Buyer backs out after $2.2M home's porn past exposed

Lorraine Longhi | The Republic | azcentral.com

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — Linda Fein was in the process of closing on a gorgeous contemporary-style home when she and her husband made a startling discovery.

The home, built in 1961 and located in the Paradise Hills neighborhood that wraps around Paradise Valley Country Club, had been used as the set of pornographic website Wifey's World, run by married couple Kevin and Sandra Otterson. The couple bought the house in June 2010, according to property records.

Fein said she made the discovery after the agent mentioned that the sellers were in the entertainment industry.

She was shocked that the use of the home was not disclosed to her and her husband, she said. They had made a $1.7 million offer.

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“At that price point, I figured there might be some courtesy to the buyer,” Fein said. "I just can't make Thanksgiving dinner on counters where a porn star has been lounging around."

They backed out of the sale.

The Ottersons, known as "Hubby" and "Wifey" to their fans, have run the site since 1998. The couple's brand account has nearly 367,000 followers on Twitter. Photos on their website clearly show rooms in the house as a backdrop.

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An email to the listing agent asking to speak to the couple went unanswered. The 4,172-square-foot updated midcentury modern house has four bedrooms and 3½ bathrooms, a custom bar and views of Mummy and Camelback mountains, according to its $2.2 million Redfin listing.

No Arizona statute specifically lists filming of pornographic material as a disclosure item in a home sale, according to Louis Dettorre at the state Department of Real Estate.

Other items not required to be disclosed to an Arizona homebuyer are detailed in state law:

• Death and crime. If a home is the site of a natural death, suicide or homicide or any other crime classified as a felony

• HIV or AIDS. If someone with or some one exposed to HIV or AIDS occupies the home

• Sex offender. If a home is located near a sex offender's house.

"I certainly believe there are people out there who wouldn’t care about the house being used for those purposes" of pornography, Fein said. “I’m just not one of them.”

The Ottersons faced community backlash in 2006 when they purchased land to build a home about 10 miles to the northeast in Scottsdale's Ancala neighborhood, also a country-club community. At the time, Scottsdale city officials said that it was legal for the Ottersons to operate their business inside their home.

Follow Lorraine Longhi on Twitter: @lolonghi