What Would You Do If You Found $2,500 In The House You Just Bought?

Dowser, that is a very sweet sentiment.

But, who are the owners? How long had it been there? Why were they hiding it? Did the previous owner hide it there? Would we ask them first if they were missing any money they had stashed? If they say yes, do we ask them were they had stashed it and how much money was there?

I just don't think it is that simple. But, you know, I have been accused of thinking too hard about stuff.

And the body buried in the back yard? What about that? ;o)

Doofus, you forgot to take the money. Fieuf. You don't even have a gat (my dad's favorite)?

I mean the Thompson .45 machine gun. They were amazing.

Oh, yeah. The real problem was that the .45 ammo was so freaking big and heavy that you couldn't carry very much (unless you were Hercules) and it cycled fairly slowly.

Hey, you asked, I told you what I'd do. If the previous owner was a bank, I'd ask who the bank stole it from, and give it to them. That is what my heart would tell me to do, and that's what I would do...

It really is simple. The money isn't mine. I didn't put it there. I'd do the best I can to return it. If I couldn't return it, (i.e. the elderly couple had died with no heirs, they had moved and left no forwarding address, etc.), I'd keep it with a clean conscience.

"Always do what's right. It gratifies some people and astonishes the rest." Mark Twain

Dowser, that is better. My comment 2.1 above was only to imply that I would try to find the true owner and would not assume it belonged to the family I bought the house from. I wasn't being mean, my sweet young thing. ♥♥♥

You are right, make a reasonable attempt to find the true owner.

I am neither sweet, nor young, but thank you anyway! :-)

Dowser, Oh, you fibber. I think you are most sweet. I don't know about the other part -- I just throw that in to make the sweet ones feel good. I have seen your photo and I know you are a sweet young thing. Actually, you are younger than I am so, I think, you are young. So there, take that!

I'm not really a grump, either. I hope you have noticed that.

I know you're not! And you weren't being mean, but I thought I'd better clarify how I'd try to find the real owners.

If I kept the money without trying to find the real owners, I'd feel guilty about ill-gotten gains, and you know? Not worth feeling guilty. Grandma always said, "You can't do wrong and get by," and she's always been right... If I spent the money on something, it would turn around to bite me, somehow...

I'm 56 years old, dear grump. Not too bad, but far from old. Some days, with all that is going on, I feel like I'm 105... ;-)

Me, too. I don't feel or look a day over 1,000.

This is so funny... I have a beautiful leather coat that I bought, on sale, for about $75 over 20 years ago. Similar coats today are very expensive, and even on sale, I couldn't afford ione. I've worn it and worn it. It is dark brown leather and it has a hood, with fur around it. It came from a nice store, and it still fits, Miracles of Miracles. Well, after my heart attack, I had to quit wearing it, because it was too heavy. It weighs about 20 pounds.

I gave my new fall coat to my sister-in-law, that had no coat, but I have other coats and I couldn't bear that she didn't have one. So, tonight, I thought, I'll just try this old coat and see if it fits. It did and I was thrilled, because it is still a very stylish, good, leather coat. It's lined and warm and a pretty color.

I wore it out to supper, trudged through the grocery with it on, wore it home, and when we got inside, Oh My Gosh, I felt like I was wallking underwater, every step was a struggle... Despite the fact that my health is pretty good, and I'm running around on top of the ground spry and able, that coat is still way too heavy... I can wear it, but only if I'm going somewhere to sit, not walking around. It wears me out! ;-)

So yeah, tonight I felt about 1,000 years old... But cheerful about it. After all, the alternative isn't too hot...

Who was it that said getting old isn't for sissies? I agree.

Bette Davis, and boy! was she right! :-)

When you buy a house, you own everything in it automatically. If they left a TV, it becomes yours. That is the law...at least in Oklahoma. The previous owners of my house left a bunch of tools and crap in my garage. After three months, they came back asking for them. I told them they were gone. Plain and simple. I needed my garage.

When I moved into an older home, I found a box of pictures-- family pictures. Pictures of the elderly woman when she and her husband married, their honeymoon, their children when young. I returned them to her.

I understand what you mean, but sometimes, people do forget things when they move. I don't feel that people can 'expect' things to be returned to them, but it is a nice thing to do.

I am not too good to pull out the ole "Finder, keepers, losers, weepers" defense if I have to.

But a guy like me would ask you where you hid it.

Reply: In the house!

I misstated. I mean exactly where in the house did you hide it? Golly gee, fellas.

If I knew that I would not have left it. I forgot.

Well, I think you are a goon, Jimmy. Therefore, I am keeping the money. It is hidden in my special goon proof closet off in a faraway kingdom.

Besides, I really didn't find any money at all. Just pulling your leg. Great joke, eh? How's the Mrs.?

That's not my leg!

happy now?

Yes. You know how I am. Your awful grumpy today. LOL!

That was fun. Thanks. :o)

It's all good, Par, my friend! Other than gaining a few pounds since being away from the vine, life is good.

So you would not complain about the plumbing leak under the floor, right?

If there's a plumbing leak under the floor I bought it. That's why you should always get a thorough home inspection. Make the contract contingent on the results of the inspection. That way if there's an issue you have some leverage.

I quote you: 'anything the previous owner left behind is now mine'.

I don't understand. Now you want leverage to do what?

I don't understand. Now you want leverage to do what?

If you don't get it, not my fault. Have a wonderful evening sir or madam.

good to know that.

I would make it to Ru Paul's campaign.

Yeah, because legally it belongs to the home owner. It's not stealing. All property within the estate is part of the purchase once the house is sold.

Exactly, do unless they listed $2,500.00 cash, then it is yours.

Rhonda, but would the results have been different in 1911?

If you are keeping in line with the question of whether or not I would have kept the money/

The results would be the same. The only thing different would be that I would then be in the minority and I also would be considered someone who had a little money with $2,500.

I have a feeling thats not what you were asking me though. I sure did reply in the wrong spot up there didn't I.

$2500 was a whole lot more in 1911 than it is today. That would have bought the house!

Dowser, you are right. It might have bought a farm to go with the house.

Rhonda, I was asking if the percentage of people who would have returned the money vs. those who would not would be different in 1911 - in your view.

Compare and contrast your ideas with references to previous comments and any information you can gather from the net. This is an open computer exam. You have exactly 45 minutes to complete this midterm exam beginning now.

I remember when college professors used to pull that crap on us. I just pissed me off. They said we were having an mid-term and that is not at all what I was expecting. I have taught some college classes and I have promised myself that I would never, ever do that to a student.

In 1911, I would have invested it. Probably in Ford. Let's be honest. They had just started rocking with the Model T and I could have made a bundle for myself. LOL!

Jimmy, good idea. Ford better than GM. Ford didn't do well in the stock market crash but they did recover much later.

Kimberly-Clark would have been good, too, but I don't think they were around. They make all that toilet paper and they sell sheet loads of it.

LOL! I cold have invested in Coca Cola I guess. I would have been stinking rich.

Oh, yeah, coke would be perfect.

Goodyear Rubber, Sears and Roebuck, Dr. Smith's Cough Drops, radio, (which wasn't around yet), oil, etc. Or, for that matter, land, around any of today's metropolitan areas...

My folks did the land thing. They bought all over the metropolitan area. When they first learned that there would be an interstate, they bought land near where they guessed the interstate would be. I worked out well for them.

Oh shoot grump. My time may be up. Uh, my answer is, uh, yes, probably more people would have returned it. I just would not have been one of them. Not even back then. I've always been evil. Even before I was.

Rhonda, when people ask me how I am I say "still evil".

Oh, we are all EVIL!

Let us spray.

(I have no idea why that is so funny to me. It just is, always has been and forever will be. When the minister would say Let us pray, I would break out in laughter. The only person who knew why I was laughing was my dad and he would just chuckle at me cause he knew I couldn't help myself.)

Rhonda, when people ask me how I am I say "still evil".

At least you are not an evil liar.