I agree with the arborist…..it‘s top heavy and has seen better days

its been telephone poled.. the grade is covering the root flare ...

this is basically a dead tree standing ... it needs to go... sooner the better imo ....

tree time is counted in decades ... so there is time.. it doesnt have to be tomorrow or some such.. but i would prioritize it soon..

there is a lot of good fire pit wood there... have the trunk cut to pieces.. and rent a splitter for an afternoon... and have a LOT of firewood... pine isnt the best for the indoor fireplace ... in fact.. it is usually recommended against ...

ken

What is the history of your lot and the area of your addition? From the amount of pine straw and the trees in the picture, it looks like you may live on the south eastern coast, the Carolinas to Georgia.

This type of thing quite often happens in areas of old 2nd or 3rd growth pine forest that are cleared to build houses. It also happens in areas that are cleared as part of forest management. I know several managed forest areas where they will leave a tree like this so it will seed the area and create the next forest.

In judging the health of the tree, do not look at the canopy and the trunk. I have lost more trees to termites and and wood eating ants, that the obvious damage to the trunk. One case, I had what I thought was a health tree, based on the appearance of the trunk an canopy. One day I was working in the area, and casually placed my hand on the tree and it fell over.

As for keeping it it is up to you. The tree could stand for many years and continue to grow. If it is in the area mentioned above it could be brought down in the coming hurricane.

Taking a tree of this size down is fairly expensive, as there is a large amount of wood that will have to be removed and disposed of. Our neighbor took a dozen trees down because he did not like pine, and now has probably over 100 cord of wood stacked in his 3/4 acre back yard as he can not afford to pay to have some one come in and haul them away

As krnuttle says, it could be a leftover from a crowded condition & would explain the lack of lower limbs.

There're surrounding trees that will benefit from the one in question being removed. The one in question most likely would fall on your fence as it appears to be leaning in that direction.

I don't know what kind of pine it is, but some are not long lived.