Homeowners Reveal Hidden Gems They Only Discovered After Buying Their Homes

Whenever you buy a house, you hope and pray for the best.

You never want an unexpected shock once everything is finalized.

Unless, of course, it's a good shock.

For instance, if you have to break down a wall, you want to discover hidden gold, not black mold.

Too many people tend to discover the latter.

If I could only find hidden cash under my floorboards.

I seem to only find roaches and snakes.

And I hate roaches, and I fear snakes.

I refuse to go into the attic, but maybe one day I will.

If I do, there better be cash or Adele waiting for me.

Reddit user VizualBooty wanted to hear about some fantastic housing finds, so they asked:

"Homeowners of Reddit: What unexpected hidden gem did you discover in your house after buying it that wasn’t mentioned in the listing or by the previous owners?"

YAY!!!

"In-floor heating. The previous owner didn't know it existed. Worked great."

~ Oregon687

"OMG. This is hilarious and an excellent find for you."

- One_Impression_5649

Happy Jennifer Aniston GIF Giphy

The Original

"I found the original owner's wedding rings... the mother died in childbirth in 1928. The dad died in an accident in 1932. We bought the house from the daughter, who was in a nursing home, in 2001. She had been raised by an aunt and had never been back to the house. I sent her the rings and a bunch of photos. She was ecstatic to receive them. She died and left me as her sole heir... it was only like 10k, but super nice. Plus, I got the rings back..."

~ Human_Management8541

Hidden Treasure

"My brother found a few $50s in a light fixture shortly after he moved in, after the bulb blew. He decided to look at the other fixtures… found $750 or so hidden around."

~ TriumphDaWonderPooch

"Nice! I found $800 in an envelope semi-hidden behind the medicine cabinet razor disposal."

"We checked the obvious places, but didn't want to rip out the walls. The bills were from the early 90s, so there was like... $2000 in today's money!"

"They should've invested in Nvidia."

- persondude27

Re-wilding...

"The area behind our house was just brush and not very impressive. But the city ended up buying it and re-wilding it. For the first five years, they just let it grow, and then they did a controlled burn, and now we have a forest with a walking path behind our house 10 years later. And every June for the whole month, it’s full of fresh wild raspberries. We have a herd of deer, a fox, ground squirrels, squirrels, hawks, eagles, wild pheasants, and hundreds of rabbits. It was like winning the lottery."

~ Don_Gately_

Worth It

"Two huge Aboriginal art paintings on the roof were discovered when solar panels were installed. We had to smash the garage ceiling to get them out, but it was worth it."

https://imgur.com/a/ysD1HDu

~ Aussiebiblophile

"If you need to find the artists, post in the Facebook group ‘Australian Aboriginal Artworks & Crafts for Sale’ as a starting point. Those mob will be able to give you info on the art style, etc., then contact the art gallery of that area for potential artists. Great find!"

- anaemicturtle

Look Up

"I had to do some work on the upstairs plumbing that required cutting into my ceiling downstairs. I was shocked to find that the ceilings had been dropped by almost 2.5’. I have 12-inch ceilings!

- Baynyn

look ceiling GIF Giphy

MEOW...

"The former owners were moving across the country. They wound up leaving me most of their furniture and their cat (with my consent, of course). Nice furniture and the best cat ever!"

"The former owners would have taken her if I declined to keep her. They were driving across country with a large dog and a toddler to their new home. They thought it would be a lot to put a ten-year-old cat through. They were good people thinking of what would be best for her, and I think we all made the right decision."

- Many-Day8308

Coined

"A large mason jar filled with a bunch of old silver coins. This was back in 2016. The previous homeowners were retiring to Florida. When the offer was accepted below the asking price (they did buy it around 1965 in San Diego, and it sold for 10x more), the old man showed everything about the home, what he did, the odds and ends, and what to watch out for. Ended up contacting the selling realtor and shipping it to him. Months later, I got a check for the shipping price and a 1940 Mercury dime that I’ve been using as a golf ball marker ever since."

- SargeDonnyDonowitz

Shadow Box

"A strawberry patch in the back yard. We bought the house in the winter, so we didn’t discover it until the spring. We have enjoyed it ever since. We also found a bunch of old-fashioned skeleton keys in a cupboard. All the doors had been replaced in the house, so they didn’t fit anything, but they are a novelty. We have them displayed on a shadow box."

- Nice_Ad4063

From Back in the Day...

"Found stuff like that when we cleaned out my grandparents' place. All the area rugs had old newspaper under them from the 20's and 30's. The coolest thing was finding an Action Comics #40 under the rug in my Dad's old room. Had a dresser sitting on it for 45 years, but it was still in pretty good shape."

- catbox_archeologist

No Thanks...

"A creepy as s**t mural painted on a front room wall that was invisible at first glance because it was painted in that UV fluorescent paint. It seriously creeped us out."

"This was 20 years ago, and there are no pics. It was a bunch of eyes, snakes, and triangles. Not sure if any significance. The eyes were the creepiest part."

- Pickles_McBeef

Creepy GIF Giphy

Parking Violation

"I owned a terraced house in Surrey, England, in the 80s. It was quite old but had a long back garden. One summer, I decided I'd dig a flowerbed along one fence. As I was nearing the end of the garden, I hit some meta, so digging was taking a while. During that time, the old lady who lived next door wandered down and told me, 'There's a car under there.'"

"She had lived there all her life and told me that in the late 30s, prior owners had a car accident and wrote off their car. They dug a big pit at the end of the garden and rolled the car into it. I was digging up part of the chassis, the cables for the brakes, and a bit of the floor. I stopped digging then. I have no clue if it has caved in since then."

- r7-arr

Get the Jackhammer!

"The whole house is made of concrete. From the foundation to the reinforced concrete walls up to the ceiling. Then, if that wasn’t enough, there are massive concrete pillars and metal railway beams reinforcing everything. This is for a bungalow home that is ~1400sq ft.

"The inspector said we could take the roof off and add a whole level without requiring additional support."

"Great for noise, insulation, and keeping bugs/critters out. Bad when you want to do a renovation and your only option is to start jackhammering."

- sirmegsalot

1922

"All the doors in my condo were white flat/slab doors that you might get from Menards or Home Depot, with basic modern door handles. Or so I thought. They ended up being solid wood doors, put together like a butcher block, with a mahogany veneer and a beautiful inlay. I’ve been stripping and sanding each one down and staining. They are gorgeous!"

"ETA, they are definitely original to the 1922 building! finished the small door"

- llinn10

Junk Spot

"Found a secret room behind a bookshelf, like something outta a spy movie. Turns out, it's a perfect hideaway for all my junk."

- daphnepinkie

"This happened to my cousin! A bookshelf in their 1920s home swung out to reveal storage under the stairs. They found a cheap sci-fi book from the 80s, a flashlight, and a snack wrapper in there."

- Its_Curse

Hidden Room Loop GIF by sheepfilms Giphy

I wouldn't mind finding secret spaces.

I have tons of junk I need to store.

I'm not an art connoisseur, but I could use some free original paintings that were hidden behind my closet.

I'd even go for a "Narnia" type situation.

Just no dead bodies, please.