I grew up in Ann Arbor and believe I even know the house you're looking at! That looks like it's right next to the high school? If all is solid with the structure, I would not hesitate to make an offer on it. It's a wonderful area; if you have kids, do check into the schools in Saline to make sure they're what you want, and spend some time in the house during rush hours / school hours to gauge the traffic noise on Saline-A2 Road, to make sure it's not too much from the bedrooms etc. The great thing about no updates is that you don't have to undo bad work from the 70's, while retaining as much of the original structure as you like. The bad thing is that it's expensive to bring systems up to code. We just bought an old house in Maine and are spending quite a bit replacing the old knob&tube wiring (c. $12k) and ancient original boiler (c. $15k). But if you factor this into your offer, you will be good to go and have plenty of time to schedule the work before snow flies this fall. I grew up in a 1960's ranch but have lived in older houses my entire adult life: absolutely no comparison. As brickeyee says, we're sitting pretty while the cheaper materials on the newer homes are failing at a rapid rate. The best thing about old houses? Anything that can break can be repaired. This is not the case with McMansions and their scary vinyl windows, plastic doors, plastic trim, cheap drywall, hideous siding and manufactured flooring.

Wow, what a diversion from the original post! However, between all the venom and legal mumbo jumbo, I was reminded of my dear neighbor, "Betty", who recently died. DH and I had yet to move back into our house as it was under construction when Betty passed away. She had been living w/ her "third", "Al", and they weren't married. I found this a little odd for an elderly couple, lol, but never dreamed to question it. Anyway, shortly after Betty died, Al was told "by the kids" (they had no children together) to leave the house for the day. While gone, moving trucks came by and moved out a bunch of stuff. We were horrified, thinking it was Betty's adult children. But, it was Betty's deceased second husband's kids. In his will, the house was left to Betty for as long as she lived. Upon her death, it went to her stepkids who wasted no time giving Al the boot. Al and Betty lived there in harmony for YEARS and we were all very sad to see Al be forced to move across the state to his daughter's place. But, I guess Betty's skids had no real obligation to Al and legally, Betty's hands were tied. Not sure if that's the reason they never married (like the house would have gone to her skids in that event) or not, but it was an odd arrangement. Dana

YW, chickencoupe. The power of your mower is going to determine how fast you can drive. One time, when my mower was down and under warranty, the dealer lent me a large Zero-turn Ztrak Deere. Wow, did that thing throw the clippings. My regular mower was a good tractor-style Deere - with a great engine and plenty of power, but the Ztrak was a step above. I couldn't use one on a regular basis, but it was perfect for the yard I had to mow on that day. Full speed and the engine didn't bog one iota! Listen to the engine as you drive and you'll know how fast is appropriate for the conditions. It's the same for weed-eating. Don't try to just hit the bottoms, just start up high and take them down in pieces. The clippings won't be so unmanageable. Like tox mentioned, I would do 3 passes aiming inward - to keep from throwing grass toward neighbors, roads, and structures. Then reverse direction and shoot the grass out towards what I'd already cut. I would start with the lawn, finish my first run, then weed-eat. By the time the weed-eating was done, the clippings were usually dry enough to be turned into dust and the weed-eating clippings were in the path of the mower, ready to be thrown away from the structures. Do not let the clippings sit overnight thinking they will dry. They will not. They will 'cure' and retain moisture. Another thing I forgot... again, depending on your mower, don't try to do a full mower-width swath. Just do what your mower can handle. On a 2-blade mower, let the 1st blade slice the grass, and let the other blade dice it up and shoot it out. The last thing I found helpful (that I can think right now)... there are different type blades. A Hi-lift blade (similar in shape to a mulching blade) has a back fin that has a steep angle and works as an airplane wing. It will gift 'lift' to the clippings, allowing them to stay at blade height, and get chopped up then spit out rather then just dropping to the ground. Anyway, I hope no one in a residential situation has to get used to mowing tall grass lol, but for me, it was a feeling of satisfaction to literally turn a field into a lawn in a few hours.

I've watched those videos of abandoned homes on YouTube. I am always amazed at what is left behind and no one has come in and stolen some of the stuff or destroyed it. My mother had a friend who collected bottles....mostly beautiful perfume bottles. She had glass shelves in front of mirrors and had them displayed like that. It was a few years after she died that my sister and I went in her house. I was about 11....my sister was an adult. The house was open. Everything in the house had been left....even food in her fridge. I remember the Dr Peppers. The door was open and power was off. Everything was destroyed. Every bottle broken. Every mirror. I am sure everything had been destroyed but mostly I remember the broken glass and all of her plants in the sunporch were dead. I recall that they said she only had one son and he just left everything in the house and walked away.