I was buying a home from Rick Merlini in the Brigatine Estates developement in Harrison Township Michigan. I put $36,000 down on this house and was very excited about owning my own home. Everything was going fine with the home untill spring came around. Something was terribly wrong with the grading. As the three lots to the right of me and half the lot to the left of me all were draining into my backyard and the water was not going anywhere but in the backyard. The City required them to put a drain right in the middle of the backyard. Who in their right mind is going to spend $280,000 on a house with a drain right in the middle of their back yard. I told American heartland that this was unacceptable. They would not refund the deposit.instead they were hiding behind an arbitration clause in their purchase agreement so they would not have to go to court.
I find out not too long after that the original developer used an engineer who had stolen someones engineering stamps and was prosecuted for this. So the whole developement was messed up and RICK Merlini would have had knowledge of this and never bothered to disclose that to me anywhere in the whole process of purchasing this house.
In my opinion he is an unethical business man and does not deserve to be building houses. I wonder why he fled the State of Michigan to North Carolina? If anyone knows anything else about him please respond.
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