[music playing]
I'm Michael.
I'm 58 years old.
And I am a hoarder.
I spent most of my life collecting
rare and pretty things.
Even I admit, it's way too crowded.
I never intended it to get that crowded.
I'm Christine.
I'm Michael's oldest sister.
When I walked into Michael's house,
I was absolutely shocked.
There was this little space, maybe
it wasn't more than a foot wide on the floor.
And I'm trying to walk through this little space,
with picture frames sticking out, and books, and paper,
and trash, and the smell, and the filth.
I was mortified.
We had a pet rabbit.
My father was the main cook of the house.
And we came home one day, and he cooked, and we ate dinner.
And he asked Michael, how did he like that food?
And Michael told him, yeah, that's good dad.
And he goes, well, I'm glad you liked that.
That was your rabbit.
MICHAEL: I really knew that my father
was a monster from that day.
That's probably the first time I ever
started to look at him as a dark, frightening, murdering
bad guy.
It just broke Michael's little heart.
And I really think that had to have really
weighed on Michael mentally.
I'm Ken, And I'm Michael's landlord.
I only learned from the code inspector
about two months ago that Michael had been living there
without electricity and water.
I have to determine if it's economically
feasible to salvage the house.
MICHAEL: If I don't get my house cleaned up and cleared out
in just a couple of days, I'm going to be evicted,
I'm going to lose my dog, I'm going to lose everything.
Michael, I'm Matt.
My name is Matt Paxton.
I'm an extreme cleaning specialist.
We're going to try to get in his bedroom where he lives.
It's really hot.
There's lots of bugs.
And there's no light.
So we're going in with a candle.
Hopefully the house will not burn down.
Let me get the food.
You carry the candle.
Just hold on where I'm holding on.
MATT PAXTON: Hold onto the walls?
MICHAEL: See, everything is really
piled up on both sides close.
But if you hold what I hold, you can get through.
MATT PAXTON: Michael knows every inch of that house.
He doesn't need lights.
He doesn't even really need the candles
because he knows it so well.
Your house, man, the minute something catches on fire--
It's gone.
MATT PAXTON: --it's gone, man.
MICHAEL: Walk right over that box down here.
MATT PAXTON: Michael's bedroom is the main room.
It's really the only room you can walk around in.
MICHAEL: Then we go this way, and you put a foot on here,
and sort of lean on me and go up that hold right there.
MATT PAXTON: I'm going to go over you.
MICHAEL: You need to see if you can--
MATT PAXTON: You hold onto the dinner.
All right. Here we go.
You ready?
MICHAEL: Graceful and gracious.
MATT PAXTON: All right.
So this is home?
Yeah.
Man, we're not even here five minutes
and I'm sweating my balls off.
I mean, it's 100 degrees easily.
MICHAEL: So without the power, it's unlivable.
MATT PAXTON: Do you ever eat in this room, in your bedroom?
Yes.
But I'm very careful when the crumbs and such.
MATT PAXTON: OK.
I have fought rats and I have fought mice.
And I put so much poison in this house,
I had two inch welts, big red gobs come up everywhere on me.
Michael wants to change so badly.
Even if we successfully clean, it's not his home.
He's not guaranteed that he'll ever get back in.
And what a loss that's going to be.
What if he follows everything I ask him to do,
he gives it his all, and then I have to say, sorry brother,
you're still homeless.
This is a tough situation, really tough situation.
[music playing]
Everything I got means something to me.
Everything I got has some sort of value to it.
When you pick things up, pick them up tenderly.
I know you're going to make haste,
but if you can do it with a bit of feeling to it, out
of kindness to me, that it means something to me,
I'd like that a lot.
I would say this one is probably
OK for the flea market pile.
It doesn't have a lot of years on it, maybe 25 or 30 years.
My name is Richard Hatch.
I've been appraising art and antiques for over 30 years.
Yes.
I'm very happy that you've got that.
And that stands for Southern Railroad.
Very, very, very collectible piece.
And that's probably $250 right there.
He is correct.
It is Southern Railroad.
And in today's world, realistically,
maybe $75 or $100.
With the amount of restoration work it needs
and a broken speaker, it's probably
too far gone to salvage.
Kind of like watching my children be sorted to be
sliced bologna or pressed meat.
Either way, it's the destruction of something I love.
I'd like, can we get moving to get this on the truck?
[music playing]
All right.
So this is you believe your most valuable piece.
I think it's a very good painting.
OK.
Nobody knows what I've got and the value of it.
I would like to take this out to Richard,
have him look at it.
I'm not going to touch it.
I'm going to have you carry it out there.
Let's get out there and get his expert opinion on it.
Good enough.
RICHARD HATCH: When we got to his prized
painting, the other day, he had dropped a number of--
thinking that maybe it could be worth hundreds of thousands.
I don't know who the painter was.
But I took it to the "Antiques Roadshow" art personnel,
and they loved it, and they held it up as the best
thing they had seen.
And he really called it a masterpiece
and held it to the cameras.
The painting is done in palette knife
or in posto style.
You know, a nice impressionistic palette knife work.
But as far as value goes, based on similar things
that are sold, I would value it more in the $200 to $300 range.
I was a little apprehensive talking
about values with Michael.
Either way, I'm going to tell it like it is.
Not going to throw out numbers to make you feel good.
You all right?
There's something spiritual here.
I don't know what it is.
There's something going on here with you dad.
I don't know where to take it.
I'm Dr. Melva Green.
I'm a board certified psychiatrist
specializing in anxiety disorders
and hoarding behaviors.
Michael has spent his entire life trying to measure
up to what his father wanted.
A lot of this hoarding has really
been about seeking that validation
that he was hoping for with his dad.
So to get into the heart of where this behavior began
could actually get him on a road to recovery.
When I'm doing whatever I'm doing,
I'm honoring my father and the memory.
That was my question. MICHAEL: That's what I'm doing.
That was my question.
It's like, if he was standing here with me,
would he do it like this?
Would he want me to do it like this?
Is he proud of me now or is he not proud of me right now?
So are you a hoarder, or are you just honoring your father?
I'm a hoarder.
Are you also honoring your father the best way
you know how?
If my dad had been there, he'd have been kicking me
in the ass, and smacking me on the back of the head,
and saying to me, you're an idiot.
You know you're an idiot.
How much--
How long can you fool yourself?
And I'm getting personal with my personal experience.
My dad died 10 years ago.
Some of my dad was good.
Some of my dad was bad.
And I can't spend the rest of my life
trying to make my dad happy.
Our hunch with Michael was that it wasn't about the cash.
Michael wants to be like his father.
What boy doesn't want to be like their father?
You're really close to saying, man, life ain't worth it.
Get rid of this stuff.
I feel that.
MICHAEL: That one is gone.
Good call.
All right, the rest of this I can sell?
Take it.
MATT PAXTON: OK.
Bundle it up and let it go.
I have to.
That's why I'm doing this.
[music playing]
Michael was ready to start his life back over in this home.
But we still had an enormous amount of work to do today.
We still had to clean three entire rooms
and get the house ready for an inspector.
[music playing]
Everybody came in.
We busted out.
We were fixing holes.
We were putting new fridges.
We were putting microwaves in, doing plumbing.
I have never even done plumbing in my life,
and I'm sitting here, trying to put a faucet in just
so I can get him back in the house.
[music playing]
With the list that we have today,
we're dealing with the habitability of the structure.
If we can get primarily the repair of the ceiling fixed
in a week or two, then I don't have a problem
with the conditional occupancy.
But it's an agreement that you really need to make.
And if that's what you want to do, you know,
we can accommodate it.
I couldn't evaluate it at all until I saw it cleared out.
So I think it can be done.
The whole thing has got to be reshingled,
you know, and in my opinion, as soon as possible.
County came in.
They gave me the black, told me to rip it up.
All right.
You are not homeless, my friend.
All right.
Awesome.
It all paid off.
It all paid off, man.
I think that Michael and the homeowner
are going to be able to fix this roof issue
and actually keep Michael in here long term.
I want you to see your new house because finally again
this is your house.
[interposing voices]
Come on, let's get to it.
We want to show you your house.
Let's do it.
MELVA GREEN: Head on in.
Wow.
CHRISTINE: It is just so nice.
Wow.
But look at this, Michael.
Isn't that beautiful?
The couch and the--
MICHAEL: I know.
I just, I can't--
Can't take it all in, can you?
No, I can't express it.
How do you all know to pick it out like this and do all this?
I mean, you're like angels.
MATT PAXTON: You've got a new refrigerator,
got a brand new microwave.
And guess what?
The AC works.
You're kidding.
- We couldn't believe it either. - Get out of here.
Let's all take our clothes off.
Turn the AC on.
Wow.
Come on this way.
Wow.
CHRISTINE: Little stuff for Basil.
Look at Basil's stuff.
Oh man.
Michael has spent a lifetime trying to live up to a father
that he just could never measure up to.
Maybe now with a fresh start, he won't be defining himself
by a relationship of what if.
CHRISTINE: I think Michael working so hard to detach
himself from these things that were his treasures
may make him realize, I'm not a failure after all.
I can stand on my own two feet.
It's like a huge weight is lifted off my chest
and I can breathe.
[music playing]