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Buying a home is a huge milestone and an even bigger financial responsibility. If you’re lucky enough to make that purchase, you’ll usually do everything possible to ensure it’s in good condition—checking every corner, floorboard, and fixture before you sign on the dotted line.
But even the most thorough inspections don’t always reveal everything. And sometimes, that’s not such a bad thing.
One Redditor asked people to share the hidden gems they discovered after moving into their homes, and the replies turned into a truly fascinating thread. Scroll down to see some of the best stories and let us know which ones surprised you the most!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
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 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.
Seadog 2 months ago
Except in some cases this opens an otherwise impassable access to your property for thieves. VDOT mowing crew mowed well beyond the state property line into a forested area beside my home. Made a perfect access and hiding spot for someone to drive in and park out of sight. Maybe that mower operator did it on purpose, who knows. One thing for sure, VDOT won't forget me.
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Jonas Fisher 2 months ago
Perspective and context matter. Imagine if OP had had a nice garden at first. All those animals would decimate it.
RELATED:
#2
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!
Edit: The former owners would have taken her if I declined to keep her. They were driving across country with a large dog and 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.
WindySwede 2 months ago
Just taking cats to vet makes you fe(e)line like a bad cat owner, cause they definitely not like the cat cage nor the ride. Even with prescribed Pregabalin for cats.
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Paul C. 2 months ago (edited)
A young neighbour had four cats and moved a couple of miles away. One of her young cats kept reappearing and I would call the lady and she would pick her up. Few days later there she was in our garden. We felt guilty but didn't feed or encourage her, all this happened about five times. Eventually the young lady said, would you take her on, and I was down the local shop within two minutes buying cat food. Beanie became the centre of our world for the next 13 years. God we miss her!
Paul C. 2 months ago
Just for context, a picture of the daft dollop! 20190819_1...9173b1.jpg 
2x4b523p 2 months ago (edited)
My relative moved to different county, took the old cat. The cat run off and went straight back to original home. Multiple times, judging by the time it took the cat to arrive he didn’t even wander, just somehow knew the way. Since original home was bought by someone who works away and only stays the weekends, they gave neighbours a key to check on him and feed him. Stubborn cat got to keep his home.
Janissary35680 2 months ago
My experience is that cats do NOT take to moving house well. (In this respect at least, I have a lot in common with cats.) Especially intact males, who very likely have carved out territories for themselves.
StrangeOne 2 months ago
I've moved pets before, too. It is true it stresses them out, but they do adapt within a week or so. But a long, long drive across a big country, being cooped up in a carrier, would be absolute t*****e for a cat. They need their zoomies. My old cats would panic just going from the house to the vet.
Load More Replies... StrangeOne 2 months ago
Tbh, I know pets should be considered family, but sometimes treating your family with the utmost respect and consideration you have to make some hard decisions for their best interest. Not yours. So, I have a lot of respect for that family. What a deal, too. The place comes furnished and catified.
Debby Keir 2 months ago
Terry Pratchett always said that the house belongs to the cat, and that every time he moved, he sold to cat lovers and left the cat behind.
Janet Sparrow 2 months ago
I once moved only 3 blocks from my apartment and cats kept getting confused so we went over there and said do you want our cats? And they said sure so we let the cats come and go wherever they wanted to.
#3
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 butcher block, with a mahogany veneer and a beautiful inlay. I’ve been stripping and sanding each one down and staining. They are gorgeous!
Charlie the Cat 2 months ago
If that is the picture of the doors, they are not mahogany, they are walnut.
#4
Two huge aboriginal art paintings in the roof discovered when having solar panels installed. We had to smash the garage ceiling to get them out but worth it.
Bored Trash Panda 2 months ago
Don't know why you were downvoted, that's a valid question since they had to smash the roof to get them out.
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#5
I found the original owners 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...
iBlank 2 months ago
which is basically 1-2 months rent in many of the nursing homes in the US. It's amazing she had any money left at all
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Paul Donahue 2 months ago
I got close during the pandemic. You know, without all the avocado toast.
Load More Replies... #6
Not so much a hidden “gem”, but in college, I rented an off-campus house. On move in day I was walking around with my landlord when we opened a closet door to see a bunch of my dad’s friends names scratched into the wall - It had been their house about 30 years prior!
Was awesome having them come visit and tell us all their old college stories, more of a fun coincidence than a gem, but it was so crazy to find.
#7
Found a secret room behind a bookshelf, like something outta a spy movie. Turns out, it's a perfect hideaway for all my junk.
Ace 2 months ago
Yeah, with you on that. Well, except for the "hide" part...
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DowntownStevieB 2 months ago
I'm curious if my house has stuff like this. It's a 1920s Georgian Style
#8
The hidden gem was our neighbours.
2 other young families bought just after us and we are all great friends. Our other neighbour is an elderly lady.
It makes such a difference having nice neighbours. They are in for the long run too, not flippers.
Bianca 2 months ago
nice neighbours are a great win. You can chat, have coffee and help each other. On each St. Nicholaus Day evening our neighbors and us have a barbecue, it is always great.
Nea 2 months ago
We decided to buy the house we rented for years because of the great neighbours. Even though we could have bought much bigger house just outside this township for the same price, we knew we could never be certain our neighbours would be this good anywhere else. We literally chose neighbours more than the house.
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Seadog 2 months ago
Growing up everyone in the neighborhood was nice and we all knew each other. Now people move in, they make no effort to find out who lives around them, they don't seem to care when others welcome them to the neighborhood. Some are complete a***oles. The world I grew up in and looked forward to being an adult in no longer exists.
#9
The ad and the owners did not mention that the back yard contained botanical garden-level flowering trees and a waterfall/ frog pond. When the snow melted we were delighted. It has been fun seeing perennials pop up everywhere too.
nomnomborkbork 2 months ago
I love getting a great garden, and what a surprise it all is the first year.
Doug the Special one 2 months ago
That's why when you buy an older property, you should wait a year before doing any major garden work
Bored Trash Panda 2 months ago
With the exception of my new house. the yard is literally a giant dirt lot.... BUT blank canvas for us to do what we want 😁
Load More Replies... Vicki Perizzolo 2 months ago
Never change a garden / yard for a year after moving in...you never know what might come up
#10
We purchased a house that had fabulous views of the Chesapeake Bay...water view wasn't mentioned in the listing. We were the only people who toured the house and bought it.
John Mishasek 2 months ago
Agreed to look at a home that went on market day. Snow storm meant view non-existent. Made offer that relatives of deceased owner accepted. They had never visited him. The view from back porch on clear day that I was meeting inspector was fantastic view of several incredibly large rock formations across valley from house. Million dollar views. Got home for bargain price & lived there for years, loving the views.
#11
Basement wall folded down into a tabletop train setup.
#12
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.
Paul C. 2 months ago (edited)
When my MIL d!ed we found money hidden all round her house. £20 notes in envelopes tucked in drawers. They weren't wealthy and lived off of just a state pension, obviously squireling money away for many years. Ended up being over £4,000 hidden away.
Seadog 2 months ago
One big mistake survivors make is not checking pockets, fanning the pages of books, ignoring that hole in the side of the mattress. There is no end to the places people will hide money and possessions.
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Michael Largey 2 months ago
When my mom was dying, she left a list of where everything was - and where everything wasn't. For instance "There is no safe deposit box" saved me as executor checking out the dozen or so banks she had used over the years.
nottheactualphoto 2 months ago
My mom left such a list, and as executor I was glad to have it. She left the key to the safe deposit box where it could be found, but she neglected to mention which bank the box was in. Luckily I found it on only the second try.
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Celtic Pirate Queen 2 months ago
I hid $500 in my books to keep it from my then husband. When I was moving, my son & I went through every single book without finding a dime. I think the ex knew where I would hide it and found it first. 3 moves and 30 years later, I still get hopeful when I open a book I haven't read in a while.
#13
In-floor heating. The previous owner didn't know it existed. Worked great.
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 months ago
PSA - Never leave your box of chocolates on the floor overnight if you have underfloor heating unless you like melted gloop. Yes, I did exactly that.
iBlank 2 months ago
not a danger for me. My box of chocolates only hits the floor when it's empty
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whiterabbit 2 months ago (edited)
When my BF bought his house the previous owners were a young couple who only had it for a couple years, it seems like they attempted to flip it but got overwhelmed or ran out of money. It's a huge house and was marketed as electric baseboard heating, which would make the heating bill astronomical. We decided if they took enough off the price we could afford to install an alternative heat source. Turns out, thanks to the inspector, what appeared to be electric baseboards was a gas powered boiler heating system, which is a very efficient way to heat a large area. The entire boiler unit and piping was replaced 2 years before the young couple bought it. They didn't even know how they were heating their house and likely lost a ton of money in the sale, worked out great for us because they took a low-ball offer.
#14
We just bought a house a bit outside of a small city. It's on a wooded 2 acre lot, so sizable but not huge. When we came for the inspection, I walked around the property to take stock of everything. The listing noted a chicken coop and hot tub, but didn't talk much about the rest of the site.
As I walked around, I found that a little stream crossed near the edge of our land, complete with a flat clearing beside it perfect for camping or having a firepit! That was something I always wanted but figured it was way too niche to make a requirement while house hunting. Looking forward to many years of enjoying it with my son.
#15
I bought 18 acres of land in Maine. When I had it surveyed, I found that I owned 4 extra acres.
Uncle Panda 2 months ago
I had to do the opposite. The previous owners lied and there wasn't time for a survey. Later, I was lucky to buy the remaining 2/3 acre that included my driveway. I own the entire corner now.
Seadog 2 months ago
The thing to understand with this kind of thing is, your surveyor likely starred from an established point such as and intersection and worked his way back. BUT, if you start from the other side/end, you get a completely different property line. This happens far more often than you'd think. My dad bought a lot of property at a county sale. Surveyor had it all marked off of course. Once the plats were recorded and provided it was discovered if the survey is initiated from the other end of the road, the lines overlap by 26 feet. 26 feet doesn't sound like a lot until you also consider the depth of the land. He sold it rather than deal with the headaches.
#16
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.
Uncle Panda 2 months ago
My sister bought a house in late summer, weird tall woody weeds in the backyard and all. The next spring, she discovered she had a massive plot of asparagus.
#17
A working sauna-- like a walk-in two bench dry sauna with a spray-rock setup. Somehow during the three walk-throughs, we assumed it was a linen closet. TBF we were 1st time homebuyers.
camomooey 2 months ago
I would rather have a closet. Saunas creep me out, and you can never have enough storage room.
Max Robitzsch 2 months ago
Fun fact, if you don't turn it on, a sauna is useful for storage ;-)
Load More Replies... Cathy Carey 2 months ago
I'd rather have a steam room. Saunas and hot tubs make me feel like I'm going to pass out.
#18
I don't know if I would call it a Hidden Gem but the previous owners left a perfectly good John Deere riding lawn mower, a newer washer and dryer and a stand-up freezer. That was in 2018 and they all still work.
Bored Trash Panda 2 months ago
Previous owners of the house we just bought left their robot vacuum named Paul, which of course we kept the name, video security system with info to change the login, a ton of yard tools, and a bunch of cleaning/painting supplies. It was nice cause we saved a bunch of money not having to buy a lot of stuff we needed from not having due to apartment living.
#19
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’ ceilings!
ƒιѕн 2 months ago
Alot of older houses have 10'+ ceilings, once the plaster starts cracking and separating from the lathe they get dropped, usually to 8', this helps tremendously on heating and cooling bills.
Craig Walker 2 months ago
Lowering a ceiling height helps heating but not cooling. Heat rises so having high ceilings gives it somewhere to go instead of hanging around at head level. That's why desert houses often have high ceilings.
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We ride at dawn biatches 2 months ago
My parents have a home with relatively high ceilings. When they bought it the house needed so much work and they just had a baby. So my dad lowered the ceiling with some cheap drywall to get it ready asap. Never bothered restoring it either. Next owners will be lucky
#20
An old fashioned wall-mounted pencil sharpener in furnace room.
Bec 2 months ago
Ours was mounted in the basement stairwell - and the basement was terrifying. I remember keeping one foot out of the stairwell to sharpen my pencil - but man could those things make a sharp point!
Ell Bee 2 months ago
Ours is at the bottom of the basement stairs as well.
Load More Replies... Just me... 2 months ago
This stopped me in my tracks! My brothers and I sold our childhood home about 10 years ago. It had a wall mounted pencil sharpener in the furnace room along with a wall- mounted telephone and lots of phone numbers written on the wall.
Scott Rackley 2 months ago
We had an old vintage Berol at work and the boss was going to throw it out. It's now mounted to my drafting/art table.
#21
An 80s childhood for my kids. We bought in a townhouse complex where the kids ride bikes, climb trees and play in the creek until the street-lamps come on. It's a pretty charmed existence.
Subaru645 2 months ago
Had a neighbor down the street on my very short block, when we first moved in, that would call the sheriff on the kids playing on the block. They finally warned they would charge him per visit if he continued to waste their time. So he started calling the highway patrol…cannot make this up, he lasted a year then moved.
Seadog 2 months ago
This kind of thing happens often when younger people move into a neighbor hood of long time elderly people. It's sad, just because someone is young doesn't mean they'll be disruptive.
Load More Replies... #22
The home was a gorgeous mid-century perched high on a hill. We walked inside and thick heavy curtains blocked a wall of windows that lined the rear of the home. We opened the curtains and realized the home had panoramic views from the mountains to the ocean. Absolutely ZERO mention of the views at all (I even saved the listing because we were so shocked). We made an offer immediately. Terrible agent for the seller but luckily I represented myself (I'm a licensed agent). I will never sell this house.
Celtic Pirate Queen 2 months ago
When my late, Great Aunt died, my Dad asked us to go "sound the house". She had been a heavy smoker for years (even though she had quit many years before, there were overflowing stale ashtrays everywhere). We went to open the curtains, and they practically disintegrated. The view? Lake Washington in Seattle. Her house was built ON the lake and she had kept the curtains closed for at LEAST ten years. So sad. (She wasn't a hoarder, but more of a hermit).
Seadog 2 months ago
So many stories here of poor listings not mentioning something great. Where I live, it's the other way around. Agents ranting about this or that and totally not disclosing major things. Countless times I've seen them say a roof is new or only x years old when it is in fact 30 years or more old. I'll never understand why realtors are allowed to not disclose everything about a house. People think going through a realtor is safer, it's often not. And title insurance is a joke.
#23
A biiiiiiiiiiiig wild rose bush growing at the far end of the property. It's so beautiful and fragrant in the spring.
#24
When we first toured the house, the walls were full of paintings - the seller's late husband was a prolific amateur artist.
A few months after we moved in, we discovered a rolled-up canvas in our bedroom closet, which, upon unrolling we also discovered ... a topless portrait of the seller.
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 months ago
My parents bought a house that had belonged to a respected artist. They found one of his paintings in the loft. They also discovered that he had used the back of wooden panels he’d painted on and then presumably rejected to build various things with. It was fun discovering these when ripping out cupboards and panelling in the house.
Seadog 2 months ago
Would you believe a sale paper from 1946? We bought a 1920 home in 2018. No telling how many people had been in and out of that house and yet on a shelf, in plain view, was this sale paper from a local store that has been out of business since the 50's. Just laying there, folded, completely undisturbed. We know it was undisturbed because if you've ever handled old newspaper , you know what happens when you do handle it. This was nearly pristine except a few small spots where silverfish had gotten to it. We're having it mounted and framed. One double page add had 2 of them so we'll be able to see both sides once mounted and framed. A single page add there was only one so the framer will sandwich it in glass and 2 side frame it and we'll make a custom hinged mount so both sides will be viewable.
#25
When my wife and I bought our forever home, I kept finding railway spikes ( a few) everytime I would drag the gravel driveway. My great-grandfather on my dad's side (died before I was born) used to own a logging business just a few miles from here. Did some digging into it and found that all of the logs in my log home came from his business in the 60's. Its kind of nice to think that this home was meant to be mine.
Stacie B 2 months ago
The railroad spikes were probably accidentally left in the yard when they were building the log cabin. They would’ve used the spikes to build the cabin. She was happy to find out the spikes would have came from her grandfather’s business.
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Hayhaypaula 2 months ago
Finding the railway spikes caused him to look into the history of his house, and he found a great connection to his grandfather!
Tim Douglass 2 months ago
Dragging some sort of grading implement up and down a gravel driveway to level it and fill in potholes. If you have a long gravel driveway you will quickly find out that it needs this kind of maintenance every year or two at a minimum. Think of a very low-budget road grader.
Load More Replies... #26
Lots of wetlands currently owned by the town behind our house/yard- they're far enough from my property that it hasn't impeded anything we've wanted to do on our own property nor do we have water issues as we are on high ground, but it's stopped anyone doing anything at all with the town-owned property (including the town). Years back, the town wanted to build an additional access road to a town building located behind my property. The EPA shut that down FAST and permanently.
So, the back of my house looks out on wooded land and always will and our yard is very private. :-) YAY wetlands!
Sarah Bailey 2 months ago
Sounds like a dream come true! I envy your backyard and the many nights of star gazing and storm watching to come!
Forrest Hobbs 2 months ago
Hmm. I once lived adjacent to wetlands. A wonderful source of evil bloodsucking flying monsters aka midges and mosquitoes. 🤨
Bored Trash Panda 2 months ago (edited)
We had a huge property (like 100 acres) behind our house when I was in high school. The guy who owned it bought it so no one would try and build on it, plus half of it was wetlands. They just used it for camping and stuff. He gave us permission to go on the land, so I would go on long walks with my dogs and sometimes just do lay down in the field when it was dry and read. It was amazing. There was even a creek that ran through it that we could go lay in when it was really hot out. I spent most of my time there. Oh! And at night when it was clear, we could go out there and it was amazing for looking at stars. I miss it so much.
#27
I was taking apart one of the old out buildings to turn it into a little studio. On the back side of the wall panel there was a huge hand painted sign for some old timey snake oil cure all remedy. I’m going to see if I can get it restored and put it in the studio as art.
#28
Not me, but my aunt. There was a ‘world radio’ built into the wall in the basement. Quite big - like the size of a large microwave. Many dials, a map of the world and you could tune into stations from anywhere, though it took quite a bit of patience. I thought it was both weird and wonderful!
Denise Knight 2 months ago
Valve radios took a while to get going. Just don't open the rear and touch the steel plate while the radio is on, or that will be the last thing you do.
nottheactualphoto 2 months ago
A while? Several seconds anyway. And I like the way they sound.
Load More Replies... #29
New construction build so no previous owners. Apparently the land used to be next to a known wild blueberry picking area. So we inherited something like 20+ wild blueberry bushes along the perimeter of our land. .
#30
Two tortoises were hibernating in the front yard in a hidden burrow that we did not know about until it was time for them to come out.
Celtic Pirate Queen 2 months ago
Just to be clear, tortoises are land animals, whereas turtles are water creatures. When we lived in San Diego a group of people found a tortoise (I really don't have details on THAT) but they decided to send it "back to the ocean" and dropped into the bay off a dock. The poor creature drowned - because tortoises ARE LAND ANIMALS!
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Susan Reid Smith 2 months ago
Some hibernate in the winter and brumate in the summer. It depends on what climate their species is from and where they live now.
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#31
A large mason jar filled with a bunch of old silver coins. This was back in 2016. The previous home owners were retiring to Florida. When the offer was accepted below 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 1940 mercury dime that I’ve been using as a golf ball marker ever since.
PIO4 Office 2 months ago
You are so smart. It's probably a stock photo of a coin. You do know what a stock photo is right?
Load More Replies... #32
Newspapers from 1928 underneath the tile/vinyl/rubber floors. They have advertisements for coal and ice and Vaudville shows with blackface characters, Calvin Coolidge shooting a shotgun on the front page, and the big sports story was 2 completed forward passes in a football game.
Kirsten Kerkhof 2 months ago (edited)
This is why I collect old magazines (1930s and 1940s). They have little monetary value (I pay about €15 for a bound year), but I like the new articles and the adverts.
Sue User 2 months ago
Once had an assignment to read newspaper articles about Civil War. Great teacher, she always tried to make people see history as a contemporary thing. When kids were saying " I would have helped end slavery, she asked them" what in justices that are happening today are you trying to end ? "
Load More Replies... Celtic Pirate Queen 2 months ago (edited)
When my Great Aunt passed away, we went to "sound" the house. This was in February of 1989, when one of the worst snowstorms in history had hit Seattle. She had newspapers dating back to 1974. The really sad thing was all the pizza boxes. It was my son's job to stack them in the garage. There were 764 pizza boxes. From what we could figure, she'd been living on pizza and Pepsi for the last 3.5 years of her life. When the notice was put in the paper, we got a call from the Manager of the local Pizza Hut. When her standard order hadn't come through on Monday, they thought something might be wrong. Well, thanks alot! She had been dead for almost a week when the neighbor tried to rouse her (a water pipe had burst and water was running down the outside stairs). It was just so sad. We had tried repeatedly to include her in family dinners, etc. - but she always had plans. I regret that I wasn't more adamant about getting her out of the house. She was my favorite Aunt.
#33
A 200 year old wheelchair, a Victorian ladies side saddle and complete bridal set, a hand sewn straw stuffed teddy bear from the Roosevelt era, a regulation sized carom table from 1850 and an organ built by a famous Detroit music instrument manufacturer from the 19'aughts.
#34
Bought a nice sized piece of property with a rickety cabin on it. Well turns out the previous owner was schizophrenic and hand dug a secret bunker underneath the cabin. I discovered the access door when I went to throw out the dilapidated couch and filthy rug in the living room. The bunker walls were covered in maps and firearms (not to mention the wooden box of dynamite in the corner), and there was a large workbench with a bunch of electrical equipment on it along with several older model computers that all looked like they’d been taken apart and modified numerous times. Inside an open safe welded to a steel plate bolted to the floor and framed with cement was about 50 ounces of gold and approximately $30,000 in cash.
Each gold bar and round had a 💛 stamped in it. .
PIO4 Office 2 months ago
The gold would have come from the older computers, if this story is true.
#35
An incredibly friendly 'outdoor cat' who is now the cuddliest laundry-buddy ever when I go downstairs. (because he's not an outdoor cat anymore). Ancient old tomcat (desexed at some point at least) who wants nothing more than to make painful biscuits on your lap with quite-sharp claws.
Edit to Add: And we are very sure we didn't just.. Steal somebody's cat. Vet has a file for him under previous owners name and everything from his last rabies thing. Asked the previous owner about him and they were like 'oh, yeah, that's [cats name], he won't bite you or nothing.' His inoculations and preventatives have all been updated, and tested for various issues. Can't mingle with the current upstairs cat, because she's FIV pos, and I'm told he's pretty aggressive to other cats, but he's more than happy to cuddle in the basement any time either of us go down.
Lila Allen 2 months ago
Aww giving an elder cat a safe indoor life is the best possible treasure
Cathy Carey 2 months ago
If your cat doesn't like being on your lap or claws when needing, put a thick blanket on your lap.
#36
My first house had a bunch of closets that had pull-down light switches. An old dog tag was connected to one of them. It was the tag of a dog named Penny. I bet she was good girl.
camomooey 2 months ago
Not valuable, I don't think, but kind of unusual these days. You can still buy the pull chain fixtures, but most construction these days use fixtures with wall switches.
Load More Replies... #37
My house came with a room designed for growing d***s.
Cathy Carey 2 months ago
Ok, let's not lump cannabis in with d***s like h****n, m**h, c*****e, etc.
Bored Trash Panda 2 months ago (edited)
Mine to! When we toured the house you could tell as soon as you walked in from the smell 🤣 it is in the basement where our room is, so it is now my husbands gaming room lmao.
#38
There was a whole room not pictured in the listing. Nice view of the front yard plus two spacious closets. My son and I now share it as a home office.
Also a *giant* apple tree in the back yard. We knew about it when we bought the house, but we had no idea how *productive* it would be. I bought a fruit press, and I put away up to 10 gallons of cider every summer.
S Bow 2 months ago
When I was in school we moved into a house in an apple orchard. Every autumn the Mennonite women from the neighboring farm came and picked the apples, pressed them into cider and left several gallons as payment. Win/win. They didn't take all the apples though, there were plenty left for us to make pies etc.
Doug the Special one 2 months ago
*cider* you mean apple juice. Proper cider is a real alcoholic drink in the UK.
Daniel Atkins 2 months ago
In the United States cider is pressed unfiltered apple juice. If it is alcoholic then it is labeled as hard cider.
Load More Replies... #39
Massive maternal bat colony. Protected by the state. Guy had sealed the attic off and refused access during inspection.
Bi.Felicia 2 months ago
If the state is aware that there's a massive maternal bat colony located in the attic of a residential home, why would they allow someone or a family to move in? Especially considering bats are well-known for carrying rabies.
Cathy Carey 2 months ago
Bats in the attic then. What about all of the guano, that stuff is toxic?
#40
A cupboard that wasn’t packed. Had a fry daddy, various teas, a French press and $50 in an envelope. .
#41
A secret room behind a bookcase and a mature peach tree.
#42
Not necessarily a gem....but we've found close to about 50 pairs of scissors randomly in our backyard. All different types and sizes. Very odd .
WayoftheStarPrincess 2 months ago
This gives me the creeps. Idk about other countries but in Sweden we have stories about "mylingar". They are the ghosts of unbaptised children killed by their family (mostly by the mother right after birth) and buried outside hallowed ground. To prevent their ghosts from rising to haunt you/take their revenge you place an iron scissor on their chest in the grave, it'll keep the spirit inside the body. The only way to get rid of a myling is to call it by it's name or to find the grave and move the remains to a churchyard. These stories freaked me out like hell as a kid.
Nea 2 months ago
I swear I watched Conjuring: The Last Rites and your story freaked me more than that movie. I am now worried the OP might read your comment 😳
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KatWitch57 2 months ago
Suspect the same was true for the previous occupants.
Load More Replies... #43
A copy of the blueprints for the house.
We ride at dawn biatches 2 months ago
I worked at the town hall when I bought my house, went to the archive and copied the original building permission's plans
For All Pedernity 2 months ago
Which would be available from the building authorities anyway...?
#44
A laundry chute. A door in the bathroom and another in the kitchen, it ends up next to the washing machine in the basement.
Stacie B 2 months ago
When my grandparents built their house in 1957, they had a laundry chute from the front bathroom down into the laundry room. That was endless fascination for me when I was little dropping things into there.
Seadog 2 months ago
When I built, I would've loved to have had a laundry chute, but, since the laundry room is below the living room.....
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Gingersnap In Iowa 2 months ago
When I was house hunting 20+ years ago my son wanted a laundry chute...to put Abner in the chute. Abner was the cat...we didn't get a house with a laundry chute. Abner lived to be a 15 yo cat, fat, spoiled and happy.
Mare Freed 2 months ago
I grew up with one of those, in a house built in the 1970s. I miss it and wish I still had one.
Diana Hansen 2 months ago
I've got one and I love it! Our house was built in 1963ish and was part of an old orchard.
Never Snarky 2 months ago
We found a laundry chute going from inside the cabinet under the bathroom sink to the garage. This was original. Not much help.
#45
Just found $2500 in a bag underneath my bathtub when I removed it! Elderly ex-owners are great.
#46
A bag of some pretty rare US coins in the bottom drawer of the first floor bathroom vanity. Showed them to my former coworker who is a coin collector and he about died and wanted to buy them all off me.
#47
A Walmart employee of the month award. Go Janice!
Michael Largey 2 months ago
Since she worked at Walmart, we now know why Janice couldn't keep up the house payments.
#48
Literally found a gem: a diamond stud earring that I heard clinking around inside our vacuum cleaner while I was cleaning our basement a few weeks after we moved in. It was bigger than the diamond engagement ring I originally gave my wife 2 years earlier. She added the new diamond to her existing ring.
#49
When repairing the garage, I found a tinbox wedged betweer the inside sheetrock and the outside shingles. First thing I saw when I opened it was a gaggle of ants. I left it opened on the ground in the yard, an hour later the ants were gone. Inside were 7 vintage fashion brand watches (like Gucci, Chanel, etc), three vintage heavy silver chains and two gold chains.
House was built in 1944 and changed owners 5 times before I bought it.
#50
An incredible mountain view- we toured and purchased our home in the winter in Oregon, so primarily overcast/grey weather that time of year. The first sunny, clear day, we look out our back window and BAM, clear shot of Mt. Saint Helens. Was an incredibly pleasant surprise considering there was no mention of the view in the listing.
#51
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 metal 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.
#52
We have a smokehouse designed for smoking meats as big as whole pigs in our backyard. It looked like a normal toolshed on first glance and it wasn't mentioned in the listing. It's actually well set up and functional; we've smoked a lot of meats now and have made good use of it!
#53
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’s massive concrete pillars and railways metal beams reinforcing everything. This is for a bungalow home that is ~1400sq ft.
Inspector said we could take the roof off and add a whole level without requiring additional support.
Greet for noise, insulation, keeping bugs/critters out. Bad when you want to do a renovation and your only option is to start jackhammering.
#54
Our house, unknowingly, came with a turkey. . . who showed up the day after we moved in and would randomly poop on our deck.
We named him Levi, after our realtor who helped us buy the house.
#55
I bought a fixer upper from someone who had a pretty troubled life. They were supposed to clear out all the garbage but left a lot of stuff behind including a busted upright piano 😑.
The plus side though was a garden shed full of garden tools including 3 lawn mowers and a mantis tiller that just needed a little work to get running. And the best/most valuable thing was a box full of old silver/collectible coins and money. I sold it to a coin shop for around $900. I'm sure I could have gotten more for it if I had tried but it wasn't worth the hassle at the time and the cash was much needed to fund the renovations.
#56
A view of Mount Rainier!
Sara Frazer 2 months ago
I miss this, when we bought our house in 2018 we had a full view of Mt. Rainier from our front windows and front porch. Which is a rarity in the city we're in! Many evenings were spent sitting on the porch, watching the mountain turn pink and purple from the sunset... Then they built a tall building in the field across the street. Now we can only see about 1/3 of Mt. Rainier 🥲 but, the building across the street is our area's new 911 building, so there's constant security and usually police in the parking lot, so for being in the "sketchy" area of our city we have a very safe street! I miss the mountain but the security is a nice feature
#57
A huge, 300 lb concrete deer 🦌 statue inside of a huge hydrangea bush that was in the middle of our front grass.
We started whacking away at the bush to remove it and hit something hard. Spent a good two hours thinking it was a gravestone.
We posted it on Offer Up and you showed up in Prius and my husband and I loaded it into his backseat.
Edit: a GUY showed up - ha ha - not you.
#58
Hidden (probably for the showings) and forgotten, we found a 5lb bronze sculpture of two bears f*****g.
Caffeinated Ape 2 months ago
I had to check the Reddit thread. They did, in fact, post a photo. https://imgur.com/a/raii4dE
#59
Back yard is shared with house behind us. Tree line made it look like a 60/40 split in their favor. When we got a survey done to put in a fence, we learned it was actually 90/10 in our favor. His back yard was more of just a walkway to the side of his house where his proper yard was supposed to be. Our back yard went from just being a decent yard to being a huge feature of the property. Fence ended up being a lot more expensive though >
highwaycrossingfrog 2 months ago
I'm a little confused by this. Are they saying they thought the boundary of the property was the tree line but it was legally further back? If there was no previous division between the gardens, did the neighbour also think he had more land, as implied by "supposed to be", or had he always just been using just the walkway?
Bryn 2 months ago
That's exactly what happened in that the op thought they had less backyard and the neighbor thought he had more.
Load More Replies... Seadog 2 months ago
Why would anyone buy a property without a survey? Without one, you have no idea what you're actually buying or what kind of headaches you might be facing. My aunts house is a prime example. It has changed hands 3 times now. People see this really nice yard and a forest behind the house. It's a corner lot bordered on 2 sides by roads and by me on the other 2. The highway department owns about 1/3 of their yard and about 20 feet of that forest is all they own. And the property on the 4th side is more mine than theirs. They actually own about 1/2 of what it appears would be their property. To my knowledge, none of those owners have ever had the property surveyed.
#60
A concrete tetherball pad that had the word “boobies” etched into it.
#61
2 (count 'em TWO!) still in the boxes sets of yard jarts found in the shed of our new little vacation place!
Johnnynatfan 2 months ago (edited)
The original ones were called Jarts. Think of a large heave dart you thrown in the air and try to get it to land in a target to earn points I played with them as a kid. They are banned in the US now because get this, some kids got hurt in the 80's and I think one died but you sure as s**t can still buy a weapon made for war no problem!
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ƒιѕн 2 months ago
I've been stabbed in the fucking leg with a jart, thanks sis, I still kinda like you.
Linda 2 months ago
My brother & I used those as weapons against each other. Fun times.
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#62
One house, $200 hidden in the freezer door. Cold hard cash! Another house, older widow sold the house and left behind most of her husbands tools. That was awesome!
#63
We had a two year old when we bought our house and when they started school, we learned the bus stops at the end of our driveway. School buses in our area do not stop at each child’s house.
#64
The neighborhood has been so welcoming and friendly. We were welcomed as part of the community immediately. It has been an amazing place to raise our children. .
#65
The previous owners left a portable crock pot for serving cheese dip at tailgates. So I got that going for me.
#66
The gem of an opportunity to level up my skills in woodworking, plumbing, HVAC, and vetting general/subcontractors.
My friends now take me to all properties they’re interested in renting or buying before they sign a lease or get them inspected.
Seadog 2 months ago
Bought a 1920 bungalow for my son and his family to live in. We (not contractors) spent 6 years renovating it, going above and beyond minimum code on everything. 1 year before they moved in a local contractor stopped by to have a look at our work. After the walk through he turned to my son and asked him if he wanted a job. Son tells him he'd have to match his current pay, told him how much and contractor said "done". My son went to work the next day and quit. He now works for 2 contractors, 1 m-f and another on the weekends. I know codes vary from area to area but now I see home shows on TV and sit back and find everything they do wrong.
#67
All the kitchen drawers had handles in the shape of a salamander. It was one of the first things we changed…until I got to the ones on the fake drawers where the sink is. Turns out because of the way the sink and knobs are structured they can’t come out. So we have like 20 matching pulls and knobs…and two salamanders.
Nea 2 months ago
Right? I though salamander handles were the great find!!
Load More Replies... #68
In no particular order: an apple & blueberry orchard completely occluded by 50+ years of blackberry brambles, a view of the Olympics mountain range, a really girthy d***o tucked away in a lazy susan, a terrifying well under a concrete slab in the master bedroom of a house connected to DB Cooper, a bunch of mint classic rock LP's.
highwaycrossingfrog 2 months ago
How can the house be connected to DB Cooper when no-one knows who he was?
Jude Corrigan 2 months ago
Apparently, the house used to be owned by the woman who handed over the money to DB Cooper before he jumped.
Load More Replies... Hayhaypaula 2 months ago
So there is a well in the master bedroom? And you weren't warned of the risk?
#69
Bomb shelter. Didn’t find it for 2 years.
#70
An entire hidden room. It was an escape room above the garage. Not finished, but we had no idea it existed. The very thorough inspector didn’t even find it.
Lila Allen 2 months ago
Done properly by an expert craftsman and it would be invisible unless you were comparing measurements to blueprint
Load More Replies... #71
The previous owner of our house was the daughter of a super high profile attorney, she was a high level exec of a bank, so they had eff you money. She left behind a mini fridge completely stuffed with brand new, unopened, high end cosmetics—serums, lotions, makeup, hair products, supplements, the works. That felt like a major score.
#72
Brand new beautiful furnace, way overpowered for the house. Spared no expense.
Except on the 3 inch ductwork which all
happened to be dryer venting. Took me a year of digging around to find out why it took so much energy to heat the house….
#73
We knew going in but love it way more then we expected, a separate tap at the sink with just straight cold water before the water softener. Instant cold delicious water even when someone is washing dishes or filling a pot.
Tim Douglass 2 months ago
Water from before the water softener in places I've lived would have been totally undrinkable. So full of minerals you could walk on it without being particularly righteous.
Seadog 2 months ago (edited)
One thing I miss the most is the water from my shop. Old Halsey Taylor water fountain, water from a well 285' deep. We don't use the shop enough now to keep the lines sufficiently flushed. Water at the house is supplied by the county of course and no choice in connecting (corrupt politicians) and it has to go through 2 filter systems to be consumable. Even then, I wonder just how safe it really is. No way to find out either. Labs won't test water from a municipal system.
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#74
There was a sword in the basement, that was pretty cool.
#75
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.
Edit: 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.
#76
Purchased a home in prime location and an extra large lot crippled by city easement. Like 11k sq ft in hcol city. The seller agent told us I cannot do anything with 1/2 my lot, cannot build, cannot plant, nothing. The easement was extremely strict. So my yard was basically cut in half and sold for that price. Well, went with my lawyer see if we can chalenge the easement and now I can use 90% of my lot. My realtor came back to have a drink with me 1 month after moving in, told me we just added 400-500k$ value to our home. Basically made that 5000 sq ft section that was bought for 1$sq ft into 80-100$ sq ft. Overnight. Cost 2400$ of lawyer fees and about 10k$ of fences. No intention of selling it, but it always feel good to increase your NW a few $$.
Grace Sssssss 2 months ago
Ugh. Easing land to make sure there's some open space for future generations is a noble thing. Getting rid of it just to make money for yourself is selfish. At least this person will have to pay hefty taxes from now on...
#77
In my last house I was in the attic space above the garage doing some work and lifted some of the boards and found a few dozen pill bottles full of prescription oxy, hydro and other pretty powerful prescription pills.
The labels had one of the previous owners name on them and were all dated from the late 80s to early 2000s.
Senjo Krane 2 months ago
Someone didn't want the family to know they weren't taking their meds.
Seadog 2 months ago
Assuming it's not difficult to get up there, it could be they know a certain family member would take them if they knew they were in the house.
Load More Replies... #78
We bought our house from close our close friends a few years ago, so there were several hidden items we were supposed to find, my favorite was discovered around the 4th of July 2022 (we moved in February of 2022) my friends were very into fireworks so I remembered seeing what I thought were some form of fireworks in the garage. So a few weeks prior when people are testing out their new stuff sporadically in our area I decide to see what my find can do.
I'm not a complete moron, so I lit it in the street and the boom was by far the loudest thing I have ever heard, all sound stopped for a about 3 seconds but then car alarms started going off in the distance.
I found out later my friend had left quarter sticks of dynamite and forgot to tell me.
Seadog 2 months ago
In the 70's my cousin bought fire crackers from a guy in a neighboring city. That guy got nailed by the Feds for making them. They were equivalent to a 1/4 stick. Funny thing is, now you can buy explosives even more powerful without a permit and they're 100% legal. It's up to you not to blow yourself up.
#79
We found a secret compartment in one of the rafters that contained a half smoked bowl.
#80
I know what you mean by gem, but I am choosing to provide an alternate sarcastic interpretation. My house was built in 1900, I recently discovered that my central load bearing wall, that is the main internal structure for my 2 story house, has a gap between the studs of 48 inches. 22 foot span of wall from doorway to doorway, holding an entire stone chimney in the middle. Five Studs. FIVE!
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highwaycrossingfrog 2 months ago (edited)
My parents' place has an aeroplane buried in their (fairly small) garden. During WWII, a (German I think) pilot bailed out about a mile away and the unmanned plane crash landed in the garden, destroying the Andersen shelter at the bottom. For whatever reason the plane was just left where it landed and became buried. Long before my parents moved in there was a partial excavation, and the pilot's shoe was discovered in the cockpit where it had fallen off during his escape. The plane was covered over again, and now you'd never know it was there.
Jay Cee 2 months ago (edited)
Interesting. Most enemy aircraft crashes were removed and the metal recycled - the aluminium being of a special type - dural - which would be melted down to make British aircraft. Much more suitable than the salvaged aluminium pots and pans which were melted down to make . . . more pots and pans!
Load More Replies... iBlank 2 months ago
We found a big stack of wood boards under the front porch (2x4s up to 2x12s). Some were new, but most were reclaimed and had a lot of character. We used every board in the stack to create furniture around the house: dining table, patio table with benches, coat rack with bench, shelving, and a bar-height counter in the kitchen. We stained everything with the same dark walnut color.
shg stewart 2 months ago
I used to live in an apartment that had a fake fireplace surround made of gorgeous wood. The central panel of the part under the mantel opened downward on a hinge, revealing a fairly large hidden compartment. I used it for storing small seasonal/holiday items.
Jay Cee 2 months ago
We bought a house that was a probate sale, the owner had died in a nursing home. All of the contents were removed except for 6 espresso sized porcelain cups and saucers on a pelmet above the hall window and the contents of the detached garage - because the key was missing - which held a tea chest full or rather dull china and a beautiful brass Tilley storm lantern which polished up a treat (the area used to be prone to power outages)
Catherine Hutt 2 months ago
Our second house had a cupboard in one downstairs hallway that they used for storing wood, kindling, etc for the fireplace. In it I found a TV Guide from 1976 featuring “Laverne & Shirley” on the cover. I was 16 when that TVG was issued, and it brought back so many memories of great shows I used to watch. I still have it!
Uncle Schmickle 2 months ago
Original architect hand - coloured drawings from the time the place was built ( a Victorian terrace home ). Two of the ground plan and one of the street facade, with the name of the original owner, who was a businessman in Melbourne ( Australia ). From the 1880s. I gave the facade drawing to the Melbourne Library for their historic collection.
highwaycrossingfrog 2 months ago (edited)
My parents' place has an aeroplane buried in their (fairly small) garden. During WWII, a (German I think) pilot bailed out about a mile away and the unmanned plane crash landed in the garden, destroying the Andersen shelter at the bottom. For whatever reason the plane was just left where it landed and became buried. Long before my parents moved in there was a partial excavation, and the pilot's shoe was discovered in the cockpit where it had fallen off during his escape. The plane was covered over again, and now you'd never know it was there.
Jay Cee 2 months ago (edited)
Interesting. Most enemy aircraft crashes were removed and the metal recycled - the aluminium being of a special type - dural - which would be melted down to make British aircraft. Much more suitable than the salvaged aluminium pots and pans which were melted down to make . . . more pots and pans!
Load More Replies... iBlank 2 months ago
We found a big stack of wood boards under the front porch (2x4s up to 2x12s). Some were new, but most were reclaimed and had a lot of character. We used every board in the stack to create furniture around the house: dining table, patio table with benches, coat rack with bench, shelving, and a bar-height counter in the kitchen. We stained everything with the same dark walnut color.
shg stewart 2 months ago
I used to live in an apartment that had a fake fireplace surround made of gorgeous wood. The central panel of the part under the mantel opened downward on a hinge, revealing a fairly large hidden compartment. I used it for storing small seasonal/holiday items.
Jay Cee 2 months ago
We bought a house that was a probate sale, the owner had died in a nursing home. All of the contents were removed except for 6 espresso sized porcelain cups and saucers on a pelmet above the hall window and the contents of the detached garage - because the key was missing - which held a tea chest full or rather dull china and a beautiful brass Tilley storm lantern which polished up a treat (the area used to be prone to power outages)
Catherine Hutt 2 months ago
Our second house had a cupboard in one downstairs hallway that they used for storing wood, kindling, etc for the fireplace. In it I found a TV Guide from 1976 featuring “Laverne & Shirley” on the cover. I was 16 when that TVG was issued, and it brought back so many memories of great shows I used to watch. I still have it!
Uncle Schmickle 2 months ago
Original architect hand - coloured drawings from the time the place was built ( a Victorian terrace home ). Two of the ground plan and one of the street facade, with the name of the original owner, who was a businessman in Melbourne ( Australia ). From the 1880s. I gave the facade drawing to the Melbourne Library for their historic collection.
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