Kenneth Gonzalez and his team, including Stephanie and Michele, were responsive and thorough throughout the sale and closing on the sale of a relative's home. It was a challenging property, but was well-navigated to a very successful conclusion for my relative. Closing costs were also very reasonable considering the complexity of this sale. read more

Merlino & Gonzalez deserve every compliment and top rating! Ken and his team (Stephanie & Michele) are true professionals--knowledgeable, reliable and courteous. They helped my family purchase our home on Staten island and kept us updated throughout the process. They respond promptly, answer every question in layman terms, and coordinate efforts between banks and brokers. The final "binder" of documents also arrived in a nice zip up pouch for safe keeping. Start to finish, Merlino & Gonzalez gets Five Stars! read more

Their staff in the Staten Island office are pretty good and get back to you in a timely manner. As for Kenneth, he's a nightmare of a lawyer. Ask any real estate agent on Staten Island, they know how he's killed many deals with his incompetence. Overpriced, underwhelming and won't admit to his mistakes. Just use anyone else but this guy! read more

This is the 2nd time I used Merlino & Gonzalez for a property sale and everyone at Merlino and Gonzalez were an absolute pleasure to work with. Professional, responsive, detailed and helpful!!! John, Stephanie, Melissa, Michelle (sorry if I missed others) were all in the know each time I contacted them with any questions/discussions. Gigantic THANK YOU for all your help!!! read more

Retained Mr. Gonzalez for Estate Planning Nov of 2021. I followed up after holidays to check on progress. Assistant (Melissa) said he was very busy with real estate deals and said a few more weeks. I followed up again in Feb.(same story). Once again followed up in March now 5 months in and finally received rough draft mid march after repeated calls. Draft didn't include everything we wanted so we tried to make another appointment only to be told we can do it over the phone which we weren't happy about but went along. As we went over some stuff that was left out and other things that needed to be changed Mr. Gonzalez was openly annoyed during the entire call and at times was very sarcastic and condescending. I followed up with numerous phone calls in May through July without a call back from Mr. Gonzalez or his assistant Melissa. After not hearing back once again after another call in August I have retained counsel elsewhere. Absolutely no regard for client. If you don't have time for clients don't take consultation fee. Very unprofessional! read more

I used John Merlino and his firm For my closing on SI. He and his team treated my 1 bedroom condo like a million dollar closing. He was always available to answer questions and got back to me promptly. I was very happy with the level of service and advice and would highly recommend this firm to anyone looking for representation in the real estate field. read more

I can not express enough how wonderful this firm is. They took great care of my mom, when selling her home. They looked out for her best interest. We live in Buffalo, and selling my mom's home in Staten Island. In the midst of COVID, they responded to any and all our concerns. They were literally a phone call or email away. Weeekends or nights they were there for us. They represented my mother is extremely well. Thanks again for everything! read more

My experience with John Merlino was that he is an unprofessional, unapproachable, and condescending individual who abruptly drops his client in the middle of a house purchase without just cause. I used him for a first time home purchase and my experience with him got progressively worse from start to finish. First, when I received a copy of his retainer agreement via email, I noted it reads that special circumstances will incur additional fees beyond the "flat fee" he had quoted me over the phone. In an effort to guage potential cost amid all the other house/closing costs, I replied to his email simply asking him what might be considered a special circumstance. His exact reply to me via email was, "The circumstances would be if you become an absolute nightmare to deal with and call me 10 times a day." His response should have given me a hint as to his unapproachable and unprofessional demeanor, but I dismissed it as a possible joke at the time. Later, my mortgage lender advised me to ask John about including a certain stipulation in my contract. When I called John to ask him his thoughts on the lender's suggestion, his response to me was, "Lady, I've done this 300,000 times." It was clear to me that John perceived any question to be a bother and did not want to take the time to explain anything or do any work. Shortly thereafter, he emailed me to say the office lost my retainer agreement (I should have read his other negative reviews about his office's poor organization). I resubmitted it. The office then called me to schedule my appointment to sign the contract with John. They said they couldn't schedule anything later than 4 PM, so I left work early to make the appointment; as I was on the way there, his office staff called me (less than an hour before the appointment, at 3:30 PM) to ask me to come in later (despite initially telling me they couldn't meet later), stating the reason was that John suddenly had "an emergency closing for a different client." Prior to meeting with John, I had emailed him to request a copy of my contract so that I could review it ahead of time. He refused to provide me access to my file. His reply to me was, "That's not how we manage our files. We do not release our work product." When I met with him in person, he began to quickly verbally skim my contract and I again asked if I can please have a copy of the contract to review more closely before signing it. He accused me of not trusting him. I explained that, being my first time home purchase, I just wanted to make sure I knew what I was signing and that my request did not mean I didn't trust him. He insisted it was a sign of distrust, said he would no longer represent me ("we aren't the firm for you"), and abruptly walked out of his conference room. Two people who had come with me witnessed this encounter and we were all astounded by how curt and unprofessional he was. As a lawyer, John should recognize the importance of someone reading a contract before they sign it. An individual with such a seemingly sensitive ego as to dismiss a client over a simple request to receive a contract from the client's own file is concerning, and it is clearly evident he does not care about his clients. I called two other law firms afterwards to hire a new attorney to handle the closing, and both attorneys stated they have no issue with providing contracts to clients and that clients are in fact entitled to their files. I did not have any issues with the next lawyer. Truly hope this review helps others to steer clear of John Merlino, as he's a nightmare to "work" with. read more

Ken Gonzalez, esq has been a trusted attorney for my family for over a decade. He has taken care of my mother's legal needs with ease and has demonstrated the highest integrity, professionalism and friendship towards her. I cannot say enough great things about this lawyer and firm. 5 stars! read more