DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 21, 2026--
HomeVestors ® has announced the winner of The Ugliest House Of The Year ® 2025, a Boise makeover completed by Paul and Tanice Myers, a husband-and-wife franchise team committed to transforming both properties and lives. The 19 th annual contest from the We Buy Ugly Houses ® people had 20 homes from around the country facing off with the most unforgettable transformations of 2025 by the company’s independently owned and operated franchises.
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When the Myers first encountered the 1,580-square-foot West Boise home built in 1954, it was uninhabitable with severe safety issues, trash-filled rooms, a damaged kitchen, and impassable laundry room. The resident and the home had experienced years of decline, and the family was seeking options that would support a healthier living environment. While the house was not in a condition suitable for a traditional listing, the Myers recognized an opportunity to restore its beauty and purpose.
“This house is the perfect example of people reaching out for a lifeline when facing an overwhelming situation, and we see it every single day,” said Tanice. “Whether it be the individual or their family, they’re calling us hoping we have an answer because they just don’t know where to start. I can’t tell you how many hold onto our postcards for years and feel a tremendous weight lifted when they’re ready to call. It's not just about repairing houses—it's about restoring pride, relieving stress for families, and giving communities a fresh start.”
After buying the house, the Myers installed a new roof, HVAC, drywall, flooring, kitchen, bathrooms, and all new windows on the four-bedroom two-bath home. They ensured all the electrical and plumbing were up to code, and helped make the space more flexible for entertaining and relaxing. Interior improvements featured durable flooring, fresh interior and exterior paint, quartz countertops, brand-new cabinets, vanities, updated lighting, and stylish hardware. The large backyard on the nearly 9,000-square-foot lot now offers room to entertain, garden, or relax with new landscaping and a freshly poured driveway. Beyond being beautiful, safe and livable for a new family, the Myers’ renovation also brought hope and accessibility to another Boise family.
“When we bought it, the house had a large wheelchair ramp that didn’t fit our remodel. Instead of throwing it away, we put out a call to the Boise community, found a family that had a young daughter with Spina Bifida, and reinstalled it at their home free of charge,” added Paul. “They had been quoted $5,000 for a ramp they couldn’t afford, so we were able to give them the gift of accessibility, a true trash to treasure tale.”
The Myers first joined HomeVestors in 2018 with the purchase of a franchise in Seattle. Over the years, they have owned and operated multiple franchises across several states and today operate two active franchises, one in Boise, Idaho and the other in Seattle, Washington. They also serve as Development Agents, actively onboarding, training, and mentoring HomeVestors franchisees throughout Idaho, Washington, Utah, Montana, and Nevada. Tanice once felt uncertain about leaving her corporate role at Microsoft, but ultimately made the leap and has not looked back.
“Paul and Tanice’s HomeVestors journey is its own stunning tale of transformation,” said Joshua Waltzer, Chief Executive Officer of HomeVestors. “They have turned that first franchise into a powerful team of eight improving neighborhoods and lives across six states – from buyers and sellers to their fellow franchisees and members of their own team. They support small businesses by working with them to complete renovations, giving houses, families, and communities dignity.”
Paul and Tanice Myers’ local Habitat for Humanity ® chapter, Treasure Valley Habitat for Humanity, will receive a $20,000 donation as a result of their win. Habitat for Humanity works in local communities across all 50 states, working towards a vision both organizations share of a world where everyone has a decent and affordable place to live. For 30 years, HomeVestors has prided itself on buying homes traditional buyers may not consider, which franchisees like the Myers often improve and reintroduce as valuable real estate assets, helping uplift neighborhoods one house at a time.
Editor’s Note: A full gallery of “before” and “after” photos of The Ugliest House Of The Year is here.
About HomeVestors of America, Inc.
HomeVestors of America, Inc. is the largest professional house buying franchise in the U.S. with more than 150,000 houses bought since 1996. HomeVestors recruits, trains and supports its around 1,000 independently owned and operated HomeVestors franchisees that specialize in building businesses based on buying, rehabbing, selling, and holding residential properties. Known as the We Buy Ugly Houses people, HomeVestors strives to make a positive impact in each of the 47 states and the District of Columbia, in which it has franchises.
When the winners first encountered the 1,580-square-foot West Boise home built in 1954, it was uninhabitable with severe safety issues, trash-filled rooms, a damaged kitchen, and impassable laundry room. While the house was not in a condition suitable for a traditional listing, they recognized an opportunity to restore its beauty and purpose, while also giving back. The house had a large wheelchair ramp that didn’t fit the remodel. Instead of throwing it away, they put out a call to the Boise community, found a family that had a young daughter with Spina Bifida, and reinstalled it at their home free of charge. The family had been quoted $5,000 for a ramp they couldn’t afford, which winners Tanice and Paul Myers were able to give them instead, a true trash to treasure tale.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Police arrested about 100 clergy demonstrating against immigration enforcement at Minnesota's largest airport Friday, and several thousand gathered in downtown Minneapolis despite Arctic temperatures to protest the Trump administration's crackdown.
The protests are part of a broader movement against President Donald Trump's increased immigration enforcement across the state, with labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urging Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and even shops. The faith leaders gathered at the airport to protest deportation flights and urge airlines to call for an end to to what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.
The clergy were issued misdemeanor citations of trespassing and failure to comply with a peace officer and were then released, said Jeff Lea, a Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman. They were arrested outside the main terminal at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport because they went beyond the reach of their permit for demonstrating and disrupted airline operations, he said.
Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard of Hamline Church in St. Paul said police ordered them to leave but she and others decided to stay and be arrested to show support for migrants, including members of her congregation who are afraid to leave their homes. She planned to go back to her church after her brief detention to hold a prayer vigil.
“We cannot abide living under this federal occupation of Minnesota,” Tollgaard said.
The Rev. Elizabeth Barish Browne traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to participate in the rally in downtown Minneapolis, where the high temperature was minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius) despite a bright sun.
“What’s happening here is clearly immoral,” the Unitarian Universalist minister said. “It’s definitely chilly, but the kind of ice that’s dangerous to us is not the weather.”
Protesters have gathered daily in the Twin Cities since Jan. 7, when 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Federal law enforcement officers have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements.
Sam Nelson said he skipped work so he could join the march. He said he’s a former student of the Minneapolis high school where federal agents detained someone after class earlier this month. That arrest led to altercations between federal officers and bystanders.
“It’s my community,” Nelson said. “Like everyone else, I don’t want ICE on our streets.”
Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses statewide have closed in solidarity with the movement, from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.
“We’re achieving something historic,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of the more than 100 participating groups.
An FBI supervisory agent in Minnesota has resigned over the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into Good's killing, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The agent resigned because she felt pressured to not investigate the shooting in a way she felt the FBI would have ordinarily done, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel moves.
The FBI declined to comment.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner, meanwhile, posted Good's initial autopsy report online, which classified her death as a homicide and determined she died from “multiple gunshots wounds.”
A more detailed independent autopsy commissioned by Good’s family said one bullet pierced the left side her head and exited on the right side. This autopsy, released Wednesday through the Romanucci & Blandin law firm, said bullets also struck her in the arm and breast, although those injuries weren’t immediately life-threatening.
A 2-year-old was reunited with her mother Friday, a day after she was detained with her father outside of their home in South Minneapolis, lawyer Irina Vaynerman told The Associated Press.
Vaynerman said they had quickly challenged the family’s detention in federal court. The petition states that the child, a citizen of Ecuador, was brought to the U.S. as a newborn. The child and her father, Elvis Tipan Echeverria, both have a pending asylum application and neither are subject to final orders of removal.
A U.S. district judge on Thursday had barred the government from transferring the toddler out of state, but she and her father were on a commercial flight to Texas about 20 minutes later, according to court filings. They were flown back Friday.
Agents arrested Tipan Echeverria during a “targeted enforcement operation,” according to a DHS statement. DHS said the child’s mother was in the area but refused to take the child.
Vaynerman rejected that explanation, saying Tipan Echeverria was “not allowed” to bring his 2-year-old to her mother inside their home.
DHS repeated its allegation Friday that the father of 5-year-old Liam Ramos abandoned him during his arrest by immigration officers in Columbia Heights on Tuesday, leading to the child being detained, too.
Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Liam was detained because his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, “fled from the scene.” The two are detained together at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which is intended to hold families. McLaughlin said officers tried to get Liam's mother to take him, but she refused to accept custody.
The family’s attorney Marc Prokosch said he thinks the mother refused to open the door to the ICE officers because she was afraid she would be detained. Columbia Heights district superintendent Zena Stenvik said Liam was “used as bait.”
Prokosch found nothing in state records to suggest Liam's father has a criminal history.
On Friday, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino sought to shift the narrative away from Liam's detention by attacking the news media for, in his view, insufficient coverage of children who have lost parents to violence by people in the country illegally. After briefly mentioning the 5-year-old during a news conference, he talked about a mother of five who was killed in August 2023.
Associated Press journalists Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, and Tiffany Stanley in Washington; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.
CORRECTS NAME SPELLING: Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and protesters put on their talents as they gather at Target, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
People protest against Federal immigration agents on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Protesters gather Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in downtown Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
People protest against Federal immigration agents on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
People protest against Federal immigration agents on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Protesters gather at Target, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Rabbi Sharon Klein Baum and protesters put on their talents as they gather at Target, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
People protest against Federal immigration agents on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Candles burn around a poem written by Renee Nicole Good during a vigil honoring Good, outside the State Capitol, in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
People visit a makeshift memorial for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
An image depicting Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, adorns a makeshift memorial for her in Minneapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents stand guard, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
