"I was shocked to learn this could happen, and am deeply troubled that anyone would choose to take advantage of the situation and buy our street and sidewalks," one homeowner, who asked not to be named because of a pending suit, told the Chronicle.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Unsurprisingly, residents are not happy — more than two years after Lam and Cheng scooped up Presidio Terrace without their knowledge. Many were first made aware of the purchase in May, when a title-search company working on behalf of the couple contacted them to see if they were interested in buying back the property outside their homes.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
The couple is interested in charging the neighborhood's deep-pocketed residents to park on Presidio Terrace. "We could charge a reasonable rent on it," Cheng told the Chronicle.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Along came Lam, a product line manager at software company VMware, and Cheng, a real-estate agent who brokers investment opportunities for high-net-worth individuals.
In 2015, The Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector went looking for someone to pay up. It listed the street in an online auction to recover $994 in back taxes, penalties, and interest.
The association failed to pay a $14-a-year property tax for three decades. It claims the city sent the bill to an outdated address, which caused penalties and interest to stack up.
Residents pay an annual fee to the homeowner association. In 2013, that came out to $3,410 per home, according to a listing for Mayor Alioto's mansion.
Source: Forbes
The median home value in the Presidio Heights neighborhood topped $5.1 million in June — about four times the median home value in San Francisco, according to data from Zillow.
A white Beaux Arts estate at the top of the cul-de-sac (you can barely see it between the trees) belonged to the late San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto. It boasts six bathrooms.
Mayor Alioto's former home last sold in 2013 for $9.5 million, according to property records.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi once lived in a Mission-revival mansion further up the street. The Democratic Party held many fundraising events there over the years.
Source: The Atlantic
The home last sold in 1990 for $2.7 million, according to property records obtained online from the City and County of San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder.
Senator Feinstein grew up across the street from the home but always admired this mansion, with its storybook charm. She bought it through a family trust in 1985.
Senator Feinstein later passed it on to her daughter, Judge Katherine Feinstein, who sold the property for $9.5 million in 2013, within weeks of listing it.
"She has loved this house since 1945 and I've told her it's just too much house for us right now and she said 'You know, life is short, be happy,'" Judge Feinstein told The Wall Street Journal.
On the corner sits a Tudor-style home that once belonged to US Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband, financier Richard C. Blum. Built in 1909, it contains 16 rooms.
No one gets in or out without the hired private security knowing. A uniformed officer with Black Bear Security Services stands guard at the stone-gate entrance at all hours.
It has attracted some of the wealthiest and most powerful politicians in California over the years, thanks to enhanced security and its isolated location at the top of the peninsula.
Presidio Terrace is a block-long, oval street (and private development) that has been run by homeowners who live there since at least 1905, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Source: The San Francisco Chronicle
