President of The University of Olivet Featured on House Hunters

President Corey sitting at his office desk.

OLIVET, Mich. - President of The University of Olivet, Steven Corey, and his wife, Kelly Corey, professor of business, were on an episode of “House Hunters: Moving from Michigan to Montana.” The episode aired on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 10:01 p.m. on HGTV, Hulu, and YouTube TV.

“Well, it was neat. So, we watched it as a family because my kids have never seen someone that they know on TV,” Ryan Shockey, vice president and chief of staff at The University of Olivet, said.

In order for the Coreys to be on the show, they had to go through a lengthy process to ensure they were right for the show. To initiate the process, the crew of the show contacted the Coreys’ realtor, Janet Cantrell, who then referred to the Coreys. From there, the Coreys had to fill out a questionnaire about themselves. After that, they went through an interview process with the crew.

“We did some interviewing in advance of the shoot talking about sort of why did you want to come to Montana,” Steven Corey said. 

In the episode, people can expect the Coreys to go through three different cabin choices; cabin names. The cabins vary based on location, price, layout, and renovations. 

The Coreys both went in with expectations for what they hoped to have in the cabin. Steven Corey was very keen on keeping it within budget, while that's not the biggest priority for Kelly Corey. She went into it with an expectation of being on the lakefront. 

“In the show, I'm the budget guy, and we talked about that in the interview, and then we would do the various takes in the different scenes,” Steven Corey said. “You know, driving up to the house or going in the door, each of those takes the camera would just be rolling, and we would do the scene as we were sort of guided to do the scene.” 

Filming of the episode took place in April 2024. During the filming process, the crew followed the Coreys around as they were going through the cabins. The process also included gathering other footage, for example, them going fishing or footage of the cabin itself. The Coreys signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), so disclosing more information is prohibited.

“Take three full days of shooting into 22 minutes, I think, or thereabouts, I mean, there is a lot of editing going on there,” Steven Corey said.  

“We actually looked at the houses in the opposite order of what was on the show,” Kelly Corey said. 

The asking price for the cabin was originally $625,000. The Coreys were able to lower the price of the cabin to $610,000 knowing renovations needed to happen, a question on the mind of local viewers. 

“I do wonder if they built the garage or if they made any renovations to their house that they bought, and how often they actually get to go and visit it,” Katelyn Lamb, sophomore, said. 

The Coreys live on The University of Olivet's campus. The house is also known as the Hance house. When they are not at work, they plan on living in the cabin and eventually retiring there. 

“In order to keep our own sanity, just kind of good for our mental health, it's of course for us to just go, and detach from this work because we want to be 100% invested in what we are doing here,” Kelly Corey said. 

Watch the episode on Hulu, YouTube TV, and HGTV. A tip to find the episode: try searching the full name, House Hunters: Volume 9, Moving from Michigan to Montana.