Rich SF residents shock: Someone bought their street (Los Angeles, Empire: sale, foreclosures)

[davidt1]

Originally Posted by Fiona8484

I'm not a Trump fan, but gee, notice who he never talks about sending back. I wish USA would institute the 15% foreign buyer tax like Vancouver has.

If I have to side with someone in this, I would side with the homeowners on the street. I hope they squash this couple like the bugs that they are.

I wonder you would feel this way if the couple were white.

[MinervaPallasAthena]

Originally Posted by davidt1

I wonder you would feel this way if the couple were white.

I'd feel the same.... why is race being brought up in this?

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by Fiona8484

I'm not a Trump fan, but gee, notice who he never talks about sending back. I wish USA would institute the 15% foreign buyer tax like Vancouver has.

If I have to side with someone in this, I would side with the homeowners on the street. I hope they squash this couple like the bugs that they are.

Saying they are from the bay. They are mainland China natives

[Macrina]

Originally Posted by davidt1

I wonder you would feel this way if the couple were white.

Here we go. The racial version of Godwin's Law. It took only 20 comments. Take a deep breath and give it a rest, OK?

Most people will not be caring about their nationality or country of origin. I, as is true with several others here, are concerned with the investors' lack of character and ethics. And the fact that their actions show calculation and perhaps a little malice.

The stupid and careless mistake by the homeowner's association in about the year 1987 is what set in play the events which have now caused the current state of affairs. That these investors are behaving in this manner is truly sad. Shows a paucity of judgement, in my view.

I truly hope that things come out in an equitable fashion; the homeowners have little to no choice but to take this to court, in my opinion. I'd like to know just how many of them are the original or children of those owners.

[Hal Roach]

She is from Hong Kong, he is from Taiwan. Like she says.."the law is on her side"...it is. The laws are quite clear on giving notice. You don't have to nail a sign..notice can be given in local newspapers. The State of California confiscates, or "levies," peoples bank accounts every day...without trial or proper notice, let alone thirty years. Old folks have lost their homes in Baltimore over ground rents that date back to King George...no one came to their rescue. I bought 3.5 acres through a tax lien. My attorney served them, and they didn't even respond. Just a cost of doing business for this developer. I had the State of Virginia after me for twenty years over 14 Dollars I didn't owe them....they spent a lot more than that trying to collect it. They have looted plenty of Chinese nationals bank accounts at Wells Fargo, who were students but left their accounts open. Paybacks are Hell. Maybe a wake up call to the coastal elites about seizure of property without due process....but in this case their most certainly was due process. Their accountant would have had errors and omissions/liability insurance...but maybe they saved 500 bucks per year.....bwahahahaha.

[jeopardyd]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

Saying they are from the bay. They are mainland China natives

They are Chinese, but not from the mainland, the lady is from HongKong and the guy is from Taiwan. They are apparent well off, a major investor in a VC firm, and have been long time RE investors.

India is behind China about 10 years or so, in a few years, you bet there will be an avalanche of hot money from India.

[Perma Bear]

Originally Posted by Macrina

Here we go. The racial version of Godwin's Law. It took only 20 comments. Take a deep breath and give it a rest, OK?

Most people will not be caring about their nationality or country of origin. I, as is true with several others here, are concerned with the investors' lack of character and ethics. And the fact that their actions show calculation and perhaps a little malice.

The stupid and careless mistake by the homeowner's association in about the year 1987 is what set in play the events which have now caused the current state of affairs. That these investors are behaving in this manner is truly sad. Shows a paucity of judgement, in my view.

I truly hope that things come out in an equitable fashion; the homeowners have little to no choice but to take this to court, in my opinion. I'd like to know just how many of them are the original or children of those owners.

Those poor multi-millionaires. I guess they'll just have to drink the 3000 dollar bottles of wine instead of the 5000 dollar ones.

[Perma Bear]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Basically its okay for a non-wealthy person to be a piece of sh*t but hell freezes over if it's a wealthy person acting like a piece of sh*t

Nope. I salute this couple for sticking it to the people that caused the Bay Area to become so expensive.

[jade408]

It looks like this has happened before in SF:
2nd time unpaid taxes have come back to bite SF

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by Macrina

Let's be specific about these unpaid taxes. These were taxes only on the Commons and street of that gated community. Which cost $14 per year, per owner.

All of the private property taxes have obviously been routinely paid all these years by each homeowner. To my way of thinking, I'd be feeling far differently about the homeowners if they hadn't paid their private taxes and then were complaining about the results of that failure.

.

The very fact that it was only $14 is why I am on Lam and Cheng's side. That's a very, very long time not to pay such a small bill. Did they just think it didn't matter while everyone else has to pay their taxes, small and large bills?

They get what they deserve. The couple is not "parasitic". They are opportunists...good for them. They saw a great opportunity, went down to the auction and bid on it, legally, just like dozens of others did that day. They just happened to outlast everyone else.

Had these wealthy people paid that paltry $14 that they owed each year, for so many years, none of this would have happened. Do these people not check their accounts? Do they not balance their bank accounts, or have someone do it for them? Do they not keep track of what bills have been paid and cleared? It doesn't matter if the address changed, at some point, ONE of those people on that street should have noticed that their $14 wasn't being paid and alerted someone about it.

For how many years did that not happen? The parasites in this story are not the couple, they are the people who lived and live on that street and didn't pay their required tax for so. many. years.

I do not feel in the least bit sorry for them.

Also, for those who clearly didn't read the article, the couple kept quiet about this purchase for 2 years. They bought this street 2 years ago. They got a lawyer immediately after purchase to guide them on what to do next.

Again, the chances of this being overturned because of whiny people who didn't pay their taxes, when the street, the property, was legally put up for auction, the couple legally bid on it, the couple legally won it, and the couple has legally held it for this long is SLIM TO NONE.

I hope so much that they NEVER sell.