Couple’s desperate fight to reverse 'accidental' $39,000 land purchase

It’s been eight months since JJ Hollingsworth and her husband bid for a San Francisco property they thought was a bargain. It continues to be a nightmare.

It was May last year when Hollingsworth and Alemayehu Mergia participated in the auction for 1926 Kirkham Street in Sunset, San Francisco.

They were sent a letter by the office of the SF Treasurer and Tax Collector inviting homeowners to participate in a sealed-in bid auction.

The property was set to go under the hammer and had a reserve of just US$1 ($1.55) after the owner stopped paying their taxes.

As the couple thought they were bidding for the two-apartment rental across the street from their home, they made an offer of $25,000 ($39,000).

The price was staggeringly below the US$1 million ($1.5 million) value of the rental. It had sold for just over $1.5 million almost a year earlier.

When their bid was accepted, the couple were elated. Yet, they would soon learn all was not what it seemed.

The address they had bid for was not a rental property but a 25-metre by 2-metre long unpaved road between the apartments and their home.

The couple only learned of their accidental purchase after reading the letter more closely.

To add to the couple’s woes, their $39,000 offer was well above that of other bidders.

Of the 47 plots on offer, four sold for $1.55 and others ranged between US$10 ($15.50) and US$11,000 ($17,000).

They acknowledged they should have researched the property before bidding, but believe the city should have better explained the terms of the auction.

Since winning the auction, the couple have attempted to get their money back.

It’s been a long drawn out process that has impacted Hollingsworth’s health, according to The San Francisco Standard.

The stress and anxiety of the situation caused a flare up of eczema in her ear canal which triggered an infection. 

It left Hollingsworth, who’s a composer, temporarily deaf in one ear.

“It’s not like Beethoven,” the 69-year-old composer told the media outlet.

When Alan Wong, a newly appointed supervisor joined the Board of Supervisors pledged to help the couple seek a reversal of sale, Hollingsworth’s health improved.

“There’s an end in sight, after months of this,” she added.

The couple reached out to Wong’s office after their plight made headline news both within and outside the United States.

“Supervisor Wong is committed to serving and representing the residents of District 4,” his office said in a statement to the couple. 

“If the constituent ultimately wishes to pursue a request to rescind the sale, the supervisor’s office stands ready to assist them through the appropriate process with the Board of Supervisors.”

A spokesperson for the San Francisco Tax Collector told The San Francisco Standard the office “doesn’t take a position on overturning the sale”. 

The first and only time the tax collector’s office reversed a sale was in 2017 when a private street in Presidio Terrace was sold at auction without street residents’ knowledge.