heartwood wrote:I can't fathom the circumstances under which a family would leave a home like this, basically abandon it...imagine all the birthdays and holidays and meals and weddings and births that happened here.....what a gorgeous home!
...jade
This house is in the rust belt, not too far from me. While the details vary, the basic story is often the same for these kinds of houses, in the rust belt.
The last family to love the house often reluctantly leaves, maybe because of financial reasons, (e.g. can't afford to heat the place) or because the neighborhood starts to change around them. Because they are motivated to sell, or because the market won't support higher prices, they have to sell cheap.
Often, they are sold to an investor, who doesn't care about the house, other than being a source of income. Then, they rent the house to people who also don't care about the house. Inevitably, the house descends into disrepair, and the tenants become more and more desperate.
Eventually, the house needs more work than the investor is willing to pay for, and they sell it to the next investor, who may inject a few dollars into making needed repairs, and repeat the cycle.
Finally, some much-needed monumental repairs make the house un-rentable without major investment. At this point, the house is either rescued, or falls into complete abandonment. If the neighborhood is coming back, the house will probably be saved. If the neighborhood is still declining, the house may continue to deteriorate, following the cycle described above, until it's eventually abandoned for good, the city declares it a nuisance, and it's demolished.
