Inside one of the most exclusive streets in San Francisco that a couple bought for $90,000 and was forced to return to the city
Tina Lam and Michael Cheng said all they wanted was their "American dream."
In 2015, the couple dropped nearly $100,000 on the purchase of Presidio Terrace — a private cul-de-sac in San Francisco lined by 35 mega-mansions. The city put the parcel up for sale in an online auction after residents failed to pay taxes on the street for more than a decade.
On November 28, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors heard from residents and voted to reverse the sale. Lam and Cheng will be reimbursed for their speculative investment.
For at least 17 years, the city's Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector mailed tax forms to the address of a now deceased bookkeeper, who once worked for the homeowners' association. The $14 annual property tax went unpaid by the people who live on Presidio Terrace. Lam and Cheng paid just above $90,000 for the street, the sidewalks, and well-manicured shrubbery.
In August, we visited the ultraexclusive Presidio Terrace to see the street for ourselves:
More from Business Insider:
All the nasty things inside a pimple — and why you should stop popping them
How much money you need to save each day to become a millionaire by age 65
The richest village in China is one of the most mysterious places on earth
