My partner and I were appraising an older home (circa 1920) in Stockton, CA several years ago as a HUD repo. As is typical with dwellings that have stood vacant for a long period of time, it had been vandalized with the electrical box ripped from the rear of the dwelling, along with all missing appliances, fixtures, etc. Most of the HUD repo properties had no utilities on, so we could rarely test anything, and since the electrical panel box was missing, there was no electricity to this house. My partner and I were heading upstairs to do our measuring and get pictures, look for repair items, etc., and were standing on the stairwell landing under a light fixture, when my partner said, “I bet there is some old money hidden in these walls.” At the moment those words left his mouth, the light right above my head went on. I don’t think I ever ran down a flight of stairs that fast in my entire life—down the stairs, out the front door and onto the sidewalk. When I turned around, my partner was standing on the front porch saying, “It’s a sign—there’s money hidden in here!” To which I replied, “I am not stepping back into that house, I don’t care how much money is in there!” I am fairly certain that the new owners were going to have to do a complete rehab on the property due to its condition, and I wonder to this day if they found any money hidden in those walls.
