Grace Realty

RUDE– UNPLEASANT– UNPROFESSIONAL– SKETCHY
DO NOT WORK WITH HER. I REPEAT. DON’T. I saw all the bad things and thought– oh maybe not. THEY ARE ALL TRUE.
The ONLY reason I would give Grace 1 star, and even that, is because her properties were… okay.
First impression of her is how RUDE she is on the phone.
We showed up to an apartment building where Grace was going to show us two apartments. First of all, she didn’t even tell us where to go, what apartment, or even greet us at the door. We stood outside waiting for her to buzz in or text us back so we could buzz up. She left the door open for us, and we showed ourselves the two apartments. They were extremely old and outdated.
Finally, she came to us (with another client) and when we were done she said she had another apartment for us. The apartment was great. Newly renovated. Great price. Apparently someone signed the lease and then broke it immediately so they never moved in.
Grace doesn’t have a business card. When we went to write her a check or give money, she didn’t have anything to give us a receipt, or proof for anything! and when we suggested it she got really mad and offended.
SHE EXPECTED 12.5% BROKER FEE TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT BE RUDE AND LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN FOR US TO SEE THE APARTMENT OURSELVES.
She negotiated to 10.5% but will NOT accept a one months rent fee.
Red flag: all kinds of dead bugs and roaches in the kitchen cabinets. Didn’t even bother to at least hide it and vacuum it or anything…
well, we had everything in and done. Deposit and everything. And then apparently the girl decided «she didn’t want to sign over the lease» whatever. forget it.
We tried again, and honestly, even though the apartments were comparable, we just wanted NOTHING to do with her ever again.

Would not recommend Grace at all. She was completely unprofessional. The only reason we even signed a lease with her is because we liked the apartment and were on a time crunch. I agree with other reviewers that there is something sketchy going on here, she did not show up to the apartment and would require constant follow up to get any sort of answer even when she said she would get back to you. The 15% broker fee was absurd. I would suggest looking for a different broker in Astoria.

I can’t speak on behalf of the other reviewers which actually come as a big surprise to me because I had THE BEST experience with Grace! First of all, I was on a very limited budget, but wanted to live in Astoria as it’s already up and coming and very close to my job in Manhattan. I decided to give Grace a call to help me with my search. Mind you, I called other realtors and NOT ONE OF THEM returned my calls or e-​mails if I found a contact email for them on the web. I did have one realtor that a friend recommended but told me he had nothing in my price range and wished me luck on my search. Very frustrating. But I called Grace, not knowing what to expect, told her what I could afford and where I wanted to live, and the very first apartment I saw, I fell in love with and am now writing this review in the coziness of my new home, thanks to Grace! Everything was effortless. Grace held my hand every step of the way, answered all of my calls, texts and e-​mails as soon as I sent them. She was basically there for me day and night with my abundant questions. I heard a lot of nightmare stories about deals falling through or people running off with your money so of course I had that all in the back of my mind, but fear not when you are working with Grace. She is a true professional, as sweet as can be and you’ll find when meeting her that she is very caring, and wants to find you the apartment of your dreams. I certainly found mine, and it is all thanks to Grace. Grace is a rare find according to my friends who envy the easy process I had in getting my apartment as compared to what they had to go through with other brokers. Now all of my friends who visited my absolutely charming, bright and airy, studio with «crown molding» throughout, in a gorgeous pre-​war building want Grace’s number to help them in their search for their perfect apartment.
I simply lucked out as I heard finding a place to live in NY is painstaking, but with Grace, I never had to go through the problems that so many have gone through. So as someone who is in love with his studio apartment in the best area of Astoria, I recommend giving Grace a call. She will be like your best friend or sister (at least that’s the instant rapport we both had!), doing whatever she can to find you your perfect apartment and to speed up the process so you can move in without any hassles. Grace is truly a GEM! I’ve never been more happy and I am in love with my amazing studio and building! Thank you Grace!

I made an appointment with Grace to see an apartment. The location was great so I thought it’d be a good try. When I spoke with her, she told me she’d be «right there» except that she never showed up! She gave me the address and apartment number and the apartment was unlocked so I took a look around myself. 20 minutes later, *I* call her and find out she’s stuck in traffic. How incredibly unprofessional! And she didn’t even call me to tell me this. It was a beautiful, large apartment so I figure, let’s see how this pans out.
Then she texts me her email address so I can email her about the application. Then, I ask about the broker’s fee. 15%! That’s incredibly high especially for Queens. Does she think this apartment is in the UES? The sketchiest part about this whole experience is that I get «something of a rebate» back from the landlord each month but fails to tell me how much is «some rebate». It was like pulling teeth to get specific details — more unprofessionalism. I finally receive an application that doesn’t even have the Realty’s name nor address on it. I could’ve easily typed that up in Word and sent it out. And who asks you for your checking account information?
This place reeks of sketchiness. Steer clear and look for a proper *professional* realty.

All these bad reviews of Grace are kind of bothering me. She really helped me when I needed to get a new place quickly. I found her to be professional and no-​nonsense which was really refreshing after a few bad experiences with other brokers. I told her my budget, what I wanted, and I told her I needed to seal the deal that day. She said «OK» and took me to the most beautiful apartment in my price range. She helped with the application and a few weeks later I was in my new place. It was the easiest apartment hunt ever. I LOVED the building and was sad to leave when it was time to move on. Now she’s helping my brother-​in-​law.

When I was looking for an apt last summer, I was dealing with numerous icky brokers, and couldn’t seem to find a reasonable apt. I was pretty set on living in the city, and had actually put a deposit down on a place in Chelsea that was at the tippy top of my price range. Forgetting that I had made an appt with Grace to look at places in Astoria (just to make sure that I wouldn’t find anything better across the river), I got a call from her reminding me of my appt. Just to prove to myself that Astoria is far and a dump, I went. She sent us out with Glenn, who seemed a bit odd, but wasn’t as pushy with me as these other reviews are saying. He even took us around in his convertible, which was super cheesy, but kinda funny. He showed us two apartments, both ended up being huge, nice, and really cheap. We decided to put a deposit down on a place and got really excited. So viewing and choosing the apartment wasn’t the problem, it was what came after. Grace said that she would handle all the details, and it took weeks for her to figure out how to get us our lease and key. In the city, you can sign a lease virtually on the spot, and for some reason we couldn’t get her to keep us updated. She seemed annoyed with the fact that we were checking in so much about it, but we needed to move and didn’t want to waste any more time. At one point we called, and she had left the office to go on vacation in Ireland. WTF? At this point, we’re still couch surfing and hoping that she’ll one day confirm that we actually have the place. Eventually it all worked out, and we LOVE LOVE LOVE our apt, so it was worth the wait, but she was not quick or interested in keeping us updated during the process.

Wow, sounds like nothing changed since I tried this place 4 yrs ago. Same dude same tactics same non-​sense. Jeez.
Actually this place didn’t even have place to show me, and kept my hopes up each time on the phone «oh, this GREAT location will open up this wkend, they are not lited with others» blablabla.
Right from star they were rude and they were always rude. Compare to other agents in the area, whom, at least try to be polite or nice at begining, this place was top notch rude-​pushy car sales man with no car in the lot.

Shady maybe even illegal real estate practices are being performed here. It’s unbelievable! Is Grace licensed? Couldn’t find her on the state website.

The main guy at Grace Realty (Glenn, maybe?) is your typical broker nonsense — the «har har har, this (dump of an) apartment will go so fast!» act, making appointments just to tell you that the apartment posted a half hour ago on Craigslist was just rented, and a STAGGERING brokers fee of something like 12%.
And of all the Astoria brokers I’ve dealt with, maybe 15, this place has some of the most overpriced apartments on the market. Do not waster your time/​money.

I found a nice studio for $ 1250 a month no thanks to this f’ing dump.
I called on Thursday and made an appointment to come in this morning at 10AM to look at apartments. A nice dog greets me; the only nice thing that happened here.
The guy introduces himself and tells me to sit down. He asks me when I intend to move. I say I have some time but if there’s something available for July 1^st, I’d take it. He tells me he has nothing for me. The studio he posted on craigslist was not available. He said the super won’t give him keys. He also said he has 4 apartments available yet he can’t show them to me because other clients have asked him not to show it.
WTF? Then why the hell did you take my freaking appointment? He asks me to fill out an application. I said no thanks and walked the hell out. What a freaking punk!
Do you want this to happen to you? If you like being treated like crap, by all means go here.