RateMyCrib exists because students deserve honest information about where they're going to live. We started this project after experiencing firsthand how hard it is to find reliable housing reviews at UIUC. Reddit threads get buried, GroupMe chats disappear, and landlord websites aren't going to tell you about their two-week maintenance response times.
Housing is one of the biggest expenses in college, and students often sign leases with very little information. We believe that transparency helps everyone. When students can see honest reviews, good landlords get rewarded and bad landlords face accountability.
RateMyCrib is not sponsored by any landlord. We don't accept money from property managers to boost or suppress reviews. We don't run ads. Every review comes from a real person's experience, and we never fabricate or alter reviews.
We're a student-run project, built and maintained by UIUC students. We don't have a marketing budget or a sales team. We grow because students share us with other students.
Anyone can browse reviews on RateMyCrib. To submit a review, you just need to have actually rented from a landlord in the UIUC area. Reviews are anonymous by default. If you verify your student status with a .edu email, your review gets a "Verified Illini" badge to add extra credibility.
All reviews are stored in a secure database and displayed exactly as submitted. We only remove reviews that violate our Terms of Service (threats, spam, or clearly fabricated content).
We're building more tools for students: lease red-flag scanners, neighborhood deep-dives, price trend tracking, and premium housing reports. Our long-term vision is to make RateMyCrib the go-to resource for every student renting off-campus at UIUC and eventually at universities across the country.
If you have ideas, feedback, or want to help, reach out at ratemycrib@proton.me.