N Minneapolis Buys Dirt-Cheap & Raises Values
The city of Minneapolis has screamed “fraud” several times in the past year and a half. Every time they have accused an individual or a company of committing fraud, they always go out of their way to make sure they let the public know that fraudulent behavior will “not be tolerated.” What they don’t let the public know about is how they have recently been buying boarded up houses slated to be demolished for pennies on the dollar and then increasing the value after the sale is complete.
The Mis-Adventures of Johnny Northside Blog has a post written by Jim Watkins, that uncovered the details for one such property located at 3016 6th Street North, Minneapolis, MN. Here is a quick summary of what has happened with it in 2008:
April 2008: John Hoff buys 3016 6th St N for $8,500.
July 2008: 3016 6th St N is added to a list of houses to be purchased by the City of Minneapolis by the Minneapolis City Council. According to Hennepin County the tax value of the property is listed on their website at $48,000.
August 2008: City of Minneapolis buys 3016 6th St N from John Hoff but, no information about the sale is made available to the public.
September 2008: Hennepin County has updated their website to show the City of Minneapolis as the owner of record but, recent sale information is not available. The tax value of 3016 6th St N is listed at $128,000, not $48,000 as it was just two months earlier. Further, the County website states that the value was established by Assessor as of January 2, 2007. Even though John Hoff bought the house in 2008 for a mere $8,500 and the site showed a value of $48,000 in July, 2008.
Sept/Oct. 2008:Several emails with questions regarding the sale of 3016 6th St N were sent to the previous owner, John Hoff and to Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes (who previously worked for ACORN, the organization that was recently exposed for engaging in fraud). Those emails went un-answered. John Hoff, also known as Johnny Northside, is close friends with Jeff Skrenes, who plays a key role with the City Council in determining which houses will be bought by the city.
Click the link to read about the shady deal on 3016 6th St N.
http://misadventuresofjohnnynorthside.blogspot.com/2008/10/minneapolis-buys-property-wrongfully.html
DFW Mentor's Weblog 
October 30, 2008 at 9:28 am
Why isn’t this bigger news? Has this information been passed on to people with an ability to do something about it?
If the city is really changing the tax values like this, that is just WRONG.
July 28, 2009 at 6:25 am
I left a similar comment on the Anti-Johnny site (which has not been updated since January…). Property values as listed on tax records do not have anything to do with actual sale values. If that were the case, the county would be broke. Also, if you had waited longer for the County to record the information, you’d see the house sold for $17000. John was smart and lucky enough to buy his home at the bottom of the barrel and in an area that the City was turning into it’s Eco Village- they bought any property on those blocks that they could. For a real estate mentor, you don’t seem to know much about real estate. Please try not to sound so unbelievably un-informed next time you try to slander someone who may be brash, but is trying to change a once ignored problem neighborhood.