I've seen people giving away old houses before, like this one....they usually want to move the house so they can rebuild. The only other option is tearing down the house, unless they decide they want to spend the time and energy on it.
This happens alot. I watch this one show where this woman goes in and sells everything inside the house and then they tear down the house. I forgot the name of it, but she earns a living doing this. The owners want to rebuild.