I have property in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. In the mid-west tax assessors sometimes do reassessments to see if you’ve done any improvements on your house that would make it more valuable thus raising your taxes. There was much concern (by the revenuers) in Indiana that people where buying old farm houses and fixing them up without paying higher taxes. I believe it was last year that every property in IN was reassessed. Even though I had built a garage since I bought the house my taxes went down.

So IMO, if you’re not going to sell your house, the best thing to do is keep it looking “lived in.”