McGrath Real Estate Services

Stay away! This firm is ethically challenged, dishonest, and not responsive.

We moved in September 2nd. During inspection, in the morning of the 2nd, we noticed that the refrigerator was dirty, and so was the washing machine, kitchen cabinet drawers, microwave, among others. After we were promised that these will be cleaned and addressed, we took possession of the property; security deposit of previous occupants will cover cost were told. Two days later, still nothing was done and the shortcoming were yet to be addressed. I emailed them on the morning of 4th and received no response. Emailed them on the 7th, and will wait if I hear from them. We contacted a professional cleaning service, but cannot get them to come in early enough. In a couple of days, the property will be clean; we are not sure if the washing machine or above range microwave can be easily cleaned. In the meantime, we did some cleaning ourselves, but we have not been able to do our laundry or take showers; we did bring our own portable microwave. We have an infant, and this has added to the pains of this experience, not to mention our busy work and long commuting schedules.

We pay $2,500 in rent, and both of us have very good professional jobs, and high credit scores. You would think we would know better in terms of locating an ethical responsible firm or to better research rental managements firms. We have owned properties (still do) and rented before, but we have not experienced anything like McGrath. Had we been told at the inspection that McGrath will not address any of the problems expeditiously, we would have walked away. Given the treatment we received at move-in, we have no illusions that the rest of the year will be any better. An additional concern is what happens at move-out. Will we lose any of our security deposit of $2,500 for any of the current conditions, and how do we best document these conditions to protect ourselves? The only advice we have is to stay away.

I do not understand this listing. I rent from them, but the company name, and to whom I send my rent money, is called McGRATH REAL ESTATE SERVICES, *NOT* MONITOR REAL ESTATE. Their address and phone number are the same, but the name is different. AND, difficult to find. Their website did not even have their physical street address: http://www.mcgrathrealestate.com. When I looked under "Contacts" my computer security flagged it as a threat. This is awfully suspicious and quite frankly, sketchy and scary.

The worst customer service I have ever seen. The most incompetent agents and employees in the real estate business. If you are renting from them, be prepared to wait for over 60 days before you hear about your security deposit money, and say good bye to most of your deposit. If you are thinking of a property management service, hire them if you do not care about your property. The most opportunistic and manipulative people I ever met.