Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Lifestyles Of The Rich And Fraudulent--Thomas Balko, The T.J. Waconia Fraudster, Lived In This Half Million Dollar Home!

Photo By John Hoff



After finding the secluded, deluxe lake home of imprisoned T.J. Waconia fraudster John Helgason, click here for that story, I thought it was only fair to track down the opulent former digs of the OTHER T.J. Waconia fraudster, Thomas Balko. Like Jon Helgason, Balko is also cooling his heels in federal prison in Duluth.

Unlike Jon Helgason--who apparently managed to create an LLC "holding company" and place a luxurious lake home in its assets, so his family could continue to reside in comfort--Thomas Balko's family does not appear to still reside at this lovely home, located at 12815 Island View Circle, Rogers, Minnesota. The house is located at the end of a cul-de-sac and is, arguably, one of the nicest homes amid homes which are all quite nice.


The property appears to be occupied by a family with a different surname and is no longer in the hands of anybody with the name "Balko," but this information is tenuous and unconfirmed. Anybody who has further info is welcome to forward that info via the comments function.

The house has been in foreclosure and, as of December 19, 2009...

It was listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as being for sale for 499,900. The house has 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, and is a single family house.

I hope whoever gets the house enjoys the heck out of it and becomes aware of its interesting history. For a period of time, that house was supported on the bleeding back of North Minneapolis. Let's hope the next owner is honest and deserving.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Typical Sheet-Rock Palace with no windows on at least one side.

NoMi wins for architecture compared to this mess!

dsfriberg said...

Haha. I had the same thought as Anonymous 10:11. NoMi beats it for location, too, i.e. not in the middle of nowhere...

M. Clinton said...

This just reinforces what a cultural and architectural wasteland the burbs really are. I would be absolutely embarrassed to live in such an eyesore!

Anonymous said...

Hey Hoff, get your facts straight. This home went to forclosure in 2008 not 2009.

Johnny Northside said...

The sentence you are disputing never actually said the house went into foreclosure in 2009, but gave the date of the real estate listing which followed the foreclosure. But I've changed the sentence to make it more clear.

Got any other information you care to share about Thomas Balko?