What would you do if you found $40,000 in a house you just bought?

This guy decided to give it to the children of the former owner, who had died, prompting the sale of his home.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110520/ap_on_fe_st/us_found_money

It's a very nice thing the guy did by giving to the (adult) children of the former owner, but I think it's fair to argue that he bought the home and any contents left in it are a part of that sale. It sounds like the purchaser could really use the money too.

Still, it's hard to argue that amount of kindness is a bad thing.

I think I would have kept it.

 

I hope like hell I'd turn it in, and as my current self I would. If I were facing the kind of obstacles he was facing with his car, the hopes of adopting and everything else? Who knows.

But the family should be giving half of it back. It's found money to them too.

 

If I ever found that much cash in a house I just bought, my first thought would be that the guy who left it there didn't earn it at the Fish and Game Department. My second thought would be that he probably had friends (or associates) with big guns.

 

Two chicks at the same time.

 

Maybe they found $80k and gave back $40k.

 

I hope I'd give it to the family.

I prefer thinking what I'd do if a car load of drug dealers had to throw out a bag of cash while being chased by the cops and it landed at my feet (scene from the Sopranos). I'd take it and run like hell.

 

Fuckin A man

 

My great-grandmother hid more than $30,000 in the walls of her house in Lima, Ohio...that we found. She bought a big old home when the city was booming from the railroad and then lost a bunch during the Great Depression. Afterwards my great-grandparents never used banks. Money in pickle jars in the fridge, money int he freezer, money in the walls, money under couches. It was like the ultimate adult Easter egg hunt after she died. My grandparents sold the house in the early 1990s after she died never being completely sure they found it all.

We never got any calls from the people that bought it, so there wasn't any more cash in the house, they didn't find it, or they weren't sharing it with my family.

The Great Depression really made people do weird shit.

 

I know this is going to sound unbelievable but I would have likely done the same exact thing.

I can't say for sure I wouldn't be tempted to keep it but every time I've ever found money, I've given it back if there was a clear owner.

I was at the bank once and the clerk miscounted and gave me $40 more than the check I was cashing. I didn't notice it until I got out the door and about halfway into the parking lot, stood in place for about 30 seconds deciding what to do with it and every time I considered keeping it (Thought about buying a new DVD set, etc), I couldn't erase the guilt of some poor clerk being $40 short in her drawer so I went back, waited in line a second time, and handed it back to her.

She was shocked, to say the least.

I may be a lot of things (Sexist, immature, arrogant) but I've got this going for me.

 

I have corrected grocery store cashiers and such when they have given me back too much money, partly because I don't want it coming back on them, and partly because it just seems dishonest not to point it out. I'm not religious by any means, but I have a moral compass, and this kind of thing falls within that realm.

That said, 40 large could get me out of debt. If I found that kind of money, I honestly can't say that I'd look for the heirs of the previous owner. I'd like to think that I would, but it would be dishonest to say that I absolutely would.

I never had the money to tip waiters and bartenders when I was in college (on the infrequent times I actually had enough money to go out), but I'm paying it back by tipping well the rest of my life — karma in reverse. I like to think that good things will happen to the folks who turned the money over, but I'm realistic enough to know that karma is better in concept than reality.

 

I'd be worried that if I gave back $20K, that one of the family would say, "Hey, wait a minute, there was $40K!" Then I'd feel real sheepish if I told them that was all I found.