Strangers donate to woman who bought her grandmother's hoarded house

Strangers have chipped in to help a woman has bought her grandmother’s $30,000 hoarded house.

The monumental clean-up has depleted Brandy Hagewood’s funds, while she manages the grief associated with losing her beloved grandmother.

A GoFundMe set up by the American mum, which her social media followers have been contributing to, has been used to pay for much-needed dumpsters. She has also monetised her TikTok handle – @brandyhagewood – where she documents the process and legalities, and shares advice for others in her family’s position.

Hagewood bought the property in Angola, Indiana, for $US20,000 ($AU30,000) to prevent it being seized by the state when her grandmother went into care. She has thanked her followers for digging deep and subsiding the clear-out effort.

Under Indiana’s Medicaid program, when an individual is admitted to a state-funded nursing home, the state sells that person’s assets, including their home, to pay for their stay.

However, Hagewood grew up in the house, which her grandmother owned for 50 years, and she said in a TikTok video that there was no way she was going to let the government take it.

She purchased the home from her grandmother 12 months before she died and intends to demolish the building, once it has been cleaned out.

The property is in such poor condition that Hagewood has fallen through the deck during the tidying process.

She explains the home wasn’t always like this, but her grandmother became a “shopaholic” and after her husband died in 2010, it got a lot worse.

“It is hard coming in here because I miss her so much,” Hagewood says.

Her Tiktok has amassed 45,700 followers and Hagewood has used the platform to discuss the sensitivities around hoarding, which is an illness, and raise awareness.

She has also explained why she is unable to save everything in the home. Some videos show the raw emotion of finding possessions that remind her of her childhood and her grandmother.

“Some people in my videos get upset when they see me throwing things away,” Hagewood said in a clip in late October. “So I wanted to give you guys a glimpse into the process of everything I have set aside, that needs cleaning, to be donated or kept, and why, as much as I wish I could, it is just not possible for me to save every single thing.”

Without a truck and only a car for shifting items, and many of those needing to be disinfected at her own house – about 20 minutes away – she made clear just how colossal the task is.

Hoarded Aussie houses that have sold

SOLD - $2,350,000

17 Cheviot Street, Ashbury NSW 2193

5

3

2

View property

The house was cleared out before the sale, revealing the work required. It fetched $2.35 million.

Auction

112 Francis Street, West End QLD 4810

2

1

-

View property

The deal was done for an undisclosed sum. The buyer could not walk through prior, due to safety concerns.

SOLD - $3,850,000

43 Windsor Street, Paddington NSW 2021

4

1

-

View property

The family undertook the huge task of clearing out much of the contents before the auction. It went for $3.85 million.