Resolution has improved a lot in the past 20 years. Public GIS (to my knowledge) is completely separate from any sort of state surveillance. And storage was expensive back then: even if they panned past the house, why take a photo? Why keep them?
Your best bet is to get in touch with some state or county GIS group, and ask really nicely if they'll hook you up. Most people involved (the few that I've met, anyway) understand that GIS is really confusing to anyone not in the business, and will just hook you up instead of trying to make you learn it.
Links to State GIS data resources