Friday, January 9, 2015

JNS Blog Publishes Rebuttal By Brian Goff To Recent Article About "Goff Holdings, LLC"

Neutral stock photo for visual interest, 
blog post by John Hoff

It has always been the policy of this blog, since the very beginning, that I am willing to give "equal time" to the people I write about...within reason, of course. So many of the people I write about express themselves in torrents of foul and badly spelled personal abuse, and naturally I won't publish THAT.  

But Brian Goff is not in that category. He responded in a reasonable way to an article I published about him, click here, and it's only right to publish his rebuttal in article form, not just as comments to the original article. 

So without further ado and editorializing, here are the words of Brian Goff. 

I have added paragraph breaks but not performed "English major" corrections of the text...

I came across your blog and would like about the comments you made about me my wife and family.  My wife and I donate a substantial amount of money every year to many non profit organizations throughout mn.  My wife even was given the volunteer of the year for her efforts.  I despise someone making negative comments about my wife without knowing anything about her.  

Also in response to photos of our home,  don't forget about the 80-100. Hours per week of work over 10 years to have nice things.  Also don't forget about all the personal things you give up when working that much that most people take for granted.  Everyone can have and achieve whatever they want,  they just need to be prepared to work 80-100 per week and give up a lot of personal things.  


In regards to the property in question 3319 Aldrich ave,  that property was sold at the time of the event and the city hadn't updated there records.  I personally only invested in North Minneapolis after discussing this with the top inspections official of Minneapolis.  I explained how I wanted to help and said it would be a good idea.  So I delve in.  I would like you to know I haven't made a dime from any properties I purchased in North Minneapolis and spent millions of dollars renovating them.  We required strict background checks and never rented to convicted felons.  

Whoever as we all know people who can pass a background check can have friends or meet people with bad habits.  If you put people with bad habits together with other people with bad habits only worse things can happen.  We have a societal problem on a scale never seen before.  We have transient people with bad habits that move from one living space to another but never actual address the real issues at hand.  I've spoke with city officials, police officers about this problem and I'm always told they same things,  as long as these people don't live in our city.  

So on goes the cycle of people moving in and out causing problems and the landlord is always at fault.  There are good landlords there are bad landlords there are good people there are bad people,  I just want people before they jump to conclusions that just because a landlord has a problem tenant  that there a problem landlord. I feel that the work I did to help people in North Minneapolis was appreciated by those I rented to. No treated each tenant like I wanted to be treated,  I discounted rent,  gave breaks when necessary to help people out.  

Not once did I rent to someone I wouldn't have wanted to know as a friend.  I lived in a low income area of Minneapolis out of college to save money and I had to deal with assault, robery and drug dealing everyday.  These people need help from society as a whole and we are all to blame.  I have since sold every property I owned in north Minneapolis except one and the only reason I did is the tenants.  I wanted to protect there living arrangements.  A few years ago a black couple approached me to rent to them,  they were desperate and needing a place immediately.  They passed a background check and I even reduced there rent to $300 under market.  

The tenants would call me on the first every month to make sure I received there rent.  Not too long ago i received a call from the wife and she told me her husband had died from cancer.  I didn't even know, she didn't even tell me.  I adore her for her courage and have even helped pay her water bill.  I can honestly say I agree with everyone on her,  investors shouldn't own any properties in North Minneapolis and should sell everyone to an owner occupant and not buy any.  

No one is making any money in North Minneapolis and if anyone things people are making money in North Minneapolis your clueless. The only regret I have is actually investing any money in North Minneapolis.  I was told by the head of inspections that every property in North Minneapolis not purchased would have been torn down and I thought this would have been a tragedy.  Higher costs less housing.  If I wouldn't have purchased properties in North Minneapolis I would be richer,  happier, and have a less stressful life.  So in closing I only want the best for any person whether fortunate for there hard work,  less fortunate for a lack of schooling.  Or addicted a bad habit,  hopefully the find help from someone,  maybe from some of you.  

My recommendation to all is that you lobby the city of Minneapolis to change the law so no single family home can be owned by an investor.  So I agree no investment company or person should buy single family homes in Minneapolis they should be owned by owner occupants.  

Piece out and happy new year.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

A reasonable, articulate response from a JNS "target". Adults actually acting like adults. I love it!!

Anonymous said...

English major should change there to their. :)

Anonymous said...

Actually, the spelling errors would be a lot of work. Aside from that, and if I take his post with some trust in his sincerity, He doesn't sound too bad.

Anonymous said...

Here's a headline 'Goff trumps Hoff in revitalizing Nomi.' Sounds like a nice guy. Perhaps less vitriol and assumptions would behoove the revitalization efforts which this blog claims to promote. Anyone care to appologize 4 leaping to conclusions about these generous benefactors? A few facts and documents framed in a disingenous dialogue can paint a person in a way that is the opposite of reality. Bravo. Thats better. Keep it up, JNS, and you might come back as a lizard instead of a slug. If u start now and keep it up and live to be old...perhaps you'll eek out a karma-neutral punched ticket and only have to come back as an A-hole again.

Johnny Northside! said...

Regarding adults acting like adults:

Yes, he didn't even photoshop my head onto the body of a drunken fat man or start a bizarre blog dedicated to trashing me. An intelligent conversation on the internet, albeit one that could really use some spelling corrections.

Will wonders never cease?

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with this editorial. I am a former investor in north Minneapolis rental housing after owning successful rentals in south Minneapolis. It was an incredibly time and money intensive operation which yielded little to no financial reward and huge amounts of animosity from tenants, neighborhood groups, housing inspectors and the police force. I still follow your blog, but am tremendously relieved to be out of north side property management.

Patrick, Minneapolis

Anonymous said...

I don't believe for a second Brian Goff wrote this misspelled mess. Whoever did is laughing his ass off as the usual idiots trolling this site eat it up like the gospel of a sainted martyr.

Anonymous said...

I am thinking that you and a lot of your "followers" did consume a hell of a lot of drugs back in the day. Do not get me wrong because I ain't saying that's a bad thing. You, my brother, are unique and crack me the hell up.

Anonymous said...

John, you wouldn't be able to "English Major" correct the writings of a fifth grader!

Johnny Northside! said...

It came from Brian Goff's email account.

Twice, actually.

Anonymous said...

North Minneapolis is very lucrative if you know what the fuck you're doing. North Minneapolis chewed up and spit Goff out like it does every other investor that doesn't have their shit together. The rental yields on property in North Minneapolis are great even after a large rehab project after acquisition. With that said, it is a huge amount of work to rent houses in North Minneapolis. If you don't have a solid strategy and network of people you will fail. I found it comical that because Goff's business model no longer involves buying SFH's in North Minneapolis he will pander to everyone and lobby for only owner occupied houses. Anyone with a half of a brain for economics and real estate will tell you what a disaster that would be.What North Minneapolis needs is less Goff's and more investors with refined systems who know what they're doing.

Anonymous said...

Hi All, I have not spent a lot of time on JNS since I moved from North Minneapolis 3 years ago. I lived next door to a Goff property and had several dealings with him and his "management" team. Reality check, he was and is a slum lord. Maybe he's correct, blame it on the City of Minneapolis.... Why not, don't hate the player... Hate the game. We lived in North because we wanted to invest in the city. Unlike Mr. Goff... We lived there 8 years, and finally moved because of dealing with many Goff type folks. I own property in North now, and I do fine with it. But, the difference is - I have families that have lived at my 5 homes for over 3 years. I don't cycle thru my tenants - moving them from one location to another like Mr. Goffy does...

Johnny Northside! said...

Yes, well, not that I'm defending Goff but if you think Goff cycles through tenants, just look at the record of Mahmood Khan.