A married couple from San Francisco are now the accidental owners of an unpaved alleyway after putting in a bid for what they thought was a bargain property auction—only to discover that they had bought a rundown side street next to the home they believed they had purchased.
JJ Hollingsworth and Alemayehu Mergia were overjoyed when they received a letter from the local tax collector’s office, informing them that a property at 1926 Kirkham St. would be auctioned off for as little as $1, after the owner stopped paying their taxes.
The couple, who live in the home nextdoor, seized the opportunity to put in a bid on what they thought was a two-unit rental property, which had most recently sold for just over $1 million in December 2024…