‘Betrayal’: The family feud behind Russian Hill’s $488K home sale

Tucked in a side street of San Francisco’s Russian Hill is a classic Edwardian-style home perched on a slope and brushed with a coat of periwinkle blue. Everything about the home is classic San Francisco—except its price. 

For a mere $488,000, the home can be yours. It’s worth $1.8 million. You just can’t enter it until 2053. 

Most local media coverage has focused on the price of the home, but behind the bargain is the story of a family feud over money and property rights.

Sandra Lee, 83, is the home’s current tenant, along with her 66-year-old daughter, Cheryl Lee. The homeowner is Sandra’s son, Todd Lee, who listed the home as-is, meaning whoever buys the home will be his mother’s landlord.

Sandra’s parents—Florence and Kenneth Goo—bought the house in the 1970s for $52,000 and lived there until they died in the home in 2006 and 2018. The three-bedroom home, built in 1924, features a driveway, one bathroom—and one “unwarranted and maybe illegal half bathroom.” It also has a garage and a fenced-in backyard. 

“We had a large family,” said Sandra. “Now we’re destroyed.”