Woman was not prepared for what she found after buying a hoarder’s house

A woman bought a hoarder’s house that was deemed unsafe due to the amount of stuff it had accumulated and displayed the treasure she discovered.

Sydney Lima (sydmlima) documented her amazing finds online, including an old 1960s suitcase full of vintage items destined for Los Angeles, in a video that received 2.8 million likes and 419,500 likes.

“When we got the keys to the house, it was so full of stuff that we could hardly open the front door without taking things out of the house.

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“Inside, not an inch of floor space was visible. Things were piled up on every step, on every countertop, in every doorway, and in some places from floor to ceiling.

“It was impossible to walk freely and we never knew what was under the surface. Fortunately, the house was kept relatively clean, free of garbage, food and anything else that could cause bad smells or unwanted creatures. It was very dusty, smelled like an old attic and was very dark because the windows were covered,” said Sydney Lima, 28, from Massachusetts. Newsweek.

She discovered that the packed box seen in the viral video belonged to the mother of the man they bought the house from and who, along with her husband, was the original owner.

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“The suitcase was perfectly packed with underwear, some clothes and accessories from the 50s or 60s that appeared to have never been worn.

“The travel tag on the suitcase was from the defunct airline TWA and her destination was LAX,” Lima said.

Many viewers suspected that the woman might have been on her honeymoon and was keeping her packed suitcase as a souvenir of the occasion.

However, based on the emails and photos Lima discovered, she assumed the suitcase’s owner had been in LA to visit his family.

Other treasures the couple found include: vintage dresses from the 1940s-1950s, vintage mink coats, vintage T-shirts from around the world, unopened records, every playboy Magazine issues from the 1960s, old Matchbox cars and family photos.

The couple even sells some of the items they can’t keep on their website.

Sydney and her partner Kieran purchased their home in Jersey City in the winter of 2022.

They searched long and hard for affordable housing, but had no luck in several states.

One day they passed by a single-family home whose price seemed too good to be true.

“We knew there had to be a catch or something was wrong with it, so we investigated.

“We learned that it was being sold by the city on behalf of a man who was a hoarder and too ill to handle the sale process himself.

“We knew that buying this house was a big risk due to its condition, lack of information about the structure and the renovations that were needed, but we believed that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that seemed almost destined for us.

“Both of our families have a lot of knowledge and experience in building and renovating homes, so it just seemed like a natural fit,” Lima said News week.

Lima learned that the owner of her home was in his late 70s and had inherited the house from his parents when they were in their 30s.

He had spent his entire life in this house in Bayonne, New Jersey, until his last decade, using the house as a storage space.

The previous owner of the house was a Marine veteran who ran a respected family practice in the New York City, New Jersey and Bayonne areas.

The new owners got the house at a bargain price because it was in poor condition, nothing was known about the interior structure, and the house was so cluttered that it was considered unsafe.

After clearing out the space, the couple tore down the walls, moved stairs and installed windows.

They then built bookshelves for the living room to display photos, magazines and records.

The renovators chose light wood floors and cabinets and added mirrors to create the illusion that their home was larger.

“The cleanup process was crazy and I wish I could go back and do it all again!

“It really felt like a treasure hunt. As soon as we were able to enter the house and started looking at the things inside, we knew we were not dealing with a typical ‘hoarder’, but rather with a collector.

“It was organized chaos, full of history and life. The cleanup process itself took about two full weeks with many working days.

“We started on the ground floor, then went upstairs, then took care of the basement and the backyard. We tried to sort things into three piles: throw away, donate or keep.”

“The things we wanted to throw away went straight to the landfill, the things we donated went to the local donation bins, and the things we wanted to keep went to my friend’s parent’s house or my parent’s house for storage.”

“Clearing out the house and going through all the items in it was an adrenaline rush and felt like traveling back in time. We found clothes, toys, music, magazines, photos and much more from the 1920s,” Lima said.

Commentators were blown away by the suitcase and what Lima found.

“This is so cool, like a time capsule,” said one user. “The shoes made my jaw drop,” commented Kali.

“When I saw that, my mind was flooded with memories,” Matthew said.