New owners thrilled to purchase quirky Plum home

Sarver, 23, and his wife, 22, moved to the area from Canton, Ohio, recently in search of career opportunities. He works remotely as an IT technician and web developer. His wife is searching for a job as an interior designer in the Pittsburgh region.

Before they found the quirky three-bedroom, one-bath house, they lived with friends in Monroeville.

“It was just stunning when we walked in,” Nick Sarver said. “Our jaws dropped and they never went back up. … It was exactly what we were looking for. We didn’t know it existed, so the fact that we found it is crazy.”

Cope, who now leases an apartment in Renton, said the couple is a perfect match for his former lair.

“According to Zillow, there were over 3 million views of the place. Out of that 3 million, there was the initial spasm of a couple dozen people who looked at the place. But there was only one couple proper enough to take ownership of the starship,” Cope said.

Cope said their youthfulness, Nick’s background in technology and enthusiasm for his creation solidified his intuition they were the ones who were going to buy the house. Also, the couple, he noted, does not have children — making it easier to maintain the house’s knick-knacks that might be unsafe for small children. But there was one important indicator, he said.

Both Nick and Katelyn Sarver identified the bismuth crystal on display in a glass case within the dining room. The rainbow-metallic stone can be made by humans.

“They were the only people that recognized what it was,” he said.

The Sarvers married two years ago. The ceremony and reception, Nick Sarver said, was on Halloween and appropriately themed.

“Everyone came in costume,” he said.

The couple also enjoys playing tabletop role-playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Those are the types of qualities Cope knew the owners would need to possess.

“It was fairly obvious to me that either the place would sell instantly or take forever,” Cope said. “When they came in, I knew the place was sold. I found the right buyers for the place.”

Nick Sarver’s favorite part of the new home is the library, which is accessible only by steps of a ladder or the spiral staircase. The ceiling is buttressed by exposed wooden beams that look down on the sunken wooden floor below. The brick fireplace contributes to Cope’s vision for the room: a 15^th-century castle.

One day, Nick Sarver began exploring his new science-fiction book collection, which Cope left behind along with the bismuth crystal, decor and gadgetry. Sarver said he picked up a book and underneath found a message on a slip of paper.

“ ‘Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read,’ ” Sarver said, reading from the paper while chuckling. He didn’t recognize it as a quote from the American comedian Groucho Marx, best known for the Marx Brothers movies starting in the 1920s.

Nevertheless, the message resonates with him as a self-described avid reader and owner of three dogs: Pandora, Emma and Oberon.

The Sarvers also inherited a non-operational pool in the backyard and some fenced-in space for their pets to run around and play. Nick Sarver said he is excited to get the pool functioning soon and to install central air conditioning — commodities he said are essential to cope with this summer’s sweltering heat.

He also hopes to upgrade the outdated technology within the starship’s control panels and install a “smart home” security system.

He expects the work to be a labor of love. Good thing he finds inspiration in the man behind Epoc I (“I cope” backwards).

“(John Cope) is one of the coolest gentlemen I have had the pleasure of meeting,” Sarver said. “He makes me smile. This was his labor of love, and it’s obvious this was his version of the perfect place to be. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to live in the place he obviously loved and put all his effort into it.”