GC Realty & Development, LLC ®

What can I say except that Bryan is amazing... He knows his stuff and extremely friendly with his clients. I don't ever have to worry about anything except when my rent check will arrive!

My experience with GC Realty as a vendor has been nothing but excellent. They are responsive to issues, understand what we as a vendor are going thru, the process and are quick to turn around on approvals. They understand the value of my time and don't waste it.
Carina has been great to work with. It's because of employees like them that make a company work smooth on the vendor side.

Wouldn't rent from them again. There are a list of issues main one being if you live on the sout side the techs don't like to show up because it's so far from the main office and it make take several days to get someone to respond and respond properly.

I will never rent here again. They had nothing written in the lease that explained parking rules. They did not have lights outside for the whole first half of my living here. Overpriced for ZERO amenities or appliances of any kind on our property. There are NO security measures of any kind (including cameras, regular tow patrols, visits to the property, etc.). I highly doubt they background check these people considering my neighbor was evicted a week after I moved in during a drug bust. They don't have any on-call management or assistance on week nights or weekends... totally unacceptable considering how many issues occur on your property that seemingly never get the attention they deserve. This company is avoidant and negligent until something happens that negatively impacts them. I never heard from anyone before leaving my third bad review on Yelp that finally got their attention... but my calls, texts and emails didn't? What does it take for the company to have some regard for it's tenants? I cannot wait to leave here and never give them my money again.

During my time here:
I had my car wrongfully towed.
I had my tires slashed, as well as my boyfriend's tires.
My boyfriend's car was wrongfully towed.
I got locked out of my unit with no assistance from the company.

I really hope that after this nightmare of an experience, they have the decency to give me my security deposit back, after all the cost of damages and tow fees, that's the least they could do.

My wife and I have been with GC Realty for a few months. In this review, I will cover 4 domains of repeated incompetence on the part of GC Realty, each of which I will break down with details below: 1) GC Realty mismanaged our funds - consistently overcharging costs and underreporting financial details, 2) GC Realty mismanaged our properties, 3) GC Realty's contractors have consistently done extremely poor work on all our properties, 4) across the GC Realty staff, we have consistently experienced extremely poor communication. For space, I'll focus on points 1 and 2 only.

In terms of mismanaging our funds, GC Realty's practice is to send separate invoices to track expenses rather than providing us a spreadsheet with income going in and out. These invoices are vague and confusing in a way that feels deliberate. So we had to create a spreadsheet ourselves. Doing so revealed that $2800 in reserve funds is unaccounted for. We overpaid into our reserves and these funds just disappeared. GC Realty has repeatedly refused to account for the expenditure beyond saying that the funds were absorbed into other expenses with zero details. As far as we can tell, they literally stole $2800 from us. GC Realty also charged us for things that were not our responsibility. For example, we were charged a large sum to replace a lock that a GC Realty employee had broken forcing their way in after a tenant locked himself out -- even though our leases specify that this is the tenants' responsibility. GC Realty should have been responsible for the cost, not us. Then there are a large number of invoices that charge us exorbitant rates. One invoice charged us $160 to change a lightbulb. Before GC Realty took over, I paid a handyman $30 for the same job and that is only because it requires a ladder.

In terms of mismanaging our properties, there have been major security issues. First, all of their contractors and vendors have the codes to all of our lockboxes with keys to each building and apartment. And one of these contractors left the codes on all four lockboxes at one property, meaning each lockbox was completely unsecured with the keys inside. The lockboxes were unsecured like this for hours or possibly days before we noticed. Additionally, GC Realty installed multiple new locks on various units incorrectly. Because of this careless work, those units were completely unsecured because the door knobs did not latch and could be easily swung open even when "locked." Other locks they installed simply wouldn't turn at all. Clearly the GC Realty contractors didn't double check their work, which would have taken 2 seconds per door. What's more, after being assured that these mistakes would not happen again, a couple weeks later the same exact thing occurred throughout another of our properties. Most egregiously, a GC Realty vendor was caught rummaging through our personal belongings in the basement of one of our homes (where we store all of the items from my old apartment) and was caught stealing at least one item - possibly many more. The contractor was only supposed to be turning on the furnace - that is it. The incident was witnessed by someone who has done maintenance work for me for years. Then there is the fact that GC Realty put us in extended violation of the law by failing to turn our boilers on - even though we verified with them multiple times that this would be done promptly. The only reason I found out the boilers were not on is because I happened to be visiting one of the properties a couple weeks ago after a freezing cold night.

GC Realty hides tenant dissatisfaction from the owner. In our case, they struggled to hide their poor work because our tenants forwarded us the emails and because of the fact that we owner-occupy one of our multi-unit buildings. We have seen firsthand exactly how poorly GC Realty treats tenants. Because GC Realty puts on the appearance of being professional and straightforward, I can see why many owners might think the company is doing a great job. And maybe this accounts for their many positive reviews online. But we know that the majority of the issues we experienced stemmed from systemic mismanagement rather than the mismanagement of a single team. I would be shocked if the poor work they have done for us wasn't pervasive throughout all their buildings.

Last, GC Realty's communicates terribly, but there isn't space to fully address this concern. If they even bother to reply to this review, I expect the reply will follow a similar format. They'll project politeness and professionalism, while ignoring the issues most important, taking minimal accountability, minimizing the egregiousness of events that occurred, then shifting responsibility to someone else.

I had reached out to Mark to get his view on a rental property that I was considering. He was very prompt in getting back to me and it was great talking to him ! He was very helpful and candid in sharing his feedback and providing useful hints/suggestions.

Would also highly recommend to check out his podcast: https://www.straightupchicagoinvestor.com/

These guys are unbelievably pheromonal!

They are super responsive by phone and by email. They embody the principal of real estate as an investment and actively demonstrate efficiency and cost effectiveness. They show active respect for both me, the property owner, AND the tenants. They are honest and ethical. I cannot say enough good stuff about them.

I live out of state. I have a single residential rental property in Woodstock, IL. The property manager I had been using was from Woodstock as I deliberately wanted someone who was near to the property. Huge mistake. He took over the property July 1, with the then tenants moving out end August. He demonstrated no sense of urgency in getting the property rented again and in fact It took him 5 more months, until Feb 1, to get the property rented again. There were items that needed to be taken care but they should have been able to be to be done in one month such that the property should have been able to be rented by Oct 1. The guy from Woodstock was a nightmare. It very much seemed as if he were preparing the property for sale and not for rental even though my first email to him said I was not interested in selling the house and I was looking for a property manager to rent the home.

Shea Murray was the representative from GC Realty with whom I first interacted. He manages new clients and the on-boarding process. I had been so burned by the Woodstock property manager that I was very hesitant on any and all new property managers. Shea was patient and understanding, answered all my questions, dealt very professionally with my skepticism, sent me a copy of the generic contract so I could feel fully informed. His patience and professionalism were impressive. The on-boarding process that he lead was super easy, super efficient.

GC Realty assigns each property its own property manager so you have a single point person whose name you know and whom you can always reach. Ann Vang is my point person. She is absolutely awesome! I let her know the gutters needed to be assessed and resolved. Within that week she had a person out there and the gutters done. She saved me $1000 because the quotes I was getting were for full replacement. The vendor Ann used determined they did not all need to be replaced. I was shelling out so much money for improvements with the Woodstock guy, and now I suspect all that money I spent under his management was not necessary. Then I asked Ann to do a property walk though to determine if any repairs were needed. Within two weeks she sent me a summary and had the repairs complete. I was in shock with how efficient and cost effective Ann was and is. Truly, it is impossible to believe how good they have been for me and for the tenants and for the property.

GC Realty works mostly in Chicago and the nearby suburbs. I want them to make their presence known in McHenry County and up to the WI border. Both my brother and I had been looking for a capable property manager as early as 2014. It took until now to find GC Realty. They really do have a mission of good. It is possible to be both a property owner / investor and a provider of a meaningful living situation for a tenant / family.

Additionally, the owner / co owner of GC Realty is Mark. He sends out weekly updates with insights on being an effective property owner. I have even watched the podcasts he has sent. These guys are so legitimate and so committed to excellence on all fronts, they are really really impressive.

Also, I rarely write reviews. I have to be really impressed to put this amount of time into a review.

They were very helpful and professional getting me into my first apartment! I did not know exactly what I was doing but it was a simple process and I'm glad for the company.

Marks knowledge and expertise of the Chicago real estate market is unmatched. His willingness to help out newer investors and quickly hop on a call to provide advice as challenges come up has been a lifesaver.

The entire GC Realty & Development team I interacted with were fantastic! I'm a first time renter and had many questions and concerns and they were there to help me every step of the way--from phone calls, texting, and emails, to helping me to rent my first apartment. This is a terrific company to rent with. I'm so looking forward to renting with them! Thank you!!

Beware!!!

I am a property owner that hired GC Realty & Mark Ainley for property management.

Do not let them near your property or allow them to connect to your tenants or your bank accounts.

I say this in no uncertain terms. Run!