USA Property

May 28, 2026Updated May 29, 2026, 12:09 p.m. ETLast year, when Matt Gehr and his wife, Amber, decided to upgrade their condo for a single-family home, they had some advantages.Among the biggest: just enough savings to be able to swing a 10% down payment on a new place without having to sell their current home. Doing so would have wiped out their savings, but it was a fallback option.The couple got lucky, however. They made a contingent offer on a new house that was accepted, mostly because they offered a...

Updated May 29, 2026, 12:00 p.m. ETThis opinion column has been udpated.It sounds like a scammer's email, but it's true: State governments across the country are holding about $100 billion ‒ some of which may belong to you or people you know.This unclaimed money ‒ or "unclaimed property" in government-speak ‒ isn't in the forms of benefits, grants or taxpayer assistance. It is people’s own money from forgotten bank accounts, unreturned security deposits, unused gift cards and other assets that people often just leave behind.States did not earn this money....