MT Merrill Construction Affiliated Realty ripoff Predetory lending added 1600.00 without sending required info to buyer Orem Utah

I am the original author of this report but because it has been so long and I have changed e-mail addreses, I couldn't do an "update" as this should actually be.

I spoke last week (Oct. 15th) to someone at the Department of professional Licensing in Salt Lake City. You can go to the web site Utah.Gov and find a form you can fill out on-line and they will call you back if they can use your information in a lawsuit.

Please note that they do not deal with issues on workmanship or some issues with money because it would be far too time consuming. They are only interested in anything that may be used to create a criminal case against him. He told me I was the fourth person he has spoken directly to on this matter. He asked that I send him copies of all my draw sheets and the contract so he might use them. He stated the problem with a case like this is that he is "teetering on the fence between a civil and criminal case and Utah county is so backed up with other cases right now they won't even look at his case if it's only a civil one.

I also mentioned that I heard from a neighbor of mine that Mike was in his Realestate class recently! He told me he didn't see that a license was issued as of yet but he did call up to the realestate division and asked them to not issue a license without first speaking to him.

He also told me a little about how Mike got to this point, but I won't go into that, and that he wasn't out to put anyone in jail, he just wants to make sure he was doing everything within the guidelines as they should have been. So if you or someone you know feels they have some proof of the wrong-doing that we all have been a part of, please contact DOPL on their website or you can look up their phone number in the phone book.

I realize that my actual losses were far less than many of you involved at least in the monetary sense. But together we may be able to build a case that will insure he won't be able to do this to anyone else.

Mike you said in your last rebuttal you are the only one here to face the music....
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WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK THE HOMEOWNERS ARE DOING???

We are the ones living in these homes getting the lien notices, dealing with the repairs, and trying to get you to take some responsibility and show a little action behind all the talking you do!

This pity party bit your pulling isn't working, we all trusted you to pay your bills, YOU GOT OUR MONEY, and now we are the ones suffering!

My heart goes out to everyone effected by Mike and his trail of lies. I myself built a home through MT Merrill construction and have also visited Mike's home in Lindon. Now I have thousands of dollars in repairs that need to be done, which are all covered under my warranty, that Mike denies we have (thought state law demands it).

My advice to anyone with the same problem is to contact the local mediation center (Santaquin city court has the number if you want to call them). Once you have proof that you have honored your end of the written cobtract (to seek mediation) then you have done everything you can and can seek further resources (i.e. court)

NOW IN REGARDS TO OUR SHADY LYING BUILDER:
Mike, how can you claim not to have a job? It was long before July that you, my husband and I met at the HoneyBaked Ham to discuss the problems you were having meeting your agreements with us. In fact you recieved a copy of the inspection we had done and gave you a letter that Brad helped draft for us stating all the problems we were still having. And have you forgotten how I was able to get a hold of you? Icon construction, the company you are now working for. Your new "boss" (if you can call him that, your charade isn't working, we all know your a partner, nice try though) was the one that I tracked down to get to you, remember the old office you were sharing on courtesy way in Orem after you started working with Icon? It seems that your memory is a bit skewed.

Remember, that in our contract it said that I had to seek mediation before going to court, and when we met at HoneyBaked I gave you the number of the local mediation company that Santaquin City Judge gave me. Well I contacted them and gave them your phone number and address and told them what was going on with my home. They sent you certified letters, left messages on your phone and the only response they recieved back was a phone call made in the middle of the night. They were never able to reach you again and they tried for months.
Now I have documented proof that I have done EVERYTHING in my power to prevent goint to court and since YOU made promises and YOU made agreements YOU are responsible, you can't fall back on your subcontractors anymore.

But I am going to another chance because I really pity your wife and kids they don't deserve what you've done and to suffer from your lies. So I will stop by your house today 9/11/2004 and again on Tuesday. If I can't reach you I will expect a phone call, we are in the phone book if you've forgotten our number. Or you can drive to Santaquin, (we both know I have made enought trips to Lindon)if we aren't home leave a note taped to the door. If we have not reached a written agreement by 9/24/04 then I will be forced to take this to court!

My heart goes out to everyone effected by Mike and his trail of lies. I myself built a home through MT Merrill construction and have also visited Mike's home in Lindon. Now I have thousands of dollars in repairs that need to be done, which are all covered under my warranty, that Mike denies we have (thought state law demands it).

My advice to anyone with the same problem is to contact the local mediation center (Santaquin city court has the number if you want to call them). Once you have proof that you have honored your end of the written cobtract (to seek mediation) then you have done everything you can and can seek further resources (i.e. court)

NOW IN REGARDS TO OUR SHADY LYING BUILDER:
Mike, how can you claim not to have a job? It was long before July that you, my husband and I met at the HoneyBaked Ham to discuss the problems you were having meeting your agreements with us. In fact you recieved a copy of the inspection we had done and gave you a letter that Brad helped draft for us stating all the problems we were still having. And have you forgotten how I was able to get a hold of you? Icon construction, the company you are now working for. Your new "boss" (if you can call him that, your charade isn't working, we all know your a partner, nice try though) was the one that I tracked down to get to you, remember the old office you were sharing on courtesy way in Orem after you started working with Icon? It seems that your memory is a bit skewed.

Remember, that in our contract it said that I had to seek mediation before going to court, and when we met at HoneyBaked I gave you the number of the local mediation company that Santaquin City Judge gave me. Well I contacted them and gave them your phone number and address and told them what was going on with my home. They sent you certified letters, left messages on your phone and the only response they recieved back was a phone call made in the middle of the night. They were never able to reach you again and they tried for months.
Now I have documented proof that I have done EVERYTHING in my power to prevent goint to court and since YOU made promises and YOU made agreements YOU are responsible, you can't fall back on your subcontractors anymore.

But I am going to another chance because I really pity your wife and kids they don't deserve what you've done and to suffer from your lies. So I will stop by your house today 9/11/2004 and again on Tuesday. If I can't reach you I will expect a phone call, we are in the phone book if you've forgotten our number. Or you can drive to Santaquin, (we both know I have made enought trips to Lindon)if we aren't home leave a note taped to the door. If we have not reached a written agreement by 9/24/04 then I will be forced to take this to court!

My heart goes out to everyone effected by Mike and his trail of lies. I myself built a home through MT Merrill construction and have also visited Mike's home in Lindon. Now I have thousands of dollars in repairs that need to be done, which are all covered under my warranty, that Mike denies we have (thought state law demands it).

My advice to anyone with the same problem is to contact the local mediation center (Santaquin city court has the number if you want to call them). Once you have proof that you have honored your end of the written cobtract (to seek mediation) then you have done everything you can and can seek further resources (i.e. court)

NOW IN REGARDS TO OUR SHADY LYING BUILDER:
Mike, how can you claim not to have a job? It was long before July that you, my husband and I met at the HoneyBaked Ham to discuss the problems you were having meeting your agreements with us. In fact you recieved a copy of the inspection we had done and gave you a letter that Brad helped draft for us stating all the problems we were still having. And have you forgotten how I was able to get a hold of you? Icon construction, the company you are now working for. Your new "boss" (if you can call him that, your charade isn't working, we all know your a partner, nice try though) was the one that I tracked down to get to you, remember the old office you were sharing on courtesy way in Orem after you started working with Icon? It seems that your memory is a bit skewed.

Remember, that in our contract it said that I had to seek mediation before going to court, and when we met at HoneyBaked I gave you the number of the local mediation company that Santaquin City Judge gave me. Well I contacted them and gave them your phone number and address and told them what was going on with my home. They sent you certified letters, left messages on your phone and the only response they recieved back was a phone call made in the middle of the night. They were never able to reach you again and they tried for months.
Now I have documented proof that I have done EVERYTHING in my power to prevent goint to court and since YOU made promises and YOU made agreements YOU are responsible, you can't fall back on your subcontractors anymore.

But I am going to another chance because I really pity your wife and kids they don't deserve what you've done and to suffer from your lies. So I will stop by your house today 9/11/2004 and again on Tuesday. If I can't reach you I will expect a phone call, we are in the phone book if you've forgotten our number. Or you can drive to Santaquin, (we both know I have made enought trips to Lindon)if we aren't home leave a note taped to the door. If we have not reached a written agreement by 9/24/04 then I will be forced to take this to court!

My heart goes out to everyone effected by Mike and his trail of lies. I myself built a home through MT Merrill construction and have also visited Mike's home in Lindon. Now I have thousands of dollars in repairs that need to be done, which are all covered under my warranty, that Mike denies we have (thought state law demands it).

My advice to anyone with the same problem is to contact the local mediation center (Santaquin city court has the number if you want to call them). Once you have proof that you have honored your end of the written cobtract (to seek mediation) then you have done everything you can and can seek further resources (i.e. court)

NOW IN REGARDS TO OUR SHADY LYING BUILDER:
Mike, how can you claim not to have a job? It was long before July that you, my husband and I met at the HoneyBaked Ham to discuss the problems you were having meeting your agreements with us. In fact you recieved a copy of the inspection we had done and gave you a letter that Brad helped draft for us stating all the problems we were still having. And have you forgotten how I was able to get a hold of you? Icon construction, the company you are now working for. Your new "boss" (if you can call him that, your charade isn't working, we all know your a partner, nice try though) was the one that I tracked down to get to you, remember the old office you were sharing on courtesy way in Orem after you started working with Icon? It seems that your memory is a bit skewed.

Remember, that in our contract it said that I had to seek mediation before going to court, and when we met at HoneyBaked I gave you the number of the local mediation company that Santaquin City Judge gave me. Well I contacted them and gave them your phone number and address and told them what was going on with my home. They sent you certified letters, left messages on your phone and the only response they recieved back was a phone call made in the middle of the night. They were never able to reach you again and they tried for months.
Now I have documented proof that I have done EVERYTHING in my power to prevent goint to court and since YOU made promises and YOU made agreements YOU are responsible, you can't fall back on your subcontractors anymore.

But I am going to another chance because I really pity your wife and kids they don't deserve what you've done and to suffer from your lies. So I will stop by your house today 9/11/2004 and again on Tuesday. If I can't reach you I will expect a phone call, we are in the phone book if you've forgotten our number. Or you can drive to Santaquin, (we both know I have made enought trips to Lindon)if we aren't home leave a note taped to the door. If we have not reached a written agreement by 9/24/04 then I will be forced to take this to court!

I would be glad to hear from you Mike..
I tried both phone numbers you listed above, and both have been disconnected. I have knocked on your door in Lindon more times than I can count. You put on a big display of "Oh! Poor me!" here on this website, but the fact remains you are living in a large comfortable home, you and your wife still drive the same nice cars, and you refuse to answer your door when someone wearing a badge is standing at it. Meanwhile, the people you have taken to the cleaners are being evicted from the homes you built for them, the same homes they PAID YOU for, because you don't pay your suppliers and subcontractors. I don't feel a bit sorry for you if you don't sleep at night. You shouldn't.

Feel free to talk to me - I will be at your door this afternoon, wearing a badge. If you don't answer today, don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow. And the next day. I'll be asking your wife when you will be home. I'll be pulling you over if I see your Dodge truck pulling your trailer.

See you soon,

Reading this article made me have a bad feeling in my gut. Everything sounded oh too familiar. I too chose to build with MT Merrill. We were supposed to be in the house 9/2003 actually didn't even get a certificate of occupancy until 1/04. We thought we had closed, Milo (who I have no complaints about, he had been and continues to be very nice and helpful) had called us and told us that the money was there and would be diesperesed. WEll more liens popped up, the title company balked and Mt Merrill went to a second title company. Well more liens popped up, I was told by the company that they weren't sure if they were even going to be able to title the home, so I made the decision to get out and cut my losses. I am now facing over 30,000 dollars in liens on my house due to the fact that Zions Bank released 30000 + to MT Merrill on photo copied signatures and apparently it was used for other items. SO I am currently awaiting a certificate of compliance hearing and pretty much facing bankruptcy myself to get rid of a problem, I had no part in creating. Pretty crappy laws in UT when a crook or a crappy business owner can get away with this and leave the home buyer holding the bag. Do I feel sorry that Mike has been through some stuff, yes, but now I am suffering just as bad for his mistakes. Thanks Mike, appreciate you leaving me with this. If you would like to explain to me where my construction loan money went and why I have so many liens, please feel free I would love to hear. BTW, I also was told multiple times that things were coming or things would be done..did they ever get done...NOPE.

Mike,

I understand your situation and how hard things are for you and I feel for you. But when you took my $500 ernest money and have never done anything to try and correct that not even any contact I loose all repect and find it hard to believe that you are "resolving all humanly possible situations". When we met with our realator and asked for our money back is when we found out that you had gone out of business. At that time she asked us to sign a paper waving all rights to our ernest money and makeing you not liable, a paper which you signed. So how can you say that you want to "resolve all humanly possible situations" when from the beginning you were trying to get out of even trying to get our money back.

It even bothers me more that 2 months before all of this happened I called you and talked to you about the person that originally reported this to this site and you told me everything was fine and there were no problems. I was sure taken in and believed you. Now I am out $500 dollars, no fault of my own, and you don't care or else you would have tried to rectify it some how.
Again I do feel for your family, but having $500 stolen from me leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Your not the only one who has financial strugles and it sure would be nice to have my money back.

Joe (Mr. Provo) You obviously either are very uneducated on this situation or you have nothing better to do with your time. I am in the process of resolving all humanly possible situations that I can given the current circuimstances. I would love to meet with you and go into grave detail of this whole matter since you obviously have a very narrow and prejudice mind. You have not tried to contact me, or if you have, you haven't tried very hard.

There have been many unfortunate circuimstances as to the downfall of this company which I spent over ten years of my life building. Many people have had to deal with some diffucult challenges because of this (many of my own family and friends included!) I recognize this and live with this reality every day.

I still continue to pay for these mistakes *(made by Myself and MANY, MANY others)both financially and in many, many other ways which you obviously could never yet comprehend (because if you could, you would man up and speak with me about your concerns personally)! Just in case you did not notice, while you were butting your nose into other perples business, I am still here and dealing with these things EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! I am continually assisting my creditors (and their attorneys) in any way that I can. I hope and pray that you or anyone else has to go through this kind of crap, because it's all one can do to keep going.

I don't blame you altogether for your lack of understanding, but your false claims are extreme and inaccurate. Nevertheless, I will continue to do my best. I have been dealing with these challenges for over 7 months now. I am broke, I have 3 small children, I even lost the job that I had because of all of this terrible situation.

So if you think you are so cool and so clever because of your little blurb, why don't you come talk to me and find out another perspective (the only one who is still here to face the music), the only one who has been here through every last second of this whole situation. You can e-mail me at [DELETED]. and I will gladly set an appointment to meet with you.

He is hiding from process servers because they have over 21 different summons' for him and his company.

He is hiding from process servers because they have over 21 different summons' for him and his company.

He is hiding from process servers because they have over 21 different summons' for him and his company.

He is hiding from process servers because they have over 21 different summons' for him and his company.

MT Merrill was going to build a home for us. We paid the $500 ernest money and signed all of the paper work. Now we are out $500! MT Merrill has gone out of business and we lose. To make this even worse Affiliated realty knew about it and our realtor never even told us.

The realtor in the model home represented us and her boss Brad Morgan represented the seller (MT Merrill). That's where we went wrong. We trusted affiliated and our realtor. When Affiliated found out about MT Merrill having financial problems they told our realtor not to tell us and that they thought it would work out. About that same time we told our realtor we were thinking of backing out because our current property had not sold and some other issues had arisen, but we would try and work it out. Had Mindy told us that there was money problems we would have backed out right away for fear of losing our money, but we were decieved.

I would not trust my money with Affiliated. Mindy's boss should never have told her not to tell us and Mindy should not have kept something like that a secret from us. We hired her to represent us and watch out for our needs and benifit. All she did was protect the seller and not us.

We have tried to see if Affiliated would help us and give us our money back since un-ethical practices were used by their reltors but they are not even willing to help. I have left messages and not had them returned. Even with the threat of mediation they push all of it back to our realtor and will not even help.

This is a company that I will never buy from again or recommend.

We were served papers yesterday (Jan 25th) that stated that Stock building supply had a judgement against us for not being paid in full for the building materials they supplied for our home. So now we have another lein on our property! We are not the only ones on the judgement, it lists several other homeowners as well as some title companies, mortgage companies, and banks as well. All together there are over 20 names on this list other than MT Merrill.

I am very lucky in the fact that my judgement is only $620.00 plus $250.00 for court costs which is the lowest amount on the list. Several others are for upwards of $12,000.00 to almost $18,000.00 and MT Merrill himself owes just under $131,000.00! In looking through the list of names I didn't see any that may have matched the two rebuttals on this report. Which means he was either (A) extra carefull with them, (B) they changed their minds about having him build their home, or (C) they never existed in the first place and were acctually written up to make him look good!

I don't claim to know exactly what is going on with all this or what may come of it. I am now concidering my own lawsuit for the amount he took from me for the late charge but now I've seen this I wonder if I will ever see any of it if he has this judgement against him already. I do hope he can remedy this situation and learn from it so he can improve his standing. I would say that he does fairly well on building a quality home. I have several things I would have done better on my home which maybe would have been done better if he had better people working on it. Sometimes it seems he just went for whoever gave him the lowest bid to make him more profit. Maybe he was trying to become one of Utahs largest builders too fast. Reputations cannot be made overnight, You may be able to fake it to an extent, but it will come back on you eventually.

MY FAMILY AND I ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BUILDING A HOME WITH MTMERRILL, AND OUR REALTOR IS WITH AFFILIATED. WE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH THE CONSISTENCY OF THEIR HARD WORK. I FIND MYSELF APOLOGIZING TO OUR REALTOR BECAUSE OF ALL MY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BUILDING PROCESS. NOT ONLY IS OUR REALTOR QUICK TO GET BACK WITH ANSWERS, BUT IS VERY HELPFUL, AND ALWAYS PLEASANT,AND MOST IMPORTANTLY HONEST.

MY FAMILY HAS FELT VERY COMFORTABLE WITH THE QUALITY OF THE HOME, AND MT MERRILL'S CONCERN TO MAKE US HAPPY IN A HOME WE ARE PROUD AND AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE.

THERE ARE MANY BUILDERS IN UTAH COUNTY, BUT OUT OF ALL THEOSE OTHER BUILDERS, MT MERRILL IS THE ONLY BUILDER THAT MY FAMILY AND I FELT WOULD GIVE US THE HOME THAT WE COULD APPRECIATE, AND STILL NOT CLEAR OUT OUR BANK ACCOUNT. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE COME UP AND MT. MERRILL HAS BEEN VERY COMPENSATING TO OUR NEEDS.

WHEN BUILDING A HOME THERE ARE MANY DEADLINE FOR THE customer TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR AT A TIMELY MANOR,TOO. I'M SORRY THAT YOU DIDNT HAVE A GOOD EXPERIENCE, BUT THERE IS ALSO YOUR REALTOR, LOAN OFFICER, AND OTHERS TO PUT RESPONSIBILITY ON.

Today (Nov. 4th) my wife picked up a certified letter from the post office and when she opened it it was a notice of a "mechanics lein" placed on MY HOME! The company that placed the lien was the plumbing company that mike hired to do the work but has not paid! So now they have placed a lien on my home.

My wife had mentioned that when Chris was talking to her about getting the lot regraded he said that the person who originally did our grade was taking Mike to court because Mike refused to pay him for some jobs. I'm not sure if ours was one of them but our lot was done once but they drove all over it after the final inspection because they still had work to do on it. Chris finally came out (after 3 or 4 "tommorow for sures") and re-did it but it looks terrible. The first guy may not have done it to the right specs (5% grade away from house) but it looked a whole lot better.

We haven't seen anything as far as a lien from this guy but now I'm a little worried. Who knows how many people he still hasn't paid who may try this in the future. I know that the "owner" may be protected from the liens but it still is on MY HOME and I really don't need the added stress!

The city came out and finished the water meter this morning They said they could never get Chris to answer his cell phone so they came and pumped the water out and set the meter. I don't know if they are going to charge me for this or not.

I have tried to call the plumber but only get an answering machine. I would like to know if Mike has a "reason" for not paying them and if my house is the only one they've had to file a claim on for this. And if anyone reading this wonders why I seem so much more mellow as this goes on I would have to say I guess I have gotten past mad. Sometimes it's all I can do to just sit and laugh at it all, especially Mike trying to come off as a person who really cares about what his clients may be going through. Oh, the joy of it all!

It's been 6 weeks now since we have moved into the house. They still are only partially done with the "small list" as Mike called it. The stucco is still only half done and I haven't been able to do anything in the yard because of the scaffolding they still have up in our yard. We still do not have a water meter yet because the city won't put one on until they fix the leak in the yolk which has been leaking since June! I was hoping to get the yard at least cleaned up of all the rocks and add some soil conditioners to the soil so it would be easier to work next spring but we had our first snow last night (Oct. 30th) so I'm not sure if I'll get to do that this year.

The few times I have spoken to Chris (Mike's Brother and the superintendent) he seemed very concerned about getting everything done as soon as possible saying things like "we want everything to be better than you expected" or "you just call me directly and I'll see that it's done" Well, you can see how far that has gotten us!

As for the rebuttle "customer" my experience may be a one time only deal, and if you have read the entire report you will notice that I have placed as much if not more blame on Affiliated Realty my main concern with Mike May be that he went with the Realty's claim that they informed us EVEN THOUGH THEY COULDN'T PRODUCE ANY PROOF!

Everything went fairly normal until we got about half way through, that's when we started seeing difficulty in getting people to communicate so we knew what was going on. I hope your real estate agent goes over the contract with a fine tooth comb and gets everything in writing so you don't have to deal with any of this after you move in.

My wife and I have been looking for a new home for the last couple of months. After an extensive searcha dn visiting just about every builder and new development in the area we have desided to go with MT Merrill. This is after reading this report.

When I first found this we were about to put money down and sign the contract, but after reading it we were very leary of that was happening. Not wanting to be one sided I contacted our realator and told her about the report and that I wanted to hear both side of the story. That was the best decision I could have made.

Not only did I talk to the realator but I have also had a long conversation with the owner of MT Merrill Construction (Mike Merrill). Mike is a very down to earth guy that has nothing but the interest of his customers in mind. I have spent 7+ years in sales and I know when someone is being genuine or not. If only Brian had contacted Mike I think things could have been worked out, unfortunetly that was not the case.

Mt Merrill Construction is a solid comany that I have enjoyed working with thus far and am looking forward to having a quality home built by them.

This is in response to Mikes rebuttal.
First, as far as the lien on the house, the Title company told me the deed couldn't record until the lien was lifted. This is why (or so I was told) the process wasn't done until Friday night at 5:00 pm. He also states that it was in the contract that MY realtor gave me to sign. The fact is, MY realtor didn't see the contract until AFTER we signed. They never told us she should have been there until the end of the signing. THis was his realtors responsibility to make sure the process went through as it should.

Second, and perhaps the most compelling, is that YES, I was aware of the penalty that would accrue 3 days after the certificate of occupancy was received from the city. The problem arises in the fact that WE WERE NEVER NOTIFIED! Sure, his realtor CLAIMS to have sent my realtor a copy ( no, we were NOT notified DIRECTLY)but cannot seem to find the proof. Which he admitted in his rebuttal that they DO NOT REQUIRE PROOF! The only copy we saw was on September 19th and the fax transmittal date shows that. Our realtor did notice one thing. When she got the fax it had the date that their fax machine put on it, but right below that was another date from a fax machine that was dated September 18th! So she believes that Affiliated realty had just received their copy the day before which shows that they A. Lost the original or B. NEVER had it in the first place!

Now I realize that this could be fully Affiliated realty that is at fault here, which is why I included them in the original report. perhaps you should require proof if only on your behalf so this problem doesn't arise again and Affiliated need only SAY that they sent a copy to place the blame on the customer.

As far as the walk through goes there was an entire page-not just 5 items that you claim. The problem, according to YOUR realtor, is that when you fired the superintendant he took the list with him and never gave you a copy. And I had to call several times before anyone told me they needed a new list. So the list you received is only what I could remember from the original one of things I had noticed that had not been done.
As far as the items on that list I have already fixed one of them myself because I couldn't wait around any longer since we moved into a house that had no Kitchen light! I had Purchased my own and they gave me credit for the one that they supply, but somehow they put up the wrong one and when I noticed this they finally took theirs down but never finished putting mine back up and claiming they needed 2 more bulbs. (their light took 2 and mine took 4) the 2 bulbs they had were the 2 that I bought because I knew it needed 2 more bulbs and I figured they would use the 2 they had plus my 2 to make 4 but apparently the people he hired to change it couldn't count that high. Now take note: when the city did the final inspection the OLD light was in and WORKING! They took it out after the inspection. So when I moved my family in we just had the frame of our light up and the wires and sockets hanging there.

Now for the clincher, YES, I was aware the construction loan was in my name. I got it through your younger brother that Affiliated had written in the space provided on the contract and we did use him for the construction loan. My realtor wanted to do a "1 time closing" where you do it all up front so your locked in to the interest rate at the beginning and it just rolls over to the conventional loan when it is finished. But Milo (your brother) had never done one of these and my loan officer had done a few but didn't like them as well. So we went the other way. Part of the trouble at the end was my lender not getting the required paperwork from the title company. She had even got the ok from Robert to use whatever title company she wanted if they didn't have it to her by a certain deadline. Which they finally did.

But as far as signing the draw sheets that is where you are wrong. I only signed the first one that they said was for the permits and other city fees. I did not see any others until AFTER I signed the closing documents and all this started. I went to Zions to request copies of all the draw sheets and when my I picked them up I noticed it right away and even my 13-year-old daughter noticed it right away, ALL OF MY SIGNATURES ARE IDENTICAL! While yours have some minor changes that would be expected mine could all be put one on top of the other and would appear as one. The only change by my signature is the date is written in a totally different handwriting. I would challenge you to come up with "inked" copies of all the draw sheets that have my signature in INK!

Finally, as far as the Construction loans interest goes, The "payoff" on that note wasn't actually due until November 1st 2003 according to the paperwork. All of the interest was figured into the loan and was in fact PAID AS A DRAW when you look at the loan statements. I also don't know how they required $2000.00 as you state and yet sent us a check for the remainder of what was left in the construction loan when our conventional loan was funded and paid it off! And as you stated, the money had to be paid "TO YOU" not to the bank. And one more note on the construction loan. My realtor noticed that the amount of the loan did not match the agreed price for the house, it was in fact higher. Nobody we showed this to had ever seen the amounts not match. This is why my lender had you sign an addendum stating that the agreed price included "all" costs with the construction loan to be sure they wouldn't try to charge us more when it came time to pay off the loan. We also noted that you included your "profit" AT JUST OVER $21,000.00!

And as a final note on that "tons of equity" remark, that was one of the delays on the loan getting closed. Our lender had to send the appraiser out to the house 4 times to try and get the value up higher than the purchase price! He finally found a few extra square feet somewhere to get the finished square feet above 1500 so the value could get above the $164,000.00 that we needed.

In closing let me say that I have noticed more fault may have been on his realtor not going through the proper channels or just passing it off as our fault. When I talked to the Department of Professional licensing about this they helped me realize that his realty company writes up the contract and he just signs it. They have protected themselves very well in that they do not require "proof" that they sent us a copy or for that matter that they don't even state that we will be notified. Mike just has to go on their word that they did as he asked. If this is an issue that MT Merrill assumed would be taken care of automatically I would hope he would fix the problem in the future to make them more accountable for their actions or lack their of.

First of all, this is Mike Merrill, and I own MT Merrill Construction. I would like to submit my phone numbers, so that anyone whom would like to discover the actual sequence of events in the above case may feel free to call me personally, because this report is unbelievably misleading and inaccurate (224-8900, 404-3711).

MT Merrill construction never placed any leins on the property. The title compnay was simply following the terms of the contract that HIS Realtor gave him to sign. If there was miscommunication or any lack of understanding of the contract, HIS Realtor should have taken care of those questions. There were never any questions posed to MT Merrill Construction regarding the per day penalty that would be assessed to the buyer in the event that closing was delayed. It was a part of the contract from day one, and the Buyer was fully aware of this fact (or should have been if they would have read the contract). Once a certificate of occupancy was obtained from the city, the buyers were notified directly by MT Merrill Construction's Realtor. This information was not transferred in writing (nor is it required to be according to the contract), but the buyer's were FULLY aware that this had taken place and settlement needed to happed within 3 days. For them to come back 30+ days after notice of occupancy and claim to have never known about it is simply not true.

Next, addressing the walk-through list "problem". MT Merrill Construction was never given an official list on an approved form from the buyers. We have tried to accomodate their concerns without having a list to work from. Once again, this is the responsibility of THEIR Realtor to perform the walk-through and create a "punch-list" (if necessary). The builder then signs this list and has 30 days to complete it. This never happened. What we did get was a 5 item list (pretty good on a $180,000+ home) 32 DAYS AFTER WE RECEIVED OCCUPANCY ON THIS HOME!! If the buyers were actually as concerned about getting into the home as they sound in this article, why wouldn't they send over a punch list until a month after they could have moved in!! Sounds fishy.

The substantial completion deadline was extended at the buyer's request. This was done willingly on the part of MT Merrill Construction, even though the daily interest that would continue to accrue would be the Seller's personal responsibility. This fact was never conveyed to the buyer's, as I was perfectly willing to do whatever was needed to help these buyer's accomodate their situation. I wanted them to be happy.

The buyer also states that we required them to use a certain lender. This is also absolutely false. Over 50% of our clients use other lenders than the ones we suggest. This has never been a problem for us. We do require that the clients meet with a lender that we have confidence in to get information for a construction loan, and so that we can be assured of the clients credit worthiness and that they can qualify for their long term loan. This is standard proceedure across the construction industry, and if the buyer's Realtor would have explained the contract to them, they would have known that they could have used any lender they wished. AND THEY DID!!!! They didn't even use our preferred lender, they used their own. This is one of the primary reasons there were any problems and delays in the first place.

It is also interesting that the buyers signed every draw done on the constuction loan for this house, but were somehow still unaware that the construction loan was in their name. This is yet another sign of uneducated home buyers. MT Merrill Construction was never aware that there was any type of misunderstanding or concern as the construction loan.

Once the home was finished, and the buyer's were notified, their long term lender (not ours!) was unable to put the loan together. She continually called our preffered lender to ask questions about how to sumbit their loan. She had no idea how to do it on her own. This was a decision that the buyer's made. Their loan is their responsibility, and if it is the reason for the delay of closing, they still have to assume responsibility for that interest fee. The actual amount due to MT Merrill Construction (in reality this money is due to the bank!) was nearly $2,000. We only asked the buyer's to cover $800 of that hard cost. Again, this was yet another attempt to keep the buyers happy and accomodate their individual needs at my personal expense.

In closing, this was simply a matter of a buyer not understanding the process. Had we of known that they didn't understand we could have taken care of the situation. Neither they, nor their Realtor, ever gave us any reason to think that there was a problem with the contract, or with the progress of the home until we asked them to close.

The buyers moved into a great home with tons of equity when it was all said and done. We regret that Brian and his family were not completely satisfied with their experience, but also know that the VAST majority of our clients are. Some people look for problems in any situation, but we are much more interested in solutions and improvement. We did more for these clients than they will ever know,as far as accomodating needs and covering direct costs that I paid in their behalf. That's the way I do business.

Well, yet another rift in the proceedings. Today I recieved a call from the Title company that said the builder now is disputing the payoff total for the loan! It is now 4:00 pm. so that means no recording today so it will have to wait until Monday now! and I would guess he will try to charge us another $300.00 for the additional time from the 17th to the 22nd! And it's he who is causing the delay! But our contract doesn't state we are charged if WE delay, only that we will be charged daily until it closes. So He can go on for weeks thinking up new trivial excuses to delay it more. I was also informed that they have a new superintendant on the job---would you believe his last name is Merrill? Oh, and I never mentioned that the contract required us to do the construction loan through a certain mortgage company and guess who we were assigned to--Milo Merrill! Yes, this is Mike Merrills younger brother!