Remember the house with the camera that the Island King and I were in on Saturday?
When the homeowner showed up we couldn't figure out why he was so angry. His reaction to us touching his camera was a little extreme but we chalked it up to the fact that some people really hate it when you touch their stuff.
Turns out that's not why he was mad.
This morning the realtor and I were talking about the incident and he says that the camera streams video AND audio.
Well, well, well - audio explains everything.
So here's the deal. The homeowner is a "renowned" architect and the interior designer is his daughter.
The home had been open all day for a broker's tour and the homeowner set up streaming video and audio in the house.
Really?
I don't think it's right to record what people assume are private conversations and I'm pretty sure he heard confidential information about potential buyers - which is the real estate equivalent of insider trading.
But what he also heard was the conversation between my husband and myself.
Right off the bat I want to clarify that neither of us would have said one word if anyone else had been in the home.
But we were alone.
And we both had opinions about the house and the decor.
Some examples of what he heard us say are:
Me - "I think this house is really overpriced. I mean the patio area is nice but the house itself is nothing special"
Him - "I like the kitchen counter tops"
Me - "Really? I don't. They look like they belong in a bathroom not a kitchen and because of the open cabinets you have to have bathroom colored dishes too"
Him - "Did you see those statues on the front table? I moved them for my picture because they are hideous"
Me - "The statue on the fireplace is scary - like voodoo/zombie people"
So basically the homeowner/architect heard us say negative things about his house.
And negative things about his daughter's decorating ability.
Now my take on this is that he got what he deserved. When you record a private conversation you might hear something you really didn't want to hear and you don't have any right to be angry about what you do hear.
And of course now I wonder how many homeowners have heard me say something about the tacky chicken bedspread or the pepto bismal wall paper.
Because I know how my luck works and I can almost guarantee there was no audio in any of the houses I loved.
Oh well.Labels: Done