Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Catching Up on Slumlord Details


Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Recently in the Strib, there were two articles that had tiny bits of information about slumlords in north Minneapolis.  Where the NoMi blogosphere comes in is that we can take those shreds of info and hold them up to a magnifying glass for all to see.  In one article, a list of landlords who had lost one or more rental licenses was published.  Near the bottom of the article were two names of landlords familiar to NoMi:  Mahmood Khan and the Durkops (Aaron and Mary).  Khan shouldn't need much introduction, and the Durkops were the principals behind Kaizen Property Solutions LLC, who were the designated manager of Paul Koenig's dollar houses.  Khan and the Durkops each lost one rental license, but from which properties?

Well, that took a little digging through city council and committee meeting minutes, but...

...I first have to admit I can't find the property where I can definitively say it's connected to Khan's lost rental license.  We have this recommendation for a revocation at 3223 Bryant Ave N, There are also various meeting minutes that point to Khan having a license reinstated at 2906 Emerson Ave N, which may be the house in question.  If readers can point to something more definitive, have at it.

And of course I was more than a little expectant that the Durkops would have been burned by their association with Paul Koenig.  This turned out not to be the case, however, as the house that led to their revocation of a license was at 2939 Lyndale Ave N.  Unpaid fines and assessments led to the city's revocation action.  2939 Lyndale, by the way, is in my opinion a gem of a house that will hopefully be restored from the Durkops' neglect.  Johnny Northside did a brief write-up of the property on his blog.

The other property shown above is in connection with arson that was reported by the Strib.  Apparently on Sunday a string of fires was lit throughout parts of south Minneapolis, and the Star Tribune article tells of two other unrelated fires.  One was on the 300 block of 24th Ave N.  I drove by and it was fairly easy to tell that our arson victim on the block was 309 24th Ave N, which is owned by Golloywog Properties, which in turn is owned by Robert Serr, who has no shortage of problems occurring at his houses.

There was a neighbor outside grilling when I took the photos of 309 24th, and I asked him if he knew what had happened.  He claimed that the house was "bombed."  Allegedly the culprits came by and threw something like molotov cocktails in the place while people were inside.  The neighbor said that everybody thankfully made it out okay.

I've also long posited that once a property gets in the hands of a slumlord or a mortgage fraudster, it cycles through owner after fraudulent/slummy owner.  This theory holds up to repeated tests.  2906 Emerson Ave N, which is now owned by Mahmood Khan, was once owned by an individual by the name of Paul G. Yackel.  Yackel had rental licenses revoked on seven properties:  2906 Emerson Ave N, 621 26th Ave N, 2934 Colfax Ave N, 3115 Sheridan Ave N, 305 24th Ave N, 2402 James Ave N, and 1918 Queen Ave N.  The 621 26th property wound up in the hands of Pamiko and is set for demolition.  305 24th is now a vacant lot next door to the arson at 309.

Anyone with information about the arson incident, Khan, the Durkops, or Robert Serr...well, that's what the comment section is for.

13 comments:

  1. I think Kahn has a case before the appellate court regarding the loss of a rental license when a tenant used the basement as a bedroom and Kahn evicted him for that.

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  2. Another northside landlord that lost at least one license was Alan Kwong. He is a fairly young landlord (about 30) and he used to be on the JACC board back in approx 04 or 05. He lived in Jordan at that time.

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  3. It would be interesting to see a post regarding the profit margins that unconscionable slumlords can make on these dumps using the Section 8 reimbursement guidelines.

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  4. aargh. Kaizen Property Solutions makes me mad! Hi Lets take a decent house ruin it and make the good neighbors watch as turn their block into a hub of drug dealing, flamin' cheeto eatin', 20 oz plastic bottles of mountain drinkin', trash strewing, front lawn brawlin' den o' thuggery. Since they bought the house on our block (2 years ago) I believe they have about 15 assessments from the city. Grr...

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  5. What are Section 8 reimbursement guidelines?

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  6. http://x2t.com/urik

    Effective Date 1/1/2011
    0-BR - $672
    1-BR - $837
    2-BR - $1016
    3-BR - $1331
    4-BR - $1494
    5-BR - $1719
    6-BR - $1943

    Compare this to a mortgage (without Insurance) on a $25,000 foreclosure.

    Now compare the fact that total homestead tax revenues are 17% more than non-homestead properties.

    Consider which type of structure demands the vast majority of public services these taxes support?

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  7. So if I convert my porch to another bedroom I can get another $225? Do I need to have a closet or just a window?

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  8. Kind of funny. I only saw the name of one landlord that you guys frequently refer to as slumlords on that Strib list. Makes me wonder if you guys actually know who the problem landlords are, or if you just like to pick on a select few.
    I get the impression you don't really have any idea what's going on in NoMi, but the city does.
    What the heck are you paid for?

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  9. I have it on good authority, Anon 11:40, that the landlords we profile on many of the NoMi blogs are also on the city's radar, and that our work is much appreciated. But feel free to disagree, or better yet, point out even more slumlords that need attention.

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  10. HELLO, I am the NEW OWNER of 2939 Lyndale Ave N as of Feb 2011, The house is great I am about 50% done with the inside and 15% done out side. I am also a North Minneapolis Landlord and 6 of my properties hit by the MAY 22nd 2011 tornado, so alot of things got put on hold with the house.

    Christopher Petersen
    brokersrealtyinc@comcast.net

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  11. Welcome to the neighborhood Christopher!

    As you can see from these posts, most homesteaders take a very dim view of absentee landlords because of the lack of oversight with their properties.

    This is understandable since an investment of as little as $18,000 can gross as much as $2,662 a month in section 8 payments which generally stirs enough greed within the owner to look the other way as his tenants wreck havoc on the neighborhood. With 6 other properties in line with the tornado damage we can see you are no stranger to this concept.

    This property has had it's share of problems with 14 City assessments in the last 2 years totaling $10,310.

    We certainly hope that you will take the oversight so that your tenants will conduct themselves as if they lived in a sleepy little grove in Mahtomedi.

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  12. Welcome to the neighborhood Christopher! This is such a beautiful house. They don't make Victorians like yours any more. When they're gone, they're gone. I hope you do all you can to preserve original features. Just curious - are you going to live here yourself?

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  13. Anon 8:49 made an immediate, understandable, but incorrect assumption that this person is a non-owner-occupant. We can be cautious about who buys in NoMi while still being more welcoming than this.

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