San Francisco couple accidentally buy useless strip of land at auction

A San Francisco couple have been left haunted by a property they accidentally bought at auction nine months ago.

JJ Hollingsworth and Alemayehu Mergia were invited by the office of the San Francisco Treasurer and Tax Collector to take part in an auction for 1926 Kirkham St in Sunset, San Francisco.

The property had a reserve of US$1 ($1.73) at the sealed-in bid auction after the owner stopped paying their taxes.

The couple thought they were bidding for a two-apartment rental across the street and made an offer of US$39,000 ($67,500), considerably below its US$1 million valuation, a price it had sold for about a year earlier.

The couple were delighted to have their offer accepted, but reality soon came crashing down.

“We would always regret it if we didn’t. Wouldn’t you?” Hollingsworth told the San Francisco Standard at the time.

The property JJ Hollingsworth and her husband Alemayehu Mergia bought ended up being an unpaved strip of road.

“Wouldn’t you wonder what could have happened.”

The address they had actually bid for was a 25m by 2m long unpaved road between the rental apartments and the place they were living.

The pair discovered their accidental purchase after reading the letter sent to them more closely.

Their bid was well above others on that plot of land, while four of the 47 plots available overall sold for US$1, with others fetching between US$10 and US$11,000.

The couple have tried but struggled to recoup their bid.

The property they thought they had bought was a two-apartment rental.

The stress and anxiety has taken a toll on Hollingsworth’s health, the San Francisco Standard reported, resulting in an eczema flare-up in her ear canal and causing an infection.

The 69-year-old composer has become temporarily deaf in one ear because of it.

Her health started to improve when newly appointed supervisor Alan Wong joined the Board of Supervisors and promised to help seek a reversal of the sale.

“Supervisor Wong is committed to serving and representing the residents of District 4,” his office said after the couple contacted him for help.

“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.”

The only time the San Francisco Tax Collector’s Office has reversed a sale was in 2017 and a spokesperson for the office told the Standard it “doesn’t take a position on overturning the sale”.