Renovators discover $30,000 in cash while tearing apart Bloomington house
It's a story that will make you want to tear up your carpet and and floorboards with hopes of finding a bag of cash, which is what recently happened to a Minnesota home renovation company.
"We’ve seen some weird things when working on homes but this one takes the cake," said Andy Rasmussen of Accessible Homes, a company that specializes in building and remodeling homes to make them accessible for people of all abilities.
Rasmussen's crew was tasked with renovating a home in Bloomington, and while modifying two main level bathrooms into one accessible restroom, they wound up finding a bag of money.
Seriously. They found it in a black plastic bag on top of a heat duct that was located under the subfloor. They opened it and were stunned to see a ton of old cash.
"We looked through it and noticed it was twenty and fifty dollar bills stacked in two rows from the 1980s," Rasmussen said in an email to BMTN. "The money was in poor condition so we didn’t handle it too much as it was pretty fragile and pretty moldy."
They were dumbfounded, said Rasmussen, who said there was about $30,000 in the bag.
"We didn’t know what to do with the money. So we put it in another plastic bag because the black bag was a chewed up and it smelled really moldy."
They were remodeling the home for Bethesda, a non-profit that helps those with developmental disabilities. Instead of pocketing the cash and calling it a day, they called their contact at Bethesda and offered them the money, but not before messing with them a little bit.
"The first thing I asked him to do was sit down and his response was 'what happened, what’s the issue?" Rasmussen explained. "Then I proceeded to ask him who purchases these house as if it wasn’t a good fit for accessibility.
"His response was: 'Not me. Why, what’s the issue?'"
"I told him we found a boatload of money under the floor. He said 'shut up yeah right,' so I told him, 'seriously there’s like 30k in a bag.'"
Rasmussen said they were speechless after that.
"Accessible Homes was created from our desire to help people stay in their homes and we’re glad that the money found will be used by the non-profit to help people with disabilities," said Rasmussen. "I feel blessed that our employees and company showed their integrity and character as it could have been so easy to not say anything and walk with the money without anyone ever knowing."
"We are so thankful that our contractor on this renovation project, Andy Rasmussen from Accessible Homes, found this money and brought it to our immediate attention," a spokesperson from Bethesda told BMTN. "His honesty and integrity are to be commended.
"A variety of renovations are under way at the property to enhance its appearance and make it more accessible for people with disabilities. For example, we are widening doors and installing ramps in place of stairs. We are excited that by sometime this spring, four people we support will move into their new home."
