Renaissance Custom Homes, Renaissance Development Inc., Renaissance Realty, Waterfield Financial Corp., Ferrin Air Conditioning, RC Cabnets, Austin Electric & Union Federal Savings Bank. They are Rip-Offs & a Fraud! Phoenix Arizona

Arizona Home Builder & Home Financing, Bank Financing & AZ. The Arizona registrar of contractors Rip-Off
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WARNING! ANYONE CONSIDERING BUILDING A HOME or Financing a home morgage in Arizona, read this first!
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12-97
I am writing this Report to give you some insights into
Arizona Custom Home building based on my unique experience. Please feel free to laugh or cry at any point or pass on to all your employees, friends and subordinates if you so desire.

Several years ago, I entered into a contract with Renaissance Custom Homes Inc., Phoenix, AZ, for a house
to be built on a parcel of land in East Mesa. Waterfield
Financial, Tempe, AZ referred us and assured us that they had built hundreds of homes and we would get a beautiful home. Eighteen months later I am still waiting for completion and paying 10 1/2 % interest because of items that are not finished. Upon my Banks approval and directions I was to withhold final payment until I am completely satisfied. Well, almost satisfied.
Being the reasonable person I am, I held back until:

1)the tile is fixed per Az. registrar of contractors direction which was installed by an unlicensed contractor.

2)the lights in 3 rooms become operational

3)the outlets also

4)lights are installed per blueprint.(They are stored in the closet) No hurry because there is no power on that side of the House

5)the propane tank is installed per architect drawing next to the electrical A/C unit Boom! No worry There probably isn't any power there either.

6)the dishwasher is operational. (Slight miss on routing power cord from shipping bag to outlet before installing dishwasher under cabinets and countertops.)

Note: Our electrical contractor who refuses to come fix these and other items misunderstood us when we said we wanted an Energy Efficient Home.

7)we receive our Garage remotes, Vacuum attachments, Intercom and Security manuals Keys, etc.etc

8)our home is our castle. Complete with moat from recent rain storm. House was built in a hole which was OK'd
by an engineering survey for which we paid $700 for, but no one, even the county inspector, seems to have on record.

9)our cabinets are fixed by the paid contractor who also refuses to come back out, 2 different types of wood- must be new style!

10) remaining Blueprint items such as shelves, rods, paint and stucco are completed by general contractor.

11)concrete is repaired since rain washed away dirt that was used to cover the cracks & chips.

12) Knock Hard! No doorbell - you guessed it- ELECTRICIAN

13) extra wires hanging out of interior and exterior walls are explained, hooked up or removed. Yes - Him again(THE ELECTRICIAN)

You are probably asking yourself, where did you find these people? Beware of bank referrals! It's getting dark, and the candle is almost out, but I must ask
you, please research your Contractor thoroughly and their Subs so you don't end up like us:

Some you do not wish to deal with (in my opinion)

Renaissance Custom Homes Inc.
Waterfield FinancialCorp.
Ferrin Air Conditioning
Union Federal Savings Bank

However,if you feel like being abused and disrespected after you have spent your hard earned money as a consumer and are a first time Custom Home Builder consumer, then be my guest.

This Report is to inform you of my experience in this market and is sent with my prayers that you do your homework and choose wisely. All registrar of contractor complaints are public record, take the time to read them. Beware of Bank referrals also! They feel that the discrepancies listed are minor cosmetic discrepancies and disbursed funds when they were told not to and now we are paying 10 1/2% interest on the disbursement. Well, that's enough for now. The saga will continue in our next newsletter. Until then...

Rich and Maggie
PS. Housewarming gifts should be limited to flashlights, candles, batteries etc. STILL WANT TO BUILD THAT CUSTOM HOME?
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UPDATE
Tuesday, April 7, 1998

Well, here is the update.

Some things have been fixed, but there are still numerous items left to be done and/or repaired.
But guess what? The Contractor refuses to do it. We even called the registrar of contractors and he agreed and directed Renaissance to complete and repair 33 items. Funny as this may seem- she did a few and then left. Still refuses to finish house even after directives and notices to appear before the hearing board with the Administrative Hearing Judge.

OK. She doesn't want to bother. No big thing. Lets have the bank try and get her to do it or refund some of our money or close our loan to a permanent loan and we will get Az. state registrar of contractors to finish. Honest, dues paying, hard working, ethical employees. We can relax now.

Oops, Forgot that the Bank - Waterfield Financial - referred us to Renaissance and cannot get them to finish. Totally embarrassed and losing credibility the Bank now has a plan. LETS FORECLOSE on the OTTON family. They have been paying 10 1/2 % interest for 18 months, used every avenue and organization to get their house completed, even still making payments on the Construction Loan after 18 months when others would have sued or walked away.

The solution is: LETS FORECLOSE on them.

The Bank hired an attorney - Lee Crosby. Doesn't have to set foot in the house, pay attention to the registrar directives, and could care less if the house ever gets finished per Blueprint and Contract. He has got his marching orders from Waterfield Financial Corp. They are: Return the last 2 payments the Ottons have made on their construction loan and that we have already cashed and credited to their account and start Foreclosure proceedings immediately.

I even tried to deal with Mr. Crosby. Guess what he said? Listen, Mr. O, We ( the Bank) just want out of this situation. That's it ! They just want out. Don't want to help, Don't want to enforce contract, Don't want anymore embarrassment. Just want out.

So they started Foreclosure on us. Attacking us, jeopardizing our outstanding A1 credit rating, ignoring the contract and still collecting our 10 1/2 % interest payments.What is going on?

I am sending this out because I desperately need help. I don't know which way is up. I have a clue. Go out to my front porch and look at the bottom of the beam. The bottom of the beam will say TOP, that is which way is up.
HELP!

Rich and Maggie O

RENAISSANCE CUSTOM HOMES, INC. (RCH)
The story began in August 96 - and continues today August 99

YOU WORKED, YOU DREAMED, YOU SAVED, TO GET A CUSTOM HOME

Marie Cunning, (appropriately named, clue #1), President & CEO of Renaissance Custom Homes, Inc. (RCH) will violate the law to profit from you. This company was referred by Waterfield Financial Corp. of Tempe, AZ as being a builder of hundreds of homes. In fact, when the truth was later discovered, they had never built a home nor had a contractors license at the time we signed the contract at the bank with the loan officer present. In addition, they cut corners and cost by using unlicensed contractors and substandard materials. After the
referral, we met with Marie Cunning at RCH to discuss building our brand new custom home. BIG MISTAKE !! They set a price and drafted a contract. After depositing $3,400 for Blueprints and $500 for permit fees and such we were on our way!

On our way to the most humiliating, terrorizing, and
criminalistic ride a person could conceivably put you through.

As the house started construction we began to receive change orders charging us more money above the price of the contract (clue #2). This happened at every phase of construction. The scenario was always the same.Start building, STOP! Charge the customer more money. Then start again after they pay. Sounds a little like Bait and Switch ? Actually, it is FRAUD. Marie Cunning (RCH) always had the same answer. The allowances given in the contract were not enough and allowances are buyers responsibility ( we thought we were dealing with experience and knowledge about home-building and prices. Even though the builder is passing themselves off as something they are not - Experienced and Licensed- and RCH set the allowances, it was the ultimate scam to get more money. The following are examples of her tactics and quality they refused to honor:

...................Contract Price Actual
Site Prep / Foundation $1,000 ..............$3,400
Flooring ............. $4,800 ..............$6,900
.....Engineering Survey 0 ..................$ 700

Call me stupid, but I thought Site Prep / Foundation came with a home. This is not so with a RCH Custom Home.

As the house progressed, the contract price escalated from $154,000to $168,000 and they were only halfway through. Also, major items that were finished were wrong (clue #3). Even when we objected, RCH continued to violate the contract, blueprints and customer requests. Walls and Cabinets were crooked, tile was uneven, doors wouldn't close and had major gaps, and the Air Conditioning was changed from Engineering Specifications and not cooling fficiently.

Propane line leaks, drywall ceilings are cracking, insulation was lower than contract rating and Sinks are cultured marble instead of Porcelain.

Also, the rear yard floods, front yard is not graded, ROOF has
bubbling and Leaks, and all sealant in house is cracking. RCH had an unlicensed contractor lay 2400 square feet of tile and it is anything but square. Finally, the electricity was inoperative in the east 1/2 of the house and RCH would not repair it for over 2 months and when they did, the ceiling still has drywall holes and is left unpainted. We eventually hired a professional engineer to review the situation and the result was that the home was far below custom standards and it needed approximately $43,000 worth of work .

You can always seek recourse from the Arizona State Registrar of Contractors! Think Again! We filed a complaint with the Registrar of Contractors and they issued work orders, but guess what, no work done. As we were closing our loan, we held back the final Payment (per Contract) until the house was finished and fixed properly. Due to missing items and poor workmanship, this option was appropriate. Yet instead of fixing the house, RCH maliciously filed a false lien on our property and then filed a lis pendis/lawsuit against US (which RCH lost).

Now is the time to hire a lawyer, yeah, that's the answer!Think Again! Marie Cunning, Renaissance Custom Homes, had most of her subcontractors LIE and file FALSE affidavits in court to try and justify what she did. After a lengthy court battle she was found to be wrong and directed to pay us $65,000 to pay for legal fees and FIX the residence. She paid 35K on the day of court and has again refused to follow court directives and pay the remaining $30,000 and finish the house.

Remember, this is the builder referred to us by the financial people at: WATERFIELD FINANCIAL MORTGAGE COMPANY, specifically Greg Daly, President, and Don Stremme, construction loan officer, TEMPE AZ. and UNION FEDERAL SAVINGS and LOAN. More on them later.

PLEASE: IF YOU DO BUSINESS WITH THE FOLLOWING, BRING 2 LAWYERS,ACCOUNTANT AND SEVERAL OTHER WITNESSES AND MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS IN WRITING WITH PENALTIES FOR LATENESS & JOB MISTAKES. LEAVE NO ROOM FOR THEM TO SCREW YOU, BEFORE YOU DO BUSINESS WITH:
Renaissance Custom Homes, Inc.
Renaissance Development Inc.
Renaissance Realty
(It is spelled REALITY on her Fliers)
Marie Cunning
Bill Henry
Pablo (Dan) Acosta

Waterfield Financial Mortgage Company
Ferrin Air Conditioning
Manny Figueroa
RC Cabinets
Austin Electric

P.S We started the House in September 1996 and as of August 1999 we are still waiting for completion!

WATERFIELD FINANCIAL MORTGAGE CORP.
Tempe, Arizona

THE BANK HAS YOUR BEST INTEREST AT STAKE. THEY WOULD NEVER MISLEAD YOU!!

In April of 1996 we found a beautiful 1&1/2 acre parcel of land in the East Valley. Plenty of room, plenty of Cactus. All we had to do was find a builder. We went to our Lender, Waterfield Financial Corp. Herein lies the problem. CAVEAT EMPTOR. You would think that a reputable financial institution would protect your interests as a buyer and a loan holder. So many questions and avenues.

V.A., Conventional, Variable, What do we do? Enter the experts.

THE BANK
AKA - MORALS - ETHICS - STANDARDS
THEY ARE ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU!!

Construction Loan Manager -Don Stremme, Vice President- Greg Daly answered that they would take care of all our needs. Just Relax as we TAKE you through OUR home-building and lending process. First, let us (WATERFIELD) refer you to a builder who has constructed hundreds of homes. You will have your home built by Renaissance Custom Homes (Marie Cunning). Pay no mind that in reality they have not built any homes, nor do they have a license.

Let me also forget to tell you that the loan will be backed by Union Federal Savings and Loan (Indiana) and they will not be able to assist you in any way if problems arise. Mr. Paul Butcher will only charge you 10 1/2 % interest for a 6 month construction loan. It is August 1996 and we will have you in your new home by March 1997.

Homes usually take about 4 to 6 months to build.
I guess we were special.

Nineteen (yes,19) months later and we are still on a construction loanpaying 10 1/2% interest. The best loan on their books.Four draws to the builder totaling $145,000 and Waterfield/Union Federal cannot get their referred builder to finish the house after numerous phone, fax, and attorney requests to abide by the contract. The builder Renaissance(RCH) will later be found guilty of breaching the contract and filing fraudulent liens in June of 1999. Yet, in November of 1997, the combined forces of Waterfield Bank and Union Federal Bank have decided that since they are making no progress with the crooked builder, that they will turn away from the Homebuyer also.

Even though the homeowners are still paying their 10 1/2% interest on the construction loan and cannot close on the house at a lower percent because the Builder has filed a false and fraudulent lien, Waterfield decides to Foreclose on the homeowners.

ALWAYS PAY YOUR BILLS, THE BANKS RESPECT THAT!

As honest and patient buyers, we request that the bank keep the loan open until we can get assistance from the AZ Registrar of Contractors or attorneys to have the home completed by THEIR referred homebuilder. The answer from Greg Daly and Paul Butcher is a resounding NO. When we ask why, the answer from these two professionals is Because we are the bank, and it is our money and we can do whatever the hell we want(direct quote).

While trying to secure a loan from other banks, Union Federal started foreclosure proceedings so as to quickly distance themselves from a botched 19 month construction loan, fraudulent use of unlicensed contractors and remove themselves from any liability.

As credible and long term residents (19 years) of Arizona, we implore you to never do business with the following:

WATERFIELD FINANCIAL CORPORATION, Tempe Az
UNION FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN, Indianna
GREG DALY, Former President Waterfield, convientently left and is now with Caliber Bank. (Gee, I wonder if they appreciate hisloan practices)PAUL BUTCHER - Loan Officer, Union Federal Bank

P.S. It is August 1999, 3 years later and the house is still notfinished. We have been forced as others to seek legal action against the unlicensed builder and eventually the Bank.

HERE THEY COME TO SAVE THE DAY!!

THE LEGAL TEAM
JENNINGS STROUSS & SALMON PLC
DAVID BRNILOVICH & DEAN ROBINSON
MAY 1998 TO PRESENT AUGUST 1999

Finally, help is on the way, or so we thought. We were
determined to follow the law, file the proper papers and seek remedy through the proper channels.

We were told NOT TO WORRY, EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE. We had enough documentation to prove the lien was false so our attorney assured us this would take a month or so to clear up. We were very concerned, since the money to bond around the lien, $66,000, would have to come from my mother. All she has is a mobile on an acre lot in Apache Junction and she got a home equity loan, putting her home at risk for me. My initial feelings were to let the bank foreclose but my mother insisted that it would ruin our credit and that the law would stand behind us and make everything right.

THE LAW IS THE LAW AND YOU CAN DEPEND ON IT. NOT!!!

The summary judgment went to Judge Dann and he allowed the lien because the opposing attorney said it was valid. No questions asked. No listening toour side. No proofgiven. Just let the lien stay. Well, so much for the law. The opposing counsel, Dan Campbell, of Bell and O'Connor, didn't even research the situation so now we have incurred all types of legal fees to take depositions from all the subs, which she had file false affidavits for. Just before we were to go in front of the arbitrator, all the subs reneged on their affidavits and ran like hell.

WHAT'S THE OPPOSING COUNSEL TO DO???

Well, in order not to be liable for damages, her attorney
recommended she open several other businesses.
You say FRAUD! GO AHEAD... SUE ! RCH is now known as:

Renaissance Development Inc.
Renaissance Realty (her fliers say: Renaissance Reality)
Renaissance Village( her current victims are in Gold Canyon - just east of Apache Junction)

SEEK HELP FROM THE CORPORATION COMMISSION
GOOD LUCK!!

Not much to say here. They only file papers etc. but they felt very bad for us and our problem.Their sympathy was overwhelming. SUGGESTIONS AND HELP, PLEASE

Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. Unfortunately, we are already in debt to the lawyers so we don't have any money.

THE NEXT TIME YOU DREAM OF BUILDING THAT CUSTOM HOME,

We really are very good, hard working people, and are extremely frustrated with what is called the law. We too have always had the option of ripping people off, but instead make the decision to do the right thing.


Maggie O
Mesa, Arizona