The construction of this home began in 1928 (I have the original request for proposals and blueprints) and was finished in 1932 by Dr. Cater and his wife – and a portion of the ground level served as the Dr.’s Office. This house has a rich history in Marceline that everyone seems to have a memory of or tie to – it is still referred to as the Cater House. It originally went on the market several years back for around $200K, being rented out to some idiots at the time and then vacant for the last year. Turns out everyone loves the house, but were afraid of the potential repairs, upkeep, bills, insurance. A friend of ours, who is a real estate agent, and niece of the owner discreetly told us that the owner (the town jerk) was selling all his properties and will take any offer to dump everything quickly, so we just threw out a stupid offer of $74k just to see what he said. We closed within 30 days for that amount – can you believe we stole it?
The modular we were living in at the time sold the following month for $90K.
So this past month has seen a whole slew of projects being done. The house was built solid with the best materials and well maintained (until 5 years ago). Several updates were done (electrical and Spanish tile roof) in the 70’s and the person who owned the house at the time, a former Mayor, still gives me a lot of valuable info about the house.
Notable features include the old coal chute is still present and operational and the basement is mint, with many rooms and not a single crack. In one basement room is every light fixture, door, valve, etc. that was replaced was carefully wrapped and stored. An original framed painting by the original owner’s wife was presented to us from a local historian. It’s a corner lot at the end of the Main Street USA (the original one) that Disney used as his design – yes, Walt lived in Marceline.
Beside general painting and small repairs, here are some of the big accomplishments in the last 11 months (note – inexpensive because I did most of the work):
1. Replaced all galvanized water lines and water heater - $1,300
2. Cleaned / resealed all copper gutters and box gutter molding - $50
3. Reconstructed the rotted front column plinth - $150
4. Repair / Replace iron sewer line (3 stories) with PVC that was cracked the full length ($200)
5. Remodeled / painted breeze way to accommodate a hot tub - $3,000 (w/hottub)
6. Replaced 20 pieces of the cracked Spanish tiles ($450)
7. Replumbed 1930’s American Standard pedestral sink with integrated spout - $25
8. Rewired all the original lighting fixtures - $30
9. Installation of vinyl shutters - $150 (we have originals but they are too far gone for installation)
10. Made the basement a usable living space $350
(house after shutters)
(column repair)
(interior)
(light repair)
This house has been a dream and has not cost as much as we thought it would. Even the utility bills are less than our modular. My wife claims the house seems happy and is healing itself now that it is being taken care of. The locals in the community watch for my updates on Instagram and FB (no longer on FB) and people ask for tours. Am currently working on the 1930’s Crane Shower Mixer in the main bath to make it fully functional again.
Again, I’m looking forward to partaking in this forum!
