---
title: Couple Buys San Francisco Street With Million-Dollar Homes for $90,000
description: A California couple spent $90,000 to buy a San Francisco street lined with houses worth millions and the wealthy homeowners are pushing back
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published: '2017-08-08T00:53:11.000Z'
modified: '2024-04-17T06:27:53.000Z'
section: Housing
tags:
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![San Francisco Street Sold](https://img.money.com/2017/08/presidio-terrace-san-francisco.jpg)
*An overview of the Presidio Terrace neighborhood on Aug. 7, 2017 in San Francisco.*

A California couple spent $90,000 to buy a [San Francisco](https://time.com/5961/8-solutions-to-san-franciscos-housing-problems/) street lined with houses worth millions, and those wealthy homeowners are now pushing back.

Tina Lam and Michael Cheng, a real estate investor, bought Presidio Terrace for $90,000 in a city auction in April 2015 unbeknownst to the street's residents, the [San Francisco *Chronicle* reported](http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Rich-SF-residents-get-a-shock-Someone-bought-11738236.php) Monday. The auction came about because of an annual $14 property tax that the Presidio Homeowners Association had not paid for three decades due to what an attorney said was a mailing error.

“We just got lucky,” Cheng [told the](http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Rich-SF-residents-get-a-shock-Someone-bought-11738236.php) *[Chronicle](http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Rich-SF-residents-get-a-shock-Someone-bought-11738236.php).*

Lam and Cheng are now considering charging homeowners for parking on the private street, and homeowners have filed a petition to rescind the tax sale and have filed a lawsuit against Lam, Cheng and the city.

“Ninety-nine percent of property owners in San Francisco know what they need to do, and they pay their taxes on time — and they keep their mailing address up to date,” city spokeswoman Amanda Fried told *Chronicle.* “There is nothing that our office can do."

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