Anyone Find Treasures In Your Rehabs :-)
I've always wondered about this. When your fixing up homes, do you ever come across treasures like gold rings, cash, coins etc? In my basement, I have a 12"x12" spot on the floor that sounds hollow when tapped. My first thought was there was a drain pipe that was dug up, repaired then covered up. After looking the basement over I don't think a drain would be in that location. Maybe one of these days I'll see if anything is under there, crossing my fingers 
You never know right 
Anyway if anyone has some tales they can share, please do.
If drug paraphenilia was considered treasure, I'd be rich.
either that, or their are bodies underthere.. haha just kidding
I have found mostly antique trinkets, but sometimes old coins. Usually silver. Best finds so far were older magazines, Jewelry, WW2 memorabilia, etc.
I have noticed that all the bad foreclosures have lots of loose change all over the place. I have probably made hundreds just picking up the loose change over the years.
Kyle
My dad bought some commercial property, there was a big safe in the basement hid behind one of the walls, my dad went nuts when he saw it. so he called in a person that listens to the safe to see if there is anything inside by sending sound waves and stuff, the guy could not tell, so my dad had some other guy come and cut it open (we could not open it otherwise).
We opened it all anctious and stuff, and inside there was 1 penny.
hahhahaha
My dreams died out ,
Kyle, that loose change can fill a car trunk. Those people had enough change in ther broken washing machien to have made two more payments.
I found the origanal time JFK issue. a book of matches, a bag of wheatbacks,emptys, porn with a plug in. Some giants pants, 20 millon double edged razor blades from one of those slits in the med cabinet. A few houses ago the closet had a totally walled off section. My dreams died, I dident even look.
Hey,
Government Peanut Butter. By the 5 pound can. Did you know, there are receipes an the side of the can? Receipes for Peanut Butter!!
Hey Bruce,
Did you find peanut butter in a rehab?
My inspector told me of a person he knew who found cash amounting to several thousands of dollars in the attic. This got in the news, and sure enough, the previous owners sued for the money. I don't know how long ago this happened, nor the outcome. [ Edited by aurera on Date 10/17/2003 ]
Hey David,
Sure enough.
The house was pretty much empty. There was a room for the furnance and stacked in the corner were all these cans. Big, white cans. In Black Letters PEANUT BUTTER. And something about being supplied to lower income households.
I wish I had kept one can, but I didn't.
I had a friend who bought an estate that they hadn't cleaned. He got lots of WW2 stuf and tons of bottles of booze. It looks like the old guy got it as gifts but didn't drink so he just collected it. All old and never opened.
I found 1981 Nolan Rayan Signed card.
what do you think about that?
Does human poop in the sink count?
Probably not... sigh.
[addsig]
Hey Bruce,
Thinking more on this subject I remember seeing on T.V. these people bought a depretion era house near hollywood. They riped the walls, The house was insulated with studio movie posters. The studios used to throw them out. The posters were in great shape Gone With The Wind and such. I don't remember the $ amount, it was huge.
[ Edited by DavidBrowne on Date 10/18/2003 ]
I think the weirdest thing ever for my brother and I was we went to rip up the old linoleum to replace it and underneath was newspaper that was 47yrs old to the day! September 27th...can't for get that date.
Oh, and I can't forget about the bat that was stuck on the glue mouse trap on top of the ceiling tiles that came down on my brothers girlfriend when she insisted on helping... hmm... we couldn't get her to help anymore.
Nothing major, found the original plans for the house, built in 1913, inside the bathroom wall.
Heard that's not uncommon...
So basically, you would have to do a bathroom remodeling job everytime you wanted to look at the blueprints.
Quote:
On 2003-10-21 15:37, rentalman wrote:
Nothing major, found the original plans for the house, built in 1913, inside the bathroom wall.
Heard that's not uncommon...
It wasn't a rehab of mine, it was a rental I moved into 15 years ago, but in the course of working on the dishwasher on my own I found a thin gold-colored Seiko men's dress watch. I replaced the scratched crystal and the band, and I wear it to this day!
Quote:
On 2003-10-21 15:43, joel wrote:
So basically, you would have to do a bathroom remodeling job everytime you wanted to look at the blueprints.
Yeah, that's right. "I'm thinking we should add an addition off the kitchen." "Well, go knock down the bathroom wall, and we'll get started!"
lol
one really goofy story------we went to put in a hardwood floor for a lady doing a ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's***ater that night she called us up just hysterical. we raced back over, but she wasnt really making sense. i mean we heard what she was saying but it sounded like it was too far fetched. when we took a minute to listen we heard a faint (and muffled) "meow".
WE FLLORED HER CAT IN!!!!!!!!!!.
HA HA HA HA
My grandfather once found an old gun like the pilgrims used. The one with the wide barrel, that looked like a trumpet at the end.
I have found old and worthless stock certificates, 60 year old cancelled checks, many vintage era playboy and penthouse magazines.
Liquor and Liquor bottles !!
ItzMe
P.S. Also a book from Alcoholics Anonymous - FOR REAL ! LOL
Lots of pornography and once I found 3 sets of 1965 treasury coins still in the original envelopes. Not worth a hell of a lot but I still keep em.
I have been in rehab/construction for about 20 years and have found many things. I used to rehab 100+ year old buildings in St. Louis, Mo. where I have found such things as a signed copy of the Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, a 1908 box camera, an antique Burroughs manual calculator, religious artwork, coins, original carpenter hand tools, and even a picture of the original carpenters who built the place buried in the wall. In Savanah, Ga. we found a tunnel used by runaway slaves leading to the Savanah river. A sealed wine cellar with contents from the 30's. In Atlanta an unopened box with a retirement gold watch and inside a wall approx. 120 brand new 1947 pennies, the year the house was built. I have always tried to leave something of value buried in the wall of my rehabs, such as brand new coins or bills, a current newspaper or map or a picture of the crew something that I would enjoy finding if it were me sometime in the distant future, like a time capsule.
( "It's not about power , it's about grace."
[addsig]
Maw,
Are you talking about the coins or the porno?!!?
Quote:
On 2003-10-31 19:12, Stockpro99 wrote:
I have found old and worthless stock certificates, 60 year old cancelled checks, many vintage era playboy and penthouse magazines.
There are folks who collect stock certificates from long-defunct companies. I believe old railroad certificates are especially coveted. Frame one and put it in your office.
Best,
Warren
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my dad and I did some light work on a house that a fellow investor bought for a rental, we ended up trading 1/2 of the job cost ($200) for the old car in the back yard, left by the old owners former tennants. We had to spend $400 to get a clear title for it but the guy drove from Nebraska to Oklahoma to tow it home and restore it. It was a #s matching 69 chevelle SS 396 4 speed with green vinyl top and green bench seat, light green paint and darker green SS stripes, the top had been jumped on by kids, but I popped it out, it needed TONS of work but was an original SS, we got $4500 for it, probably could have gottn more if we had held out, Wanted to restore it ourselves but didnt have the time!
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My ex is a home improvement contractor. Once, he found an old steamer trunk apparently from the early 1900's and inside were three old dolls. One was a Shirley Temple. Now mind you, I would have liked to have that trunk, and those dolls, seeing as I am also a doll artist. But did he THINK? Noooo....he threw the trunk away and gave the dolls to one of his crew. The man took the Shirley Temple and sold it to a dealer for $800.
<Grrrrr>
What's amazed me more are the perfectly good pieces of furniture and appliances people leave behind. I claimed a dinnette set that was in excellent condition and used it for almost 5 years. People leave behind all kinds of good and useful stuff. I can't afford to myself; I can't afford to keep replacing $15 brooms and heavy pots and pans.
Hey,
Makingaliving makes a very good point. Forget about treasures, I am always finding dishes, pots, pans, kids bikes, etc.
Why is it that tenants ALWAYS leave their stuff behind?
How can it be that the entire rental is empty, but the cabinets are full?
Each rental has a couple of hundred dollars worth of stuff left behind!!!
It is a weird world.
My wife just told me that someone recently found three newborn skeletons in a space between floors. That must have been horrible. House built 1987. I am sure Police will be busy there.
Ted Jr
A friend of mine bought a house to rehab a few years back. It was going to be a rental. He decided to dig the basement a little deeper and found the remains of a male and female. Turns out, the previous owner had killed these two and buried them in the basement. I'm sure he thought no one would ever find them.
I lost a family member of mine while in Jersey, we have been looking for him for a while, so if you ever doing some rehab work and you come across a skeleton with a nice suit maybe with "Jimmy" engraved on a name tag, please let me know.
chris
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