Wow! Those are some deep roots. I'd love to see a picture of the place.
Well, it's really nothing that spectacular, and it needs a LOT of work. Here's a pic of it, taken in 1965, according to the date on the pic...
BTW, when did color film start becoming common? Was it still pretty exotic, for 1965?
Here's a more recent pic of it, that I took during a snow storm, in early 2005...
Over the years, the road was widened, and got closer to the house. In the early 80's, my Mom, stepdad, and me lived in it for awhile, renting it cheap from my grandparents, and my stepdad closed off the front room, turning it into a small office with a walk-in closet off of it. And the little decorative railing on the second level in front of the windows rotted away and got knocked out back in the 80's, as well. As for the '53 Chevy, I have no idea what happened to it. But the '00 Intrepid got hit-and-runned while unattended in a restaurant parking lot, and subsequently totaled.
Ultimately, if the property ever gets sold, I'm sure a developer will snatch it up, subdivide its 4.28 acres, and simply tear down the house, the old 1-car garage behind it (which is about to fall down anyway), the workshop, and the 4-car garage/pole barn I had built back in 2005.
In a way, I have this house (and my grandmother) to be thankful for, in helping to accelerate my FI/RE goals. She had been renting the place out, but as she got older, it was just too much hassle. And our county can be downright draconian on landlords, in an attempt to weed out the slumlords. She always rented it cheap, with the understanding that you were getting an old house that needed work. But, if the county said it needed a new roof, windows, paint, or whatever, you had to comply. If it's owner-occupied, you have a bit more leeway.
So, when she was getting tired of renting it out, I sold my condo at a nice profit, which I invested, and moved into the house, and she put my name on the title of it. I also opened up an HELOC on it, and invested most of the money. When rates dropped, I pulled out more and invested it. But, I never went too overboard. My HELOC credit limit is only $175,000, so I couldn't go too crazy, even if I wanted to.
As for Grandmom, she and Granddad bought the house across the street back in 1950, so she's been in it for 62 years now!
I'd love to be able to hold onto both places, if I could. But, the neighborhood is changing. Growing, becoming more crowded. Crime really isn't a problem, but I think that's because down at our end of the street it's almost like a little time capsule. Small, modest houses, lots of forested area. Most would-be criminals probably look at us as rednecks with guns who will fight to the death to protect our 30 year old pickup trucks and statues of Elvis sitting on top of the tv, so they'd bypass us and go for the McMansions up the street with the BMW and Benz in the driveway.