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Real Estate Investor Couple Buy Entire Street In Ritzy San Francisco Neighbhood; YES, THE ACTUAL STREET - AND THE RESIDENTS ARE NONE TOO HAPPY
Topic Started: Aug 8 2017, 08:10 AM (126 Views)
Tybee
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All because the HOA, through a tax bill mailing address screw up, failed to pay the $14/year tax bill so the city sent the property to auction to recoup the $994 past due taxes. Now the couple own the actual street, sidewalks and any other common areas and are contemplating charging anyone (including residents) to park in any of the on-street parking spaces.
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — These days, the price of a San Francisco home can easily top a million dollars. But one savvy investor has bought up a whole street in the city's most exclusive neighborhood for a mere $90,000.

Trouble is, some of the extremely wealthy residents of Presidio Terrace were not aware their street was up for sale and are not pleased it has been sold.

Presidio Terrace is an oval shaped street sealed off by a gate from the tony Presidio Heights neighborhood. Lined with towering palm trees and multimillion dollar mansions, the street has been home, over the years, to famous residents including Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Thanks to a city auction stemming from an unpaid tax bill, Bay Area real estate investor Michael Cheng, and his wife Tina Lam, bought the street and now own the sidewalks, the street itself and other areas of "common ground" in the private development that, the San Francisco Chronicle report ed, has been managed by the homeowners association since at least 1905.

Cheng says reaction to the sale has been less than neighborly.

"I thought they would reach out to us and invite us in as new neighbors," Cheng told The Associated Press. "This has certainly blown up a lot more than we expected."

It turns out the homeowners association for Presidio Terrace failed to pay a $14-a-year property tax, something that owners of all 181 private streets in San Francisco must do, the Chronicle reported.

So the city's tax office put the property up for sale at the cost of $994 in an online auction to regain unpaid back taxes, penalties and interest. The couple eventually won the street with a $90,100 bid in an April 2015 auction.

Scott Emblidge, the attorney for the Presidio Homeowners Association, said in a letter to the city that the owners failed to pay because the tax bill was mistakenly being sent to the address of an accountant who hadn't worked for the homeowners association since the 1980s, the Chronicle reported.

Emblidge said the residents didn't know their street was put on the auction block, let alone sold, until May when a title search company hired by Cheng and Lam reached out to ask if any residents had interest in buying back the property.

That was one of several options Cheng and Lam have considered for making the investment pay off.

Another option is to charge residents to park on their street — and rent out the 120 parking spaces that line the grand circular road.

"As legal owners of this property, we have a lot of options," Cheng said, adding that nothing has been decided.

The matter could be headed for court.

Last month, the homeowners petitioned the Board of Supervisors for a hearing to rescind the tax sale. The board has scheduled a hearing for October. The homeowners association has also sued the couple and the city, seeking to block Cheng and Lam from selling the street to anyone while the city appeal is pending.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-street-sells-90k-225021750.html
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Mayor Joseph Alioto from the 50s and 60s lived on that street. Those two would be a Fisherman's Wharf walk-away crab cocktail by now if he was still alive.
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Tybee
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I have to think this whole thing will be reversed by the courts.
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I hope it's not reversed. The couple won the property fair and square. Having money doesn't mean intelligence. Not paying for 14 years? Who was treasurer of the HOA? If the couple wants to let them have the property back, charge them over a million or so.
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Tybee
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Your lord and master Trump would be very proud of you.
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Aug 8 2017, 11:54 AM
I hope it's not reversed. The couple won the property fair and square. Having money doesn't mean intelligence. Not paying for 14 years? Who was treasurer of the HOA? If the couple wants to let them have the property back, charge them over a million or so.
No, I respectfully disagree. There is rational fairness involved. They got it fair and square, yes, but a ransom reward of $1 million? I can see a reasonable rate of return and expense reimbursement involved. $200,000? That seems like a well deserved investment return. But just because they are rich, they shouldn't be hoodwinked out of property vital to their homes.

Non-payment of hat small amount due the City had no impact on others or the City services.
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Have you never been to a tax sale? Cities hold them every year, here don't pay your property taxes for thee years and it comes up for sale to the public. A fiend of mine bought a piece of property several years ago and the owner was an elderly woman, he son contacted my friend, got on his soft side and he settled for a $500 profit. Well the next year the same property was back on the unpaid rolls. He's never made that mistake again.
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Tybee
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IMO they got the property based on an error so it should be reversed. They knew what they were doing all along. These people are savvy investors. I'm sure they're basically scumbags who'd sell their own family members if they could make a profit.
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There are a lot of questions about the HOA, some official there dropped the ball, big time. As far as figuring the monitary value for the new owners? How much do private parking spaces go for in San Fran? The couple an make almost 400,000 a year just renting the parking spaces for one year, so 200,000 is not nearly enough IMO.
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Ethics aside, I lived a block away from there in Jordan Park 1970-79. It is a beautiful, graceful, lovely enclave that let you walk thru and enjoy. No gate back then.
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https://sf.curbed.com/2017/8/8/16114040/presidio-terrace-history-sf-street-private

HOA fees 600 per month, they never paid the taxes on the common areas for 30 years.
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I'm sure they're basically scumbags who'd sell their own family members if they could make a profit.

Isn't that how fortunes have always been made? "Think and Grow Rich". Opportunity knocked and this couple answered.
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Tybee
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Yes, that's the way scumbags have made their fortunes for a long time.
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