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Interesting scenario presented on the Dave Ramsey show recently: Buyers of a home found a stash of cash in the attic, and wondered what they should do with it.
You know, if I found a couple dollars in a drawer, I'm not going to go out of my way for that. If they asked, I'd give it to them, but I'm not going to chase someone down for $5 or less that was left in my house. A wallet with $5 along with credit cards and ID, sure, since there is more than just the money at stake there. Items of possible sentimental value, but no real monetary value, yes, definitely. But just a few dollars cash, not going to worry about it. That is what I would expect from others, too. $5 or less is not worth my time to chase it down. Pocket change when it comes to the sale of a house. So golden rule applies.
But for the $6000 this person found, I find it a sad reflection on society today that it was even a question. First of all, most contracts explicitly state that all seller's personal possessions are excluded from the sale, so it legally wouldn't be my money. Secondly, ethically, it isn't even a question. Of course it isn't my money.
The question is, if this is a really old house, and the prior owner didn't live there forever, whose money is it to give it back to. If it was an old wedding album, or something, that is easy to figure out, but cash, not so much.
I'd probably contact the prior owner and tell them I found something of value in the attic, and ask if they might have forgotten something. Maybe describe the bag and see if they know the contents, or something. If they said they never used the attic, then see if I could find out who the prior owner was. If I couldn't track them down after a reasonable good faith effort, then MAYBE I could justify keeping it.
You know, if I found a couple dollars in a drawer, I'm not going to go out of my way for that. If they asked, I'd give it to them, but I'm not going to chase someone down for $5 or less that was left in my house. A wallet with $5 along with credit cards and ID, sure, since there is more than just the money at stake there. Items of possible sentimental value, but no real monetary value, yes, definitely. But just a few dollars cash, not going to worry about it. That is what I would expect from others, too. $5 or less is not worth my time to chase it down. Pocket change when it comes to the sale of a house. So golden rule applies.
But for the $6000 this person found, I find it a sad reflection on society today that it was even a question. First of all, most contracts explicitly state that all seller's personal possessions are excluded from the sale, so it legally wouldn't be my money. Secondly, ethically, it isn't even a question. Of course it isn't my money.
The question is, if this is a really old house, and the prior owner didn't live there forever, whose money is it to give it back to. If it was an old wedding album, or something, that is easy to figure out, but cash, not so much.
I'd probably contact the prior owner and tell them I found something of value in the attic, and ask if they might have forgotten something. Maybe describe the bag and see if they know the contents, or something. If they said they never used the attic, then see if I could find out who the prior owner was. If I couldn't track them down after a reasonable good faith effort, then MAYBE I could justify keeping it.
Huge
Some person must've done something and put that cash there, I don't care if they were "cooking up meth" / snuck out of the Armenian Money Train heist or some sad old guy with dementia , it was "earned" one way or another and deserved to be "reunited" with the person that stashed it or their heirs.
You know, if I found a couple dollars in a drawer, I'm not going to go out of my way for that. If they asked, I'd give it to them, but I'm not going to chase someone down for $5 or less that was left in my house. A wallet with $5 along with credit cards and ID, sure, since there is more than just the money at stake there. Items of possible sentimental value, but no real monetary value, yes, definitely. But just a few dollars cash, not going to worry about it. That is what I would expect from others, too. $5 or less is not worth my time to chase it down. Pocket change when it comes to the sale of a house. So golden rule applies.
But for the $6000 this person found, I find it a sad reflection on society today that it was even a question. First of all, most contracts explicitly state that all seller's personal possessions are excluded from the sale, so it legally wouldn't be my money. Secondly, ethically, it isn't even a question. Of course it isn't my money.
The question is, if this is a really old house, and the prior owner didn't live there forever, whose money is it to give it back to. If it was an old wedding album, or something, that is easy to figure out, but cash, not so much.
I'd probably contact the prior owner and tell them I found something of value in the attic, and ask if they might have forgotten something. Maybe describe the bag and see if they know the contents, or something. If they said they never used the attic, then see if I could find out who the prior owner was. If I couldn't track them down after a reasonable good faith effort, then MAYBE I could justify keeping it.
The question is, if this is a really old house, and the prior owner didn't live there forever, whose money is it to give it back to. If it was an old wedding album, or something, that is easy to figure out, but cash, not so much.
Being the analytical sort, I think I'd look at the dates on the bills and see what the latest date was -- for example, if the latest date was 1994, and the previous owners didn't buy the house until 2004, then it probably didn't belong to the previous owners. :-)
So many different scenarios -- was it a stash by someone who lived through the Depression and didn't trust banks? An immigrant who has a distrust of banks? A stash from a drug sale? A hidden nest egg by a woman who was a victim of domestic abuse? You could write a novel!!
I would think the house sellers would contact the new buyer when they realized they'd left a large sum of money (unless they are drug sellers or something and don't even miss it?)
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Pay down that mortgage.
Right on!
/ snuck out of the Armenian Money Train heist 
or some sad old guy with dementia 
, it was "earned" one way or another and deserved to be "reunited" with the person that stashed it or their heirs.
