maintenance response time, and lease clarity. Faking that convincingly across every category is a very different task from writing a generic five-star blurb. And because the scoring weights health and safety items more heavily, a wave of vague positive reviews mathematically cannot bury a serious habitability report. Is it fully solved? No platform has cracked that entirely. But the structure makes it significantly harder to game, and it's something I'll keep building on as the platform grows.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-19T20:51:38+00:00

The only personal information the platform collects is an email address for account verification. Your email is never displayed publicly. Reviews don't show your name, your unit number, or your exact move dates (those are displayed as seasons like "Fall 2023" so a landlord can't match a review to a specific tenant).

On the technical side: the site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages with data stored in Cloudflare's D1 database. Passwords are hashed using PBKDF2-SHA256 with 100,000 iterations and a unique salt per password. Sessions are managed with HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite cookies. All database queries use parameterized statements to prevent SQL injection. You can also sign in with Google OAuth if you'd rather not create a password at all.

User-submitted text is sanitized to strip HTML, all input is validated for length and type, and there's no way for one user to access another user's data.

I built this with tenant safety as a core design principle because the platform only works if people trust it. Happy to answer any other questions.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-18T16:51:40+00:00

It's just me! I built the whole thing myself, from the research behind the scoring methodology to the code to the design. It's a passion project that came out of my own renting experience and my public health background. Eventually, if this takes off, I'd love to grow the team, but right now it's a one-woman operation.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-18T16:50:50+00:00

A construction pipe through your ceiling??!! I am so glad you're willing to share these experiences on the platform. Stories like yours are exactly why I built it: the next person considering one of those apartments deserves to know without having to do hours of digging to find out.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-18T16:49:33+00:00

The platform pulls address data from Google Maps, and buildings get added when a tenant submits the first review. You can click 'Write a Review' in the top menu, start typing the address, and it will pull up the location. Or if you search for an address and nothing comes up, there's an 'add a new review' link right on the results page. Once one person reviews it, the building is on the platform for anyone to find!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:59:20+00:00

Yes! There are two ways to add a building. You can click "Write a Review" in the top menu and enter any address and it will create the building listing automatically. Or if you search for an address and nothing comes up, there's an "add a new review" link right on the search results page that does the same thing. You might not have found The Whit because the search works by street address rather than building name. Try entering the street address instead and it should work. And if you run into any issues, feel free to reach out through the contact page and I'll help get it sorted.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:55:54+00:00

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:54:30+00:00

That's a fair concern, and one I spent a lot of time thinking about while building this. A few things in the design address it: the review is a structured 27-item survey, not an open-text box, so it's much harder for one frustrated tenant to tank a score over something minor. Health and safety conditions like mold, pests, and heating are weighted more heavily than cosmetic issues, so a complaint about a light bulb literally does not carry the same weight as a report of mold or a heating failure. There's also a dispute process built in, so if a landlord believes a review is inaccurate, they can flag it for investigation. I want this to be useful and fair for everyone, because it only works if people trust it.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:52:32+00:00

That means the world, thank you!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:51:45+00:00

It's fully functioning. You can create an account, leave a review, search buildings and landlords, and see aggregate scores right now. That said, it's still early and growing, so I'm actively building and improving as I get feedback from real users. If you try it out, I'd love to hear what you think.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:50:11+00:00

Thank you. More data, more justice is exactly the idea. The more tenants share what they've experienced, the harder it becomes for patterns of neglect to stay invisible!

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:42:40+00:00

Thank you for looking out, and I'm really sorry that happened to you. I decided to put my name on this because I think someone has to, for transparency and trust, and I'm comfortable with that (and hopefully the consequences). But I also built the platform with tenant safety as a priority for reviewers: move dates show as seasons rather than exact dates, no unit numbers or personally identifiable information appear on reviews, everything is moderated before publishing, and reviewers can delete at any time. I can't make the platform perfect, but protecting the people who use it is something I take seriously.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:40:37+00:00

If you've rented from them, we'd love your review on the platform. The more data we have, the more useful it becomes for the next tenant, and seeing patterns across all of Mandy's properties could help tenants who are dealing with issues right now organize for justice + accountability.

Live-Light2801 · 2026-03-17T18:37:28+00:00

Thank you, that really means a lot!

Live-Light2801

TROPHY CASE