Grandma's bedroom...they have tried to enclose the bathroom (they extended the bedroom out to enclose the hallway) ...can't say it was an improvement!

OK, guess where this is? The door goes out to the "green house" and you are standing in the enclosed carport/family room. The green house is in really bad shape, including part of the roof missing!


Here is the kitchen. This has been changed, even since the new cupboards were added by Grandma, but overall pretty close to when she was alive. It would be nice to restore this to "look" like the original 1890's kitchen but include a "few modern conveniences".

Hunsaker Home

Hunsaker Home

Have you seen our Grandma's house lately? It is for sale...again. I wanted to start this blog and see what kind of interest there is to keep it in the family. After all...somebody once said, "May we always live so that our family chain is not broken." While her home is just "brick and mortar" it is still the source of so much of who we are as individuals AND as a family.

I spent several days looking at the property - inside and out. It is in a bank-owned "short sell" and so we made an offer. However, the bank didn't accept the offer.

CURRENT SITUATION: The house and yard are in sad conditions. Bad of course that old "brick and mortar" is filled with great memories...and going back into the yard and home the memories started flowing! I fell in love with the home all over again, but realistically, well, it is a bunch of old brick and mortar. As a reality check, I had Mark (my husband - an engineer and general contractor) perform some inspections. He found many problems and did the cost analysis to get it restored! Well, we made another offer (detailing many of the problems) and the bank again rejected it! If any of you have had "short sell" experience, you know the process...slow and painful! However, the agents we started to work with have not been too motivated to move things forward, so we are looking for some additional help.

HISTORY: I am sure that most of you know the story of the home. It was built by our Great Grandma Abel while her husband was on a mission. They had the lot before he left for his mission. They had two children. Great Grandma Abel worked and others helped her build the home. When Great Grandpa came home, they went for a walk and he saw the house and said "You had to sell the lot to keep me on my mission." She smiled and said "No" it is our house. WOW...what a story and some wonderful history. Eventually, Grandma Hunsaker and her children moved in with Grandpa and Grandma Abel in the fall of 1937. There were so many significant events that happened in that home: births, birthday celebrations, reunions, traditions, quilts, flowers, Christmas candy, holidays, etc.

IDEAS & PLANS: We have some ideas and would welcome any of your input or ideas. If any of you are interested in buying the home...let us know so we aren't "competing"!!! A summary of our plans include:

1. Rent it for a year or two and start cleaning up the yard.
2. Year 2 or 3 go in and start restoring.
3. Start a VRBO..."Vacation Rental By Owner"...and then you can come when you are in Utah (or Utah County) and enjoy those memories and share those with the next generation.
4. Have an annual" Hunsaker" reunion each year!
5. If there is enough interest, we would create an LLC and "sell" equity positions that would take the property in a different direction...however,
6. If we buy it on our own, we will live in it by year 5, and still have it open for family to visit and use the yard for family functions, weddings, reunions, etc.

I will attach the pictures that we took when we looked at it in August.

WHAT TO DO: Please pass this Blog on to anyone in the family. If you have any photos you would like to share, please email them to me ( shellwalk@gmail.com ) . Thanks and love to all.

Have you seen Grandma's house lately?

This is a view of the enclosed carport/family room. The old driveway has had some hardscaping added, but needs some real help. The door on the right is now the side entrance into the house.













North side of house. Landscaping is overgrown and underwatered. They did not hook up to the "new" pressurized irrigation and the irrigation shares were sold when the house was sold.











North side living room window. A new AC condensor is right behind the aspen...another addition to the yard! The aspens are something we would remove.















Front porch...the concrete (thanks Uncle Ted), foundation and brick are all in really good shape for being over 100 years old.













East/front view. Upstairs windows have been replaced with vinyl, but sills, frames, soffit, facia need some TLC.