Search
NoMi Business Partners
The I.I. Blog Roll
The Goddess of Glass
Reliable Twin Cleaning
Followers
About Me
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Slumlord, Steven Meldahl's Property Tax Evasion
6:31 PM | 
Posted by
The I.I. |
This blog thread posted by the Irving Inquisition uses some explicit language, as well as depicting some aspects of life in North Minneapolis that some readers may find objectionable. Reader discretion is advised.
Slumlord, Steven Meldahl’s Property Tax Evasion
Hello again. If you’ve been reading this blog on a semi-frequent basis you would know that I’ve been keeping close tabs on the state of Steven Meldahl’s rental properties in NoMi. Years of staring at one of his burned out abandoned dumps serves as a continuous motivator to tell the world about the kind of business man Meldahl truly is.
Previous postings on Meldahl:
Slumlord Sonatica by Steven Meldahl
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 4
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 3
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 2
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 1
Get to Know Minneapolis Slumlord, Steven Meldahl
Slumlord Sonatica by Steven Meldahl
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 4
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 3
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 2
Meldahl Medley Home Tour, Part 1
Get to Know Minneapolis Slumlord, Steven Meldahl
This is an Irving Inquisition exclusive; digging deeper into Meldahl’s property tax history in Hennepin County has revealed that the man owes copious amounts of money in back taxes. As of today, that dollar figure is around $204,000. It’s not as if Hennepin County is rolling in dough; this is a very large sum of money. That kind of money can go a long way in providing services county constituents badly need. Additionally, this dollar figure is of the 81 properties that we know of. There may be more in Hennepin County, and there may be more in other counties.
 |
| Research your slumlords downtown! It's all public baby! |
Steven Meldahl is literally sucking the marrow of life out of our communities. He lets his properties fall apart. That’s bad enough, but this tax evasion business adds insult to injury. See the information in the document below. All of this year’s data was obtained online, and prior years were obtained by going downtown.
Meldahl Taxes
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Share The I.I.
There was an error in this gadget
60 comments:
Hmmm, So if the City gets this dead beat poverty pimp (and others like him) to pay up then they wont have to manipulate homesteaders assessments?
Leaving aside the notion of whether homesteader assessments are manipulated, clearly this is a substantial amount of money and if the City doesn't get its money from Meldahl it will be forced to seek elsewhere. Meldahl is hurting the City. He is a bad man.
@ Anon 8:46,
Maybe in a perfect world... That would be nice though, wouldn't it?
JNS posting a comment on THIS post? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Glass houses my friend.
@ Anon 6:53,
You trolls have some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder. Every time I post something, you come here and try to link JNS to it. It's simply absurd and totally irrelevant to the matter at hand. Who are you anyway? Jim Watkins?
$191,000 taxes due versus $595 taxes due.
Hmmmm, I don't really think there is a comparison.
https://www16.co.hennepin.mn.us/taxpayments/taxesdue.jsp?pid=1602924110002
Can Meldahl hand over, say, nine or ten of his worst properties to the City or some non-profit entity in exchange for a clean slate on taxes? If you figure that each lot is worth 20-30k (a stretch in this market especially considering demolition costs, but whatever) that gives him a clean slate. Even if the City loses money on the deal, at least those properties wouldn't be just sitting there in limbo.
Of course, the one across from you would be on the list. :^)
Hmmm...That would just put him in better financial position to continue the poverty pimp activities he is currently involved in. My guess would be that he has leveraged one home against another to amass this rental empire.
No, I think he needs to come up with cold hard cash quickly or risk losing his rental licenses!
A small point - I would call this delinquency rather than evasion.
Oh, and the settlement would include not buying or holding any ownership percentage in any more rental properties in North Minneapolis, or maybe the entire city.
I'd like to see Meldahl come up with the cash too. But my hunch, looking at the number and variety of the properties, as well as the varying tax amounts due, is that he's way over-leveraged, in financial trouble, and/or has essentially written some of the properties off as lost anyway.
It's like when your $500 car gets towed and racks up $2500 in fines and storage fees before you realize it's gone. No way are you going to pick up that car, especially if you have a couple of other $500 cars to drive around in.
To me, this is a big problem with the City's policy of attaching punitive fines to addresses and not people--it sends properties into liability limbo and leaves neighbors to deal with the trouble created by empty houses. Really, who's going to pay those giant "failure to pay" assessments, followed by the fee of $6500/year to hold a property vacant? That property's headed into the long process of foreclosure or tax forfeiture, if you ask me. (I'd be curious if the City EVER collects those fines from the original owner of the house, or if they just get added to the actual price of the property when it finally, finally sells. Which might be considered, in some circles, a pretty cake-eating way to generate City money via low-dollar sales, and at the expense of people in troubled neighborhoods. But I digress.)
One other advantage to turning over some of these properties to the City is that they come out of Meldahl's financial portfolio. Right now, those properties are "worth" their tax value even though they aren't rented. I don't know how Meldahl does his buying, but if he gets commercial financing, the City's current tax values, which are way higher than their actual martket values, make his numbers look far better to a banker than they would look if he didn't own them anymore.
(I'm pretty sure this is why Landlords aren't complaining too loudly about the inflated property values which are the subject of the current homeowner lawsuit against the city. Tax value's REALLY helpful for getting more loans.)
I guess my point is that even though this would be a "hold your nose" deal for the City and Neighborhood, it might work out better in the long run than letting Meldahl lose his license and dropping his entire crappy portfolio into several years of vacancy and neglect.
@ Anon 2:30,
No! Delinquency is when you're like 90 days late. When you're YEARS late in paying, that's evasion.
You know, something else occurs to me, not about Meldahl but sort of related to the issue of financing, taxes, etc.
The City owns quite a lot of property round about town, via MCDA, CPED, office buildings, that sort of thing. I wonder what would happen to the City's bond/credit ratings if they were forced to reappraise those properties at true market value--a much lower number--and also what the impact would be if they couldn't count all that delinquent tax and fee money as receivables?
So lowering the tax values isn't just about collecting less revenue, it also could impact their ability to borrow.
Sorry if others have already discussed this--I'm not always that quick about financial stuff....
Anon253:
SUPER-interesting points!
After the lawsuit was filed against the City for the over valuing of North Mpls properties, I heard about your on line discussion. I am a Mpls City assessor that worked in North Mpls until 2009 and now am assigned to Commercial valuation. I thought I would put in my 2 cents worth. You seem to be bent on trashing Meldahl and his properties. I met him and his broker as we prepared for his tax court petition for 2007 value pay 2008. We went through each of his properties over a 2 week period and other than clutter of his tenants, the properties in general are nicely remodeled and very well maintained and up to code. We ended up settling his case in Nov. 2008, and the County owes him quite a bit of money, based on what he had paid in and what his tax obligation was after we settled. The County is so overwelmed that as of today, he is still owed this money. He has subsequent tax court petitions for '08 pay '09 and '09 pay 2010. He is allowed to pay the first 1/2 of his taxes and 1/2 of the 2nd half taxes, so it appears that he is delinquent, but other than a few, which appear to be the 2 fire damaged ones and 2 that still need to be remodeled, he is not delinquent by Minnesota Tax Court Statute. There is no mechanism to show this on the County website, so much of your information is erronius. Based on some quick calculations and getting the correct amounts of what is actually owing on these properties, he will more than likely get a substantial refund from the County if we settle, which we almost always have in his case. I think it is important for the public to know that this is complicated and our system does not have the capability to disseminate the totally correct information.
Thank you very much for coming here to add some new information to the discussion. It seems that some of the NOMI blogs seem to take a publish first let the chips fall attitude when it comes to business owners in Minneapolis. It's really quite sad.
@ Anon 5:15,
If there was any validity in your statement what so ever, you would disclose your identity and the documents that support your statement.
Meldahl's properties are NOT well maintained or recently remodeled. I can tell because I can see, and so can everyone else. Each picture says a thousand words.
I don't buy your statement about the county being overwhelmed. That's a total load of crap. Government entities like Hennepin County have been operating and handling issues of this nature for a very, very long time.
Additionally, you stated my information is erroneous because of the website. Even if that were true--which it's not because you haven't validated anything you've said--how would you explain the data retrieved from the system downtown that's specifically designed for property taxes?
The simple fact of the matter is, you're lying.
"You trolls have some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder. Every time I post something, you come here and try to link JNS to it. It's simply absurd and totally irrelevant to the matter at hand. Who are you anyway? Jim Watkins?"
Here's why it IS relavant. Especially on this particular post. You are part of a group of NOMI bloggers that complain constantly about others. Others includes, neighbors, landlords, NOMI busineses etc. While you may not consider yourself "linked" with JNS in many ways you are and i'll be you were inspired to work this blog by his blog. Now for you to post about late property taxes and JNS to comment when he himself has had late property taxes ever since these blogs started. (Among other civic financial obligations.) is purely hypocritical and should at least be noted as such. Does he have a right to comment, absolutely. He also bears the responsibility that readers will call him on it. That is the nature of the blogosphere.
@ Anon 5:57,
That isn't new information. The same line was used by a commenter on one of my Meldahl postings a couple months ago. Additionally, the vocation of being a "slumlord" is actually a legitimately recognized business by normal self-respecting people. Thing about it.
@ Anon 6:14,
I'm going to correct you on your comment. I don't complain constantly about everything. I criticize and judge constantly on things I disapprove of. Sorry, but JNS wasn't my inspiration to start blogging. As a matter of fact, I had never even read a blog until last summer right when I started mine. Besides, you don't even have the decency to identify yourself. How can you talk about responsibility and expect anybody to take you seriously?
Wait............ the county owes Meldahl money from 2008?
Proof, please. Need proof. Thank you in advance.
To the anons who repeatedly bring up JNS, how about you go and troll his site instead?
To I.I. - for obvious reasons, I can not give you my name, since I am involved in the negotiations for Meldahl's '08 pay '09. We have 3 assessors working on his case. Once we settle, I would be more than happy to disclose who I am, since I am now in Commercial valuations effective 1-1-09. I have gone back over your numerous stories and reader comments and I have one question for you, why don't you meet with him????? He is always accessible to us and inspectors!
By the way, I am only addressing his real estate taxes, not his assessments that are also on his tax statements.
You don't have to like II's style, but it would be pretty tough to argue that it doesn't promote discussion.
To anon 6:49. The person to call at the County attorney's office is Mary LaBore. She handles all of the recalculations and payouts. She can only verify that he is owed money, and might not even be willing to do that. I can not comment any more, or I'll get in hot water. If anyone has questions about the assessment process, I can probably address that, but that's it.
wow ...no life has struck all of the people above....all sides... you picked where you live. It's like moving by an airport then complain about the noise. ..STUPID MOVE on your part. Now pack up and move to your ideal neighborhood, since this one seems to bother you so much.
Well this is very interesting, having an assessor on the thread. What's the take downtown on ii's assertion that the properties are troubling? It's a fine line between landlord and tenants sometimes.......
Talk with him??? Nice guy??
This greedy guy owns 80+ properties and is so naive to his responsibilities for timely tax payment and the maintenance and upkeep of his properties that community members should call and remind him?
A good thoughtful businessman and community member wouldn't assume such a burden that negatively impacts his neighbors or need to negotiate the payment of delinquent taxes and nuisance property assessments.
Why should the city negotiate? Did the community benefit when his rentals and acquisitions were profitable?
How many of these "negotiators" live near and are impacted by the daily problems associated with Meldahl (and others) properties? So, we have to let some bureaucratic who lives in Apple Vally or Minnetonka bargain with these guys based on their preconceived illusion of how low acceptable standards can go in North Minneapolis?
Make him liquidate and pay the full amounts owed!
I don't know why people in Minnesota always make haste to add "he's a real nice guy, though" when making criticisms. What does this "nice guy" stuff mean? He's polite? He talks to you politely rather than snarling in your face? He has manners? He tells you things which humanize him, like he also has a family and people who love him?
Screw Meldahl. What about OUR families? What about OUR neighborhood?
And, yes, we have a right to make our neighborhood better. The "airport noise" metaphor doesn't compute. The folks who complain about airport noise have their own complex story to tell, their own justifications which are completely rational. The City of Minneapolis WANTS us to turn this neighborhood around, they are on our side in the battle against slumlords.
@ JNS,
Amen to that brother.
Most people are pretty nice in conversation, and most people think that their actions make total sense.
It's what they DO that's important.
Meldahl's not an ogre. There are probably people who like him, enjoy dealing with him, love him even.
What's at issue here is whether he maintains/runs his properties in a way that meets the community's standards. (Which might differ in some ways from the City's standards.)
I wonder if the assessor toured Meldahl's properties after making an appointment or if it was a surprise visit. Would his opinion of the properties be different if he were to drive by them today?
(It's my personal opinion that whether a property meets code or not doesn't have much impact on the neighborhood. Other factors like litter and the appearance of properties might have more impact. In my view, it all comes down to safety, which has more to do with the way MPD and the City moderate peoples' behavior than it does with landlords/tenants. But each to his own. I'll definitely agree that really understanding the issue of landlord/tenant rights, responsibilities and behaviors as they relate to community standards and neighborhood revitalization--would be a plus for the neighborhood.)
I don't believe the person who says they are an assessor is what they claim; anonymous people come here and say anonymous things. If they are who they say, let them say it openly. An anonymous OPINION is one thing, but it's stupid when anonymous people make factual assertions which can't be backed up due to their anonymous nature.
(Parody font below)
I have reliable information that the so-called tax assessor making that claim is, in fact, a homeless man at the library on a public computer.
Perhaps someone should call our county commissioner and ask him how it could be that the system shows a property owner owing nearly two hundred thousand dollars when (and if) he is in fact owed money back from the county. I'm not sure I believe this is true, but if it were, and if I were Meldahl, I would be hopping mad.
It appears that most, if not all, of Meldahl's properties are single family homes. If that is the case, who is ultimately responsible for trash in the yard, dog crap in the yard,cars parked in the yard, noisy parties etc? If you want these tenants to "own" their homes to become better citizens and contribute to society, why are the tenants not cited for such bad behavior? God knows no one from outside the area, or very few at best, is going invest and live up here. It seems to me that you expect Meldahl and others to babysit his tenants. If the tenants are held accountable, this would certainly help the overall situation!
Anon 5:37 (aka. another poverty pimp)
The Property Owner who is profiting! Tenants who break the law go to jail.
Don't want the hassle or can't be responsible - then stay out of the rental business.
5:37 Your a troll and a fool. No one wants to live by the trash that you guys rent to.
Owner occupants around here aren't the problem. Homesteaders don't want to come into this area because slumlords like you and Meldahl own 80+ properties and aren't responsible enough to screen their tenants.
Airport Noise?
Sure, lets have a big class action suit that will provide $$$ to insulate us from the predatory slumlords who pack our community full of trash.
Please note: I made an update to this blog post because I had originally forgotten to add the data from 2627 Dupont Avenue North to the spreadsheet. Originally I stated that Steven Meldahl owes approximately $191,000 in back taxes. That number is incorrect. The more accurate dollar figure is closer to $204,000.
Regards,
I.I.
This is RJ from CPED. One of our City appraisers told me of your blog. I am not in to giving any opinion, but you should know that the City owns 1511 22nd Ave. N. Mr. Meldahl approached us over 1 year ago to see if we were interested in buying it, which we were. He was wanting to finish the work, but had lost the grandfather rights on his zoning and was going to have to convert it from the duplex to a single family home. An attorney had made a mistake 25 years ago on a deed and since we could not locate him, Mr. Meldahl had to do a quiet title action, which took 10 months to do. We finally closed on it a week ago. We have not made the decision yet whether to slide it in to a rehab program or use the Federal funds to demo it. Maybe some neighborhood input would help. The City assessor says you cherry pick which comments you post, but in fairness to your readers, they should know that the City now owns the property.
So let me get this strait RJ?
CPED is working with a guy who owns 80+ properties and a $495K Edina home to help him mitigate a bad investment because he failed to take due diligence when he snapped up this "Bargain"?
Yet monthly, dozens of struggling homeowners are losing properties to foreclosure because slumlords like him have allowed trashy rentals to decimate resale values making neighboring homesteaders properties worthless to liquidate?
Tax Records show that Meldahl purchased this property in June of 1988.
So, was he the owner when the fire occurred? If so what happened to the insurance $$$ meant to repair the property? Did he use this cash to expand his slumlord empire?
If not he got what he paid for and the City shouldn't be bailing him out!
RJ again - he "self insures", just like we do at the City, so the extensive work done after the fire came out of his pocket. I need to correct something that I said before. Ackerburg, a local developer, actually approached him to try and buy the duplex 1 1/2 years ago and then referred the property to us. Have a good day.
Hey "RJ" Anon 7:34,
I really don't care what the back story is on this place. The simple fact of the matter is that this is a burned out death trap that's been sitting there in that same condition for 6 years.
"RJ from CPED" is made up and nonexistent.
LOL- First RJ, I'm sure your C-P-E-D stands for something, however I don't believe for a minute that you actually work for the City. But that's OK, because you are helping define this conversation. If I am wrong that is a really scary proposition.
The City is insured with taxpayer dollars. You know, from property taxes on the the homes whose values are impacted by "investors" like this.
What does self insured mean?
Does that mean that when the property is no longer profitable, the owner/investor stops paying taxes, abandons upkeep and maintenance, and begs publicly funded bureaucrats to cut deals with community tax dollars to absolve slumlords of any possible loss?
Does Meldahl actually have the cash reserves to self-insure 80+ properties? Does this make him a liability to those living around him? Isn't this something that our local government should be concerned with before they administer rental licenses?
Where are the self insured $$$ necessary to bring this home back to the same level of livability you are suggesting that tax payers fund?
BTW, RJ is Jim Watkins. No random CPED employee is all like "Well, I hear that such and such a blog cherry picks comments"! LOL It's just a wee bit too middle school for an actual CPED employee or tax assessor.
At our closing, Meldahl explained why he is forced to "self insure". Basically, he said that insurance companies indirectly red line parts of Minneapolis, so that when you have a loss on an investor owned property, the insurance companies only pay anywhere from 30 to 50 cents on the dollar of the cost to repair and require large deductibles. So he said he began to self insure 13 to 15 years ago. By the way, we would not have purchased it if it was a burned out death trap. Our rehab supervisor had to approve the purchase and he has almost 30 years of experience.
@ Anon 11:06,
You have got to get out of this habitual lying pattern. There is no documentation to support there was ever a closing or sale. As far as the city is concerned, slumlord, Steven Meldahl still owns this property.
http://apps.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/PIApp/GeneralInfoRpt.aspx?PIN=19429
As for insurance, where's your proof of this? Even if Meldahl self insures; who gives a shit? That's not my problem. 1511 22nd is a trash heap that he's been sitting on for 6 years.
One more thing, I will refute every one of your erroneous comments until you start providing actual documentation. Comment with a link or e-mail physical documentation. Otherwise stop talking.
I'm not terribly interested in who, specifically, some of these impostors are. But it seems to me that we've got a few people making up stories about Meldahl with little or nothing to back them up.
To the anonymous commenter stating that Meldahl is somehow owed money by the county, you could very easily create a dummy email account and send one of the NoMi bloggers documentation to support your claims. Meldahl himself could also post that information here or on a blog of his choosing. If it's true, that's important information to know. But for now there is zero evidence to back up your claims.
Furthermore, when I was downtown researching various slumlords a while back, the employees there mentioned Meldahl, the Moghuls and Khans, and Reitman as problem landlords both in terms of property conditions and payment hsitories. They then showed me a few screen shots of Meldahl's payment history. There were quite a few NSF checks for his tax payments. I wish I had the time to research the full extent of bounced checks he wrote to the county, because that seemed extensive.
To Anon 2:44, 12/2 - Tax value has virtually no impact on what a bank might be willing to lend. Recent comparable sales are what's important when arriving at an appraised value.
But I do like your analogy about the car at the impound lot. If it has a value of $500 and can only be retrieved by paying $2500 in fines, then it makes sense for the owner to just let it go, and that may be what Meldahl and other slumlords are doing with their properties. I'm going to take the analogy one step further though. Imagine if someone were breaking into the impound lot and sleeping in Meldahl's over-leveraged impounded car. But then, while the fines piled up but before ownership was lost, that person was sending Meldahl a check every month. These substandard rental properties can generate quite a bit of income for the slumlords even after they've been effectively abandoned.
To "RJ from CPED," I don't think you're for real either. It does take a while for the city and county websites to be updated, so that claim may yet bear out. But for now, it's not verifiable.
Anonymous(RJ)11:06 said...
At our closing, Meldahl explained why he is forced to "self insure". Basically, he said that insurance companies indirectly red line parts of Minneapolis, so that when you have a loss on an investor owned property, the insurance companies only pay anywhere from 30 to 50 cents on the dollar of the cost to repair and require large deductibles. So he said he began to self insure 13 to 15 years ago. By the way, we would not have purchased it if it was a burned out death trap. Our rehab supervisor had to approve the purchase and he has almost 30 years of experience."
OK - So you are supposedly some City employee who looks the other way to corrupt practices by insurance companies and faltered licensing policies that don't protect the community; then you try to justify bailing out these poverty pimps with tax payer dollars because WHY?
If your rehab supervisor believes this property to be a good investment then how come the city isn't making Meldahl fix it? If he can't finance it's repair then suspend his rental licenses until he can operate his business as a fiscally responsible community member.
Where is the up side for the community in allowing Meldahl,the Moghuls and Khans, Reitman and the like to run huge slumlord empires without any oversight?
Do you think the community is a cash cow that should be burdened with all the risk while these guys profit?
RJ - my last post. You folks need to look at laws and ordinances. If you think the best way to force investors to do certain things - change the laws on the books. We can't just take someone's property without following the laws and ordinances on the books. My guess is that most of you folks are young and quite nieve on how business really works in the "real world"! Any of you folks run private businesses with any employees? I doubt it! I retire in less than 6 months and am not taking any chances giving you any private information. It will show up soon in the public records. Hint -maybe check the water department records? After 30+ years with the City, I'm just glad to be getting out!
I can also tell you that no one at the City would ever tell you when you are "researching them, ie landlords" that they were bouncing checks - now that is a total lie Mr. Hawkman! We are constantly trained to never ever give a personal opinion, just state facts, even if we wanted to!
@ RJ Anon 5:29,
You just tipped your hand. You're a buddy of Meldahl's aren't you? As for how business works in the "Real World", I work in the private sector, and have my entire career. I've owned my own business, managed people, and currently have vast amount of monetary responsibilities.
As for your last statement, your off base yet again. Just go downtown to the government center... It's all public information.
Really "RJ", you must be in on this scandal to go to the mat for Meldahl like this.
Good Riddance RJ!
The city doesn't need public servants who think like you.
No one told me Meldahl bounced checks. I was told about the payment history screens on the computers downtown and I looked at a few of them myself.
Isn't impersonating a city/county employee a crime?
Add it to the Meldahl list of violations.
NoMi Passenger, isn't discrimination a crime..oh wait...I guess you can get fired for that...SNAP!
City assessor here. Thought I would be nice enough to update you. Yesterday we settled Meldahl's case for '08 pay 2009 taxes that was scheduled for trial later this month The county again owes him a big chunk of money and this time we had to promise to get his settlement put to the top of the pile. The County still owes him money from 2+ years ago. Don't shoot the messenger!
Cardinal from the Vatican here: Stephen Meldahl has been nominated for sainthood on the basis that we have verified he farts incense and shits rose petals on a regular basis.
See how easy it is to pretend to be someone you're not and make up random statements that are probably not true, anon 5:26?
Don't shoot the messenger.
@ Anon 10:16,
Your comment had me laughing so hard I was crying.
Well Mr. Smart One - check with the Tax Court if you do not believe me!!! Just trying to keep the truth from being covered by all the mud that is thrown around!
Keeping the truth from being covered while you are simultaneously lying about being a city assessor coming to some neighborhood blog to comment in the anonymous comments section.
?????????????????????????
Though an Installment Agreement is the route loads of people will need to take, be aware of what the plan means and what the agreement will attach you to. Find out what the stipulations are, the results, how to request, and further information on Installment Agreements here: http://www.tax-defense-network-diy.com/installment-agreements/
Post a Comment