Savvy couple snap up San Francisco street lined with mansions for US$90,000 and wealthy residents aren’t happy
Tina Lam and Michael Cheng bought the road, the pavements, and the landscaped islands of Presidio Terrace at a public auction of tax-defaulted properties in April 2015
These days, the price of a San Francisco home can easily top $1 million. But one savvy investor has bought a whole street in the city’s most exclusive neighbourhood for a mere US$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 neighbourhood. Lined with towering palm trees and multimillion dollar mansions, the street has been home, over the years, to famous residents including Senator 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 pavements, the street itself and other areas of “common ground” in the private development that, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, has been managed by the homeowners association since at least 1905.
Cheng says reaction to the sale has been less than neighbourly.