Need advice about tall pines close to house

[TNTreeHugger]

(b) they're too large and too close to the house to be removed without large machinery.

Bless your heart.
I think you should save your home, and your sanity, and find an arborist to remove the trees that are close enough to hit your house.

 

[RogerLemelin]

I can't imagine a scenario where an experienced, competent, licensed & insured tree service company, couldn't take care of your problem trees. What's the holdup?

I agree with your take on this. The holdup is the affordability of such a service, which could involve a crane.

 

[EchoShindaiwaMakitaDolmar]

I agree with your take on this. The holdup is the affordability of such a service, which could involve a crane.

A climbing arborist won't need a crane.

 

[chainbrake]

. One guy came and said (a) there aren't enough trees for a logger to be interested in them and (b) they're too large and too close to the house to be removed without large machinery.

OK, so you need to actually find a a crew of skilled arborists who can climb and/or who have a crane or will hire a crane. I provided a link for you earlier. You live in the Northeast. There are lots of skilled arborists in the NE USA. You could not have looked very hard. If finding contractors/companies is hard for you, perhaps you need to find someone with secretarial skills, and pay him or her to find contractors for you.

Davey Tree Service is all over the US - even in your area. If they can't do it for you, they may be able to hook you up with someone who will.
https://www.davey.com/residential-tree-services/tree-removal/

What state do you live in? There may be someone at this site who can drop your trees for you.

You spend $10- 20 grand and you get your dangerous trees down... or you spend that money to build a room in your basement.
Then, when the storm hits, you have $50-100 grand in damage that you try to get the insurance company to payout to you even though you obviously knew that the trees are a hazard. You probably have a clause in your policy that says something about fore-knowledge of hazards. If you think finding a tree service company is hard, wait till you try to fight your own insurance company!