A seemingly guilt-ridden hoarder torn between his Catholic faith and his vices left his house so jam-packed with bibles and porn that the new home owners 'couldn't get inside the door'. Sydney Lima and boyfriend Kieran Walsh were desperately hunting for an apartment and just as they were giving up hope spotted a three-storey family home for sale even cheaper than some of the flats.
Intrigued, the couple booked a viewing in February 2022 and were 'mind boggled' to discover the two-bed property filled to the rafters with piles of the previous owner's belongings. The pair, both 27, were forced to tiptoe their way past 3ft-tall teetering piles of records, books, unopened letters, clothes and toy cars.
Sydney even claims to have found stacks of porn mags stashed alongside religious memorabilia.
The speech-language pathologist has now shared shocking footage of the 'wild' property in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA.
However after three weeks of gruelling work, they cleared the house and have since transformed it into a luxury home.
Sydney, from Jersey City, New Jersey, US, said: "You couldn't get inside the door, that's how much stuff there was, which is wild.
"When we finally got in, I was just mind-boggled. I've never experienced anything like it.
"I feel like I was in the person's brain. There was so much stuff to excess, and you couldn't walk without tripping.
"There was stuff everywhere but at the same time it was so organised, it was so amazing.
"My first thought was, 'holy crap, this is organised chaos'.
"Everything was covered, even the stairs, you couldn't walk on the stairs. There wasn't an inch of the house that wasn't full.
"The biggest thing that we found in the house was books. He had books everywhere - there wasn't a part of the house where books weren't stacked up.
"He was just a very ironic man. He had so many religious things, like stuff for the Catholic church and bibles, and he also had a lot of porn.
"The man also kept every piece of mail he ever got in his whole life it seemed, and so much of the mail was unopened.
"I'm into vintage fashion, and I really only shop at thrift stores and second-hand shops, so I was like 'I will take on the responsibility, this is my dream come true'. I feel like it was meant to be."
In April 2022 the couple began the arduous task of clearing and renovating the property with help from Kieran's family.
Sydney says she went 'back and forth 20 times' to a bookshop with a van full of the hoarder's books, where they were able to be rehomed.
The couple decided to immortalise some of the clutter in their new home, hanging up a selection of records, glasses and vintage Playboy magazines.
Now, a year later, the abandoned property has been given a new lease of life, and the couple are excited to move in later this month.
Sydney said: "We first went through all the little things, such as mail.
"Then we got rid of the books, and we sifted through and threw out all the trash and boxed up all the other stuff.
"We found this bookstore nearby that took all of the books.
"We probably went back and forth about 20 times with a big truck full of books and they welcomed them with open arms.
"It really has consumed my brain. It really amazes me what we found inside, and then to see the transformation is unreal.
"I am so excited to just make it our own, make it cosy and try to incorporate some stuff that we found in the house into our home.
"I'm constantly thinking how lucky I am that I get to have this treasure of all this stuff inside - I get to see a glimpse into the past and get to live in a place that we built with our hands."
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