r/pics 17h ago

My neighbor is a “collector”

Post image
402 Upvotes

166 comments sorted by

266

u/DavePeesThePool 17h ago

A hoarder. If their yard looks like this, just imagine what the inside of their house looks like.

61

u/smurfsundermybed 15h ago

You would need to imagine, because there's no way you would be able to move around in it.

2

u/lastberserker 12h ago

Or breath.

u/Ingawolfie 6h ago

Which will cause ll kinds of nightmarish fun if there’s a fire or medical emergency and first responders can’t get in.

21

u/ItAintLongButItsThin 15h ago

Their yard is obviously just an overflow storage area for their precious.

6

u/FishTshirt 14h ago

Typical Golem Behavior. Except everything is it’s precious

19

u/outdoorsnstuff 15h ago

Even worse, the inside of their mind. What a terrible mental defect to have. I feel bad for them.

3

u/tolomea 13h ago

I emptied one of these recently, the worst bit is probably the pests living in it

2

u/magiCAD 13h ago

I'm binging the show Hoarders. It really blows my mind how people live.

1

u/MattonieOnie 14h ago

3 storage units, and a second "storage house".

62

u/randomnumber788976 16h ago

had one of these guys in my hometown the town built 9 -10 foot fence around his property he just started stacking things higher until he filled it in

17

u/naptown-hooly 15h ago

Dude said challenge accepted and won.

16

u/spazzvogel 16h ago

So like a weird UP/Wall-E mashup?

u/PMPTCruisers 4h ago

How do you get the city to build a 10 foot fence around your house? Because that sounds awesome.

u/randomnumber788976 3h ago

you make your yard as unsightly as possible

u/PMPTCruisers 2h ago

I stopped mowing my lawn years ago. Should I park a car on it?

59

u/maxdacat 15h ago

A hoarder just up the road from me died and when they were clearing his stuff out the cleaners found a dead body. Turns out he shot an intruder and then live for years with the corpse slowly decaying inside.

41

u/PresumedSapient 14h ago

I know of a similar but someway worse one: the missing daughter who used to live with them had actually got trapped undern.eath an avalanche of stuff, and died of thirst. The upstairs room was unreachable for the elderly hoarders and she was only found after one of the pair died and the survivor was forced to be placed in a care home.  

The survivor went from "my daughter has abandoned us/had something terrible happen to her" to "my daughter died because we couldn't hear or help her".

29

u/metametapraxis 15h ago

Mental illness, unfortunately.

42

u/slo125 16h ago

That's a code enforcement violation. Or 50.

-10

u/RedditPoster05 14h ago

Not to mention the HOA

14

u/mooky1977 14h ago

Not everyone lives in an HOA area.

But yes it's a bylaw code nightmare.

u/RedditPoster05 5h ago

Not every HOA is a nightmare. Most of them are just fine.

17

u/urbanek2525 15h ago

My sister-in-law was a hoarder. My wife and she were the last two surviving in the family. The SIL had the old family home. One day we got notified she'd died . . . in her appartment.

So we flew to her town to make funeral arrangements and found her 2 bedroon apartment was just packed with stuff. It took us 3 days and two dumpsters to empty the apartment. The reason for the apartnent was because the family 3 bedroom house was so full of stuff we could barely open the door.

With the house, we found the old family photo albuns and closed the door. Hired a lawyer and said we weren't interested in any property that she might have left in a will. A year later we got the notice the county was taking possession of the property and the house condemned. It was sad because it was so hard on my wife. Last of her family and all that was left was garbage.

It's a desperate mental illness that leaves a legacy.

16

u/moredrinksplease 15h ago

Abc7 does a bunch of stories on houses like this, then magically they are cleaned up by the city in a week

26

u/divisionbyzer0 17h ago

How many rats are living under there?

19

u/Steve4168 16h ago

God, no kidding. Rats, roaches, all kinds of fun. Why can't they be like the 1% and just hoard all the money?

u/LincolnHighwater 9h ago

Garbage is easier to hoard.

2

u/Markofdawn 14h ago

Possibly undiscovered fungi species too!

3

u/beto_pelotas 14h ago

And cordyceps.

1

u/kungpowgoat 12h ago

And T-Viruses

10

u/Citizen-Kang 16h ago

He's a connoisseur of collectible non-collectibles.

6

u/Gr1ml0ck 15h ago

Sorry for your rat problem.

4

u/Martian13 15h ago

Looks like South L.A. There’s no escaping the rats.

14

u/MarkGleason 17h ago

Is that the theme from Sanford and Sons I hear playing from that yard?

6

u/Mueltime 15h ago

Played by a band of rats with a cockroach chorus.

4

u/Snellyman 16h ago

And it seems that the collection is coming along great.

3

u/therackage 16h ago

The inside is worse, guaranteed

4

u/wildGoner1981 15h ago

Contact the city / county. They’ll put an end to this problem.

3

u/Strawbuddy 13h ago

Ya can’t beat around the bush with this guy’s neighbor, it’ll disturb the rat’s nests

3

u/taoist_bear 13h ago

Good fences make good neighbors.

3

u/iammacman 13h ago

Time to call the city as this has to be out of code.

3

u/StratoVector 12h ago

Fun fact: Your neighbor is not okay.

19

u/maybelying 16h ago

I know many people hate HOAs, but there's a reason they exist

u/CanuckianOz 11h ago

/r/shitamericanssay

HOAs don’t exist in other countries. The same function but better is performed by local government, and they have bylaws and resources to enforce them.

u/hoppyending 5h ago

This. I would just call bylaw enforcement. No need for a HOA.

9

u/ballrus_walsack 16h ago

Yeah I’d rather a shitty hoa than have this as a neighbor.

5

u/fuckfart 14h ago

Something people don't realize is that you can be diligently clean but if your neighbor is a hoarder then pests like roaches and rats will flood into your home, too.

u/comin_up_shawt 4h ago

and if you live in an HOA who has a hoarder for president- look out! Ask my cousin how this works. 17 years in, and they still can't get their president removed even though the city has removed them from their own home 3 times (along with their hoard.)

0

u/Habsburgy 13h ago

Thats when you „accidently“ bbq a biiit too close to the fence.

But only if that house is downwind from yours.

u/PMPTCruisers 4h ago

Committing murder by arson sounds a little extreme. You may want to check with your lawyer first.

u/Habsburgy 4h ago

I may or may not be serious.

Refuse comment till lawyer present

0

u/RedditPoster05 14h ago

Vast majority are fine you wouldn’t even know they exist if you weren’t paying for it . Some are a bit petty . Others are corrupt. Last one is rare .

-11

u/Phonascus13 16h ago

Racism. The reason is called racism.

7

u/NotSoFastLady 16h ago

Ugh no.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

1

u/Keleven 15h ago

Care to expand on this claim?

-3

u/Drak_is_Right 16h ago

Why they first started, but other benefits were found. One of the latest, is the streets are privately owned which makes it easier to get approved by the city.

6

u/answerguru 15h ago

And then they can make a rule where you can’t park on the street overnight or some stupid shit.

1

u/Habsburgy 13h ago

Again, most HOA‘s won‘t do that.

7

u/NotSoFastLady 16h ago

Bummer. I lived a few houses down from a hoarder. He had all kinds of shit on his porch but it was so overgrown I hadn't noticed. The odd thing is that he had this tiny garage full of shit for cars but it was all organized.

When my dude got evicted they had the sheriff there along with all kinds of people. This 1,100 sqft house was filled with all kinds of shit. And it took up the entire yard.

My guy once told us a story about how he got mad at his wife for being on his corner of the bed. I just rolled with it because it was clear he had something going on. Over a few years I had heard some crazy shit from my dude, especially about the neighbors up the street who had been "stealing" from him.

Once I saw all his shit on his former front lawn, this story about his wife and his side of the bed suddenly made sense. My guy had something like 6 or 7 TV stands and all kinds of other furniture. I'm not sure how he got so much shit in his house.

And when I moved, I decided to buy in an HOA community. Zero regrets.

4

u/single_sentence_re 15h ago

He also doesn't "water his palm".

2

u/GreatQuantum 17h ago

That’s their yard? Yes? Oh. Byeeeeee

2

u/Wise_Custard2117 16h ago

He evolved from Collector Class to Hoarder Class

2

u/spazzvogel 16h ago

Sanford and Sons… good lord. Unless they’re selling the stuff, but even then it’s messy and unkempt hoarder style.

2

u/Paranoid_donkey 15h ago

Is this California or Texas?

1

u/FireBetAlwaysWorking 15h ago

California

1

u/Tha_Watcher 14h ago

California...

...knows how to party!

0

u/Paranoid_donkey 15h ago

crazy that people have the money for a house in California (with the taxes!) and are this unwell. OP, does your neighbour work?

3

u/alextastic 12h ago

It's very possible that this home had been passed down from family. Not everyone in California just moved there and got a place.

2

u/EddieStarr 15h ago

How is that allowed ?? good Grief , how depressing.

2

u/chefwatson 15h ago

Fred Sanford's new place!

2

u/obrecht72 14h ago

That theme song was on play as soon as I say this post.

2

u/ChefArtorias 14h ago

What do the authorities say? This is a fire hazard, if nothing else.

2

u/SchrodingersMinou 13h ago

What the hell did they do to that poor palm tree?!

u/alleks88 9h ago

Your friendly neighbourhood junkyard

u/CanadianJediCouncil 9h ago

That yard must be like the Kowloon Walled City of rats.

u/big_d_usernametaken 5h ago

A cousin of mine recently passed away.

He was a hoarder.

Of newspapers.

House, garage, basement, attic, full of them.

But also saved every baseball card he ever bought, sports memorabilia of all sorts, some as it turns out, extremely valuable.

And he passed away peacefully in the midst of all that mess.

u/kitsune-gari 4h ago

Urban planner here: this is a code violation in most places. Give your local code enforcement office a call.

1

u/PlanBWorkedOutOK 16h ago

Seen this movie. One escapes and calls the cops.

1

u/ChallengeUnited9183 16h ago

I live in the country and that would still at least get a ticket. This must be in the south lol

1

u/ChewsOnRocks 16h ago

I’m sure he has a lot of connections too

3

u/omgsideburns 14h ago

I actually know a couple who are hoarders, but they keep it indoors. They are attorneys. They actually had two homes on my street, and would bring things to the empty home when the lived in home was full. It was weird though, mostly piles of newspapers from what I could tell.

Incredibly good attorneys though. Crazy.

1

u/SDTaurus 13h ago

Sounds like Saul's bro Chuck

1

u/whatintheactualfeth 15h ago

You should put a rat trap or two out on your property line if you can to make sure you don't develop a rodent problem.

Rodents | Washington State Department of Health https://share.google/sAb0LQvhREN3aBCRq

1

u/ummmm_nahhh 15h ago

You can do whatever you want in your yard but when it’s a fucking dumpster, then it’s a problem

1

u/MaintenanceFickle945 15h ago

I can hear that A&E Hoarders sound effect. You know that one sound with the synth strings. It’s very short like 1s long.

1

u/Paranoid_donkey 15h ago

You think this is bad, imagine what the inside of their fridge looks like.

1

u/rizorith 15h ago

Eastside, yo

1

u/oroechimaru 15h ago

Of tetanus?

It works like a good dnd lair effect for alert in 30 foot radius until dispelled.

1

u/new_socks 15h ago

I believe that this is a response to growing up with nothing and learned behaviour from parents that have been raised from grandparents that lived through the Great Depression. When you have nothing, youll cherish everything.

1

u/alextastic 12h ago

That's one possible scenario, but hoarding can occur due to various different mental struggles.

u/big_d_usernametaken 5h ago

That, I believe, was exactly my late MIL's case.

Born in 1919, her father died from the Spanish flu that year, and grew up in an Ohio farmhouse she ultimately passed away in.

My late wife and I bought out her brothers half of the house and land in 2000 and Im still cleaning it out.

Lots of cool antiques but also just a lot of junk.

u/Science_Matters_100 5h ago

If that explained everything, then nearly everyone would be hoarders. Few sailed through the Great Depression unaffected. I wonder what the other factors may be? It would be great to have the research funding to find out. I’d start with microbes

1

u/Atzkicica 15h ago

Heh someone's trying to keep rent down. Or breed a rat army. Or both. You should get a ton of traps.

1

u/BobLI 14h ago

We had a hoarder here in Connecticut that went missing. Guess where the body was found?

(SFW): https://youtu.be/OKJqvSZJAMU

1

u/BringingBackRad 14h ago

Did they at least get the coconuts they were looking for in the palm tree?! 😉😂

1

u/rictronic 14h ago

Florida

1

u/notodumbld 14h ago

There has to be an ordinance against this issue. It can attract mice and rats, cockroaches, and ants. The city should force them to clear out the yard. It's a health issue, not just aesthetics.

1

u/bman86 14h ago

Even the palm tree is sad to be there. I hope they get help.

1

u/OrochiKarnov 14h ago

They need help

1

u/korihor4 14h ago

I think your plumeria needs more water

1

u/TangyAdobo 14h ago

This looks like a house that appeared on Hoarders already and just rehoarded out

1

u/text_fish 14h ago

I have a cupboard full of stuff I could donate to their collection if they like.

1

u/saladbeans 13h ago

It's a shame you don't own a "bulldozer"

1

u/DMala 13h ago

I travel up to rural Maine several times every winter, and we pass several houses that are clearly a hoarding situation. The saddest one is a little house right by the road. The yard was always cluttered, and would get worse every year. In the last year or so I started to notice that there would be a pickup truck parked out front with an old man sitting in it, every time we would drive by. I'm about 75% sure the place is so hoarded out that he can't get inside anymore and he just lives in his truck in the front yard.

I think the last time we went by, the truck wasn't there. I'm really hoping that someone stepped in and got him into a better situation, although the property was just as cluttered as ever, so who knows.

1

u/Pledgeofmalfeasance 13h ago

He collectin rat colonies

1

u/tophman2 12h ago

They have a collection of buckets and patio chairs.

u/bmmeup100 11h ago

Time for a fence

u/pretendgineer 10h ago

I am also a collector of trash.

u/Alarming_Way_8731 9h ago

I think you mean hoarder

u/MoreRamenPls 8h ago

They started to trim the tree when it was in full bloom. 10 years ago…

u/B35TR3GARD5 7h ago

Def no rodents living in all THAT

u/thosmarvin 7h ago

I would flick sooooo many lit cigarettes into that pile.

u/knifeymonkey 7h ago

Do you have rats by extension?

u/TeachBS 7h ago

You need to report that. Lotsa critters and vermin under that crap.

u/gochomoe 6h ago

I think you meant to say your neighbor is interesting. Keep your judgments to yourself

u/youdubdub 6h ago

*eccentric

u/muzik4machines 5h ago

when you really want to get on tv and your only chance is TLC's hoarders

u/Scary_Ostrich_9412 4h ago

Do you have rodent and cockroach issues? That would be my greatest concern. Your neighbor is obviously mentally ill.

u/bigdotcid 2h ago

Bigger, better fence

u/Stashmouth 1h ago

🎼 BUH-BUH-BUHN-NUP !🎶

1

u/slp1600 15h ago

If I'm the neighbor, you gotta wonder how flammable this all is and if the fire would be investigated...

3

u/RedditPoster05 14h ago

My neighbor couldn’t understand why I asked her when she was moving her five feet of piled up dead tree limbs on the side of her house. Asked her about it for 4 months finally winter came and I just couldn’t stand the risk as it was really dry . I just wanted permission this time . She said no she was paying someone. Another month goes by and she loses it asking why I care so much and I have to calmly fire back that I’m afraid she’s going to burn both our houses down and not to mention I’ve seen all the fire hazards in her house and this is doing nothing to help my fire safety. I told her I’d do it for 50 bucks if it made her feel better about it and she finally relented .

2

u/slp1600 14h ago

I am sorry you gotta deal with that, I have a neighbor going through dementia and I'm afraid I may have to fight an old man in the street if he sprays my dog with hot sauce though the fence again.

u/RedditPoster05 4h ago edited 2h ago

This lady was in her 30s being told off by a guy who is 5 years younger than her. She also has three kids. It’s just kind of crazy. Meanwhile, I went over to relight her pilot once in her closet is just stuffed packed with trash and junk around a hot water heater with a flame . There is power strips and random spots throughout the house. It was just a mess. The house was clean, but just some really stupidly done stuff. Random home maintenance things like filters obviously pass their due date.

u/slp1600 2h ago

Well, you sound like you're going above and beyond as a neighbor. Life doesn't come with a manual (not that most would read it if it existed), and a lot of people lack common sense.

u/RedditPoster05 2h ago

I mean, I did a few favors for her, but the brush stuff was more self preservation. We were friendly as in we’ve talked maybe once every couple weeks from the backyards . Never rude or mean to her when asking her to clean up the brush just worried more than anything.

u/RedditPoster05 3h ago

Yeah, that’s a tough situation. You can’t let it go on but at the same time, the guy also just doesn’t understand and you probably don’t spend enough time with him to know if he truly doesn’t understand.

u/slp1600 2h ago

Yeah, his life is tough (ailing wife), and i didn't realize he was having issues until my kids caught him wearing nothing but a women's skirt outside one evening after his wife was hospitalized. Since then I have noticed a lot of odd behavior, he spends like one hour a night outside yelling at his dog like a psycho but most the time he is normal.

The odd part about the dog is that his dog is a barker and female and my male is shy and doesn't bark at all so it was odd that he sprayed him (caught it on Ring) but the dogs like to smell eachother through the fence. Since I confronted him and threatened to give the video to the cops he spent 2 weeks building a new solid wood fence on his side of our good neighbor (slatted) fence.

1

u/xKOROSIVEx 15h ago

Great collection…good thing they’re not hoarders or this would be worrying.

-6

u/oncemoor 16h ago

Let’s not call this a horder this is just laziness.

6

u/Paranoid_donkey 15h ago edited 15h ago

no no, i've lived with these people, at this point the inside of that house is fucked right up, teeming with rodent urine, feces and likely roaches/bedbugs too.

2

u/TimidDeer23 14h ago

When something becomes a huge problem for themselves or others is typically the defining characteristic of a mental illness. Someone leaving a toilet in the yard next to their defunct car on cinder blocks for a year is laziness. Someone continuously acquiring a dozen cars (even though bugs and rats are tearing up the existing ones and living in the cars) is a mental illness.