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New owner of Baptist Home protests taxed value
Scott Pahlen, a real estate agent from Warroad, Minn., was in Kenmare April 10 to protest the assessed value of a property he purchased here, but hadn’t previously seen.
4/24/18 (Tue)
Maple View . . . The original Baptist Home has not been in operation for several years, but was recently sold to a Minnesota realtor for $12,000 that included 14 efficiency apartments. The buyer, Scott Pahlen, is seeking community input on what to do with the building.
By Marvin Baker
Scott Pahlen, a real estate agent from
Pahlen, who is a regional investor, along with his family, is in the business to buy properties for income, flips and investment.
In 2017, he purchased the Kenmare Maple View property, formerly known as the Baptist Home, in an online auction conducted by Steffes Auctioneers.
The annual tax equalization hearing was conducted by the
Pahlen was the only individual who attended to protest the value of a property. The current appraised value was $503,000, but Pahlen paid $12,000 for the property.
According to Pahlen, the first buyer backed out after winning the auction and Steffes approached him as the backup buyer, “and we decided to go for it,” he said.
“The valuation went from $174,000 to $503,000,” Pahlen said. “We bought that property on an absolute auction for a small percentage of either of those values.”
Pahlen told the equalization board the old portion of the building was beyond repair as the plumbing, heating and electrical portions were all unrepairable. In addition, the elevator didn’t work, along with many other aspects of the facility that make it financially difficult to repair.
With that said, Pahlen told The Kenmare News he isn’t quite sure what he wants to do with the facility.
“I wish we had a clear plan,” he said. “It has fallen into some disrepair and is economically and functionally obsolete for the most part. We would welcome ideas from the community.”
A brief history of the property notes that the Baptist Home was tax exempt as it was owned by a religious organization.
In 2012, the Baptist Home Society sold the property to the owners of The View in
The Maple View continued to operate until a few years ago when the main portion of the home was closed and only the 14 efficiency apartments on the west side of the building remained in operation.
Pahlen said he doesn’t have a connection to Kenmare and hadn’t been here prior to meeting the equalization board. He said his interest has to do with oil activity.
“I have no connection to Kenmare and had never been there prior to the meeting,” Pahlen said. “I do however, have an interest in the Bakken oil patch.”
Pahlen, who is a certified appraiser, as well as realty broker, was told to get an updated and accurate assessment of the property to determine the present valuation.
The county equalization personnel noted other than any new construction of properties identified for reassessment, no increase in value was placed on residential or commercial properties in Kenmare in 2018.
They noted that 10 properties had been sold during the past year with a total sales value of $1.2 million. It was also noted that older structures saw a small decrease in valuation, although the overall city valuation decrease was at 1 percent.
The total value of all city property in 2017 was $66.5 million, down from $67.16 million in 2016.
Any property owner who had a valuation change of 10 percent or $3,000, received a letter from the city auditor to provide them the opportunity to protest their valuation... Read EVERY WORD on EVERY PAGE of The Kenmare News by subscribing--online or in print!