1-Star Review of J R Grace Realty

Update 3/16/26: After all of this, they had the audacity to take $650 from our refundable security deposit to replace 2 sets of blinds, and a cleaning fee. Which is absolutely insane considering when we moved in, there was roaches, rat droppings, dirt, and previous tenent property left behind. We left the property in great and clean condition at move out. So more proof about how pathetic and greedy JR Grace is. Absolutely despicable leasing company. Please proceed with caution before leasing with these slum lords. This review is pertaining to 2004 N 39th St Waco (which is still available for lease as of 2/28). Our first initial interaction with JR Grace upon our move in in February 2025 started terrible. We had a big move from out of state, so we had to rent this property site unseen (which I definitely understand that is the chance we as tenants took). Upon arrival to TX, we were not given any directions on how to get inside the unit, how to set up utilities, etc. until we were a few hours away on move in day. Their excuse was simply that they "forgot" to send us the information for that via email. Second strike on move in day was the house was absolutely filthy. There was dirt everywhere on the ground, a cockroach/bug infestation, and dirty kitchen. Again, we put that aside, gritted our teeth, and cleaned the entire property before moving our stuff in. A few weeks later is when the real fun began! We started having plumbing issues in the bathroom, which JR Grace wouldn't come out to properly fix for months. They kept temporarily fixing the issue with crappy patch up jobs, but wouldn't send out anyone to actually repair the plumbing because they claim the property owner wouldn't accept the fixes. Then, our plumbing went out in our kitchen for about a month. Only at this rate was when JR Grace and the property manager magically and all of a sudden approved of all plumbing fixes after my endless nagging to them (upwards of 20 maintenance requests in the year we lived there). Even the plumbing companies who ended up fixing our problems were in shock with how JR Grace was treating us. But wait, there's more! We were then presented with pest problems! Rats and Opossums. JR Grace sent pest control out to us to try to get the problem solved, only to have the pest control service cancelled, and them cheap their way out and try to solve the problem themselves. Their solution: just put rat poison blocks out and hope for the best. Then when our lease was finally up from this hell hole of a property, they had the audacity to charge us for a move out cleaning, and for a few damaged blinds, took about $650 of our deposit. Even though I literally scrubbed the property from top to bottom before moving out. In addition to all of this, over the course of the year, they were extremely hard to get a hold of for any problems (numerous ignored calls and emails), and whenever called out on this, we were met with terrible attitudes and customer service. I know after this review I'll probably get a comment back from "Patrick", the owner of JR Grace, but he never was available for us to speak to either. He only pops up when his company gets a bad review lol. Attached to this review is the pictures of our pest issues, ignored maintenance requests, and ignored phone calls/emails as proof. So once again, renters beware!