McGrath Real Estate Services, Inc.

Reviews 3

A

Anonymous User

I just posted the following review on another web site. For good measure, I decided to cut and paste the review here as well to spread the word. This is my first online review, ever! Rarely does anything get me so fired up that I feel a need to write about it. This is the exception. My experience with McGrath Real Estate was so unpleasant that I feel obligated to warn others to check their references carefully and think twice before doing any business with them. I find it laughable that they call themselves a management company at all. They were more than happy to take a cut of the rental check, but when it came time to "manage" anything, it always turned into this big episode where I had to be involved. I thought the whole point of a management company was to take care of the basic administrative tasks. Lets just say I was grossly disappointed. At the time, it was a nit, and as annoyed as I was, I lived with it. It wasnt until the end of the term when I decided to not renew the contract that I realized just how poor of a job they did. They claimed to have conducted a thorough pre- and post-move walkthrough. It was not the case. Since the life of the contract included multiple tenants, I felt that it was a no-brainer that the proper documentation be maintained. When I found extensive damage to the property and confronted McGrath, they could not provide any paperwork or analysis to conclude who caused the damage. In addition, it was clear only a superficial cleaning had been done, and an unbelievably foul odor permeated throughout the house. Phone calls and emails to McGrath went unanswered. It wasnt until I drove to their office to demand to see someone that I got anybody to address the unresolved issues. Even then, I knew it was a lost cause. There was absolutely nothing they could provide to determine which tenant had caused the damage. In theory, I shouldnt have cared. Thats the rationale behind security deposits. Like it or not, the last tenant is going to have to assume responsibility for the damage. I demanded that some of the deposit be withheld to resolve the problems. Lets just say the last straw was when I was contacted by the tenants directly, because they felt that their security deposit was being withheld without due cause. The tenants had my phone number, email, and address, all of which were provided by my so-called account manager at McGrath. My account manager had conveniently deferred them to me, because this was an "issue between the owner and the tenant." It was clear to me that McGrath saw the end of a revenue stream on the horizon and saw no point in honoring any of their commitments. I guess they saw no upside, and the only downside was the possibility of a lawsuit. In a way, I guess its their prerogative to run their business any way they see fit. To me, its a bit shortsighted, and I know I never want to do business with them again. Its possible McGrath could care less about losing my business. I fully realize my dinky little property was not going to make or break a company. If anyone from McGrath reads this, they should know its not just my business. Its the dozens of lost opportunities with friends who ask me about my rental experience. When I had to deal with the tenants directly, I came to realize they shared my horrible experience. I found it oddly amusing that one of them interacted with military housing in some way, and they were going to formally document their experience. It actually made me chuckle a bit knowing that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of military families who dismissed doing business with McGrath at all, because of this episode.

JE

Jenny Baker

Warning: do not rent with this company unless you take your own photos and see all of theirs before signing off! If you need a rental maintenance company please use someone else. Your renter will thank you. I was over all very disappointed in the service received by McGrath Real Estate throughout our rental experience. Upon arrival at the home there were a couple issues that required fixing.  1) the shower in the basement sprayed everywhere 2) the light in the utility closet was just about out.  The inspector ensured me he took notes and that items would be repaired. No one ever contacted us regarding their repair and they were never fixed.  I didnt think much about it since we didnt plan on using the basement and the utility closet we would rarely use. The inspector assured me he took a lot of pictures and I had him take several more.  Apparently this was not enough and I should have taken my own and only signed off on the inspection after reviewing each picture.  I found a couple other items after the inspection and emailed but I did not receive a response. When it was time for the move out inspection I walked around with the independent inspector.  She was very thorough (not the original inspector).  She pointed out all the items we would need to fix (light bulbs, cleaning up of the laundry room, garage needed swept).  We returned to the home and fixed everything on her list.  BTW - I was trying not to be too upset about some extra cleaning that was an issue at move in (leaves, dirty washing machine). When we received our our deposit refund we were shocked!  We were charged for the utility light, 2 items I turned in after the inspection, one item I asked to be fixed (which had obviously been an issue in the past - one office door handle had fallen off and there was old tape and various screw holes underneath), and several items we didnt have anything to do with.  There were a couple that I that no big deal but the majority I couldnt believe. Then, we agreed not to clean the carpets per the owners request, we agreed to a charge of $350.  Instead of charging us the agreed upon amount they charged us $350 + a 20% fee! I would have just had the carpets cleaned. Finally, the companys communication skills in general were non-existent.  They did not reply to emails or phone messages left.  When I let them know when I could be available for the final inspection they told me I was requesting a date too far in advance then when I requested it a second time they told me the day was full.  Shortly after they scheduled a random date.  There were also several items that were at the home when we moved in - the inspector had no idea as that was not something they generally allowed.  Then there were the Amazon boxes delivered to the home that we left stating we assumed they were for the owners (close to move out time).  They then asked after we communicated they were not ours if they were ours!? I have rented for the past several years in various states coast to coast.  I have had folks charge what I thought was too much for an issue or something I did, but NEVER have I had someone blatantly charge me for things that were an issue at move in. It doesnt bode well when an independent inspector talks poorly of a company most of the time they are reviewing the house (yes, this too happened).

RO

Robert Greer

We purchased our 1st investment property this year. We contacted 3 different Real Estate management services to get "bids" and information on the fees and services offered for those fees. McGrath was the only one of the three that would supply us with answers to every question we asked, without having to meet them in person. That saved much time and instilled a trust factor we didnt get from the others. McGrath even told us things that we hadnt thought of and being 1st time investors there were things that should have been obvious but were not. McGrath is a professional company. From the contract signing to the recommendations of tenants or NOT recommending of a tenant we could not be more pleased with McGrath. The main reason is that... This company is 100% team oriented. From the listing agent meeting us at our property and going over the strategy for placing the property on the market for the highest value to be able to rent it in a timely basis. We never felt rushed, all decisions we made were agreed to by both us and McGrath before proceeding, our unit was rented in 4 weeks from date of publishing. Prior the renting we met at McGrath Real Estate office to review and sign the contract. Being Type A personality we went thru every paragraph of the contract so that there were no misunderstandings. We were introduced to the sales team that would be handling the renting of our unit. and the background checks. Top notch salespeople 100 % professional, courteous and to the point. We were introduced to the financial part of the team that would be processing our payments and receivables. They are responsible for notifying of us of any incidental cost-repairs that would have to be done. We have had repairs done to the unit. McGrath handled the contractors from pricing to scheduling the work. We were never inconvenienced with any issue. Taken care of and no call backs has given us peace of mind. Then we met the Client Advocate team. They are on the front lines and we have relied on them, especially Gregg Waters. His presence and can do attitude has paid dividends. All the issues that have come up with our tenants, no matter how large or small, Gregg has responded immediately and solved the issue(s). He has been invaluable to us. I cant say anything negative of McGrath Real Estate company because there has not been a negative situation from them. I would recommend them to anyone that is serious about having a property managed, with the peace of mind that they will protect your investment as if it was there own. This is how my wife and I feel about McGrath Real Estate.

Other organizations