Investigating (possibly) vacant homes

[Eric Rohver]

I drove off of my usual route today while running errands and I think I found a vacant house surrounded by some very well kept "City" homes. The paint is peeling and it looks a bit dated and neglected. When I got back to the office I did a quick Zillow search and found out that it last sold in 2005 for $106,000, then I looked for comps within a six block radius and found two that have sold in 2013 for between $100-110K. A quick search of the city tax rolls shows the assessment at $128,500 and the owner's name. Looked up the owner with a google search and found that it's an 87 year-old woman with relatives in the area. So maybe the property isn't vacant and abandoned, but I'd like to find out what the situation is. I have no phone number for the owner, but I found two local relatives with phone numbers listed. Should I go knock on the door and peek around?

How would you proceed?