I have often told my students that the factor rating method (covered in both Chapters 2 and 8) is one of their most versatile OM tools. But it was still interesting to see The New York Times article (Jan. 6, 2020) how one young NYC couple, needing to find a new home in a rush, used the model to expedite their search. Here is their tale:
When Terese Lawry and Jacob Falkovich suddenly found out they had to move, Jacob suggested they turn to a time-honored method for making hard choices: factor rating. The couple identified 22 factors to consider in selecting an apartment and, after much discussion, assigned each one a different weight.
“Without weighting criteria, people just start being like, I refuse to live without a dishwasher.” Falkovich said. Their model featured basics, like cost, as well as size and layout. Factors also included subletting and pet policies, lease duration, physical elements like windows, lighting, water pressure, outdoor space, A/C and whether the building had an elevator or a doorman or a gym. Sometimes they disagreed. Falkovich didn’t mind walking up 3 flights of stairs, but Lawry pressed him. They agreed to assign an elevator a weight of 4; the size of the apartment, by comparison, was weighted as a 10, while laundry was given a 1.
For location, they calculated the score based on the mean duration of 10 weekly work commutes. They also included neighborhood features like proximity to grocery stores and parks, as well as aesthetics. When they toured their current apartment, a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom duplex in Brooklyn, that rents for $3,300 a month, it scored a 238 —” 2 deviations up” from the other listings, which ranged from 180 to 215.
It’s not the first time he has relied on factor rating, Falkovich confessed. He used the same method when he was single and trying to decide whether to continue dating Lawry or another woman he began seeing around the same time!
Classroom discussion questions:
- Name 3 other potential applications of the model in your personal life.
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the model?