Agents reveal: My funniest open home and auction moments

It turns out the wildest part of real estate isn’t always the market – it’s the stories behind the sold stickers. Five top agents share the weirdest and wackiest moments in their careers.

RT Edgar Stonnington director Sarah Case reveals how beer almost ruined a prestige South Yarra sale

“I’d been in the industry maybe seven years, and I was working with a guy at RT Edgar. We had an auction one Saturday, and as it was winter, I went to the property very early in the morning to turn the heaters on because it was vacant. 

“It was a ground-floor apartment, and as I walked into the foyer, I could smell cigarette smoke and booze. I opened the door, and the smell was definitely coming from the apartment – there were kids everywhere. 

“At the top of my voice, it was an automatic reaction, I just yelled, ‘Who’s in charge here?’ This young man appeared from the bedroom with just his undies on and said, ‘Hi, I am. ’ I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and he said, ‘Oh, my grandparents own this apartment. ’ I said ‘Do you realise there’s an auction here in two hours?’ He just begged, ‘Please don’t tell my grandparents. Please don’t tell my parents!’

“I told him that I would be back in an hour, and the apartment better be clean. I said, ‘Open all the doors, mop the floors and get every one of your friends awake and out – now! When I get back, this place better be spotless or I’m ringing your grandparents right away!’

“I came back in an hour, and the place was spotless. It was a bit smelly, but I got some candles and burned them in nearly every room. We ended up getting a great result for the property.

“For new agents out there (facing a dilemma at a property), just handle it and handle it quickly. Find a solution and do what you have to do to get the job done.”

The Agency property partner Luke Saville spills the beans on a wild auction twist no one saw coming

“I was calling an auction for a 1950s two-bedroom apartment, and it was a really good auction. There were four bidders, including two who were super strong, and some parents who were buying it for their son were also bidding. The son had obviously given them a limit, and the parents had gone above that limit. Maybe they thought they’d cover the difference.

“We knocked it down to them, and I went over to shake their hand and say congratulations. They were a bit speechless and nervous, and the dad was still on the phone to the son. The son was obviously saying, ‘You’ve paid too much for it. ’ The parents asked if they could have a conversation in private, and they walked around the side of the building and disappeared, never to be seen again.

“We had their details and I was ringing them, but they just weren’t answering. So, I called the underbidder, who’d left five minutes beforehand, and said he should come back. Thankfully, he said ‘OK’, that he was happy to buy it and he’d pay the price it sold for. So he came back, signed the contract, and it was happy days. 

“I don’t think every buyer would respond in the same manner, but he was obviously very disappointed and upset that he’d missed out. But I feel like the longer you leave it, buyers who miss out eventually just convince themselves that it wasn’t the right one for them and convince themselves that it’s a good thing that they missed out. You have to have your wits about you to make that decision [to call the underbidder] if you can feel that something’s not right.

“I’ve called nearly 600 auctions, and that’s the only time I’ve ever had a runner.”

NGU Real Estate’s Rebecca Cuderman explains the sale that uncovered a decade-long address disaster

“We were selling 10a Smith Street* and were showing what we thought to be 10a Smith Street, because that’s what was outside on the mailbox. But it turned out that 10a Smith St was the neighbouring home and the developers had accidentally put the mailboxes around the wrong way. 

“So, for 10 years the owners had owned the wrong properties and we had to cancel contracts, find the neighbour next door as they were an investor, tell them about the situation, go to the titles office, give stat declarations to state that the owners purchased the wrong properties and we needed to transfer the houses to each other. 

“So, they essentially had to sell each other their homes without actually exchanging money, so we could then relist it and resell it all over again. We discovered the error when the buyer went to contract, but it had sold six or seven times before that, and no conveyancer had ever picked it up.

“What made it more complex was that the owner I was selling for did not speak English, so I had to do pretty much everything for her. It turned into a huge ordeal, which took nine months to fix so that we could list it for sale again.

“We kept the relationship, and obviously she was really appreciative of me helping her. It ended up selling and she purchased through me four times over the next three years.”

Ray White North Lakes agent Ryan Suhle reveals the open home that ended in a sneaker swap

“One strange thing I had happen at an open home was when one attendee, who had taken his shoes off to come inside, then put the wrong shoes on when he left. We then held a further three open homes, which he came to throughout the day, trying to convince him that he had the wrong shoes on.

“They were both just black sneakers, and they did look fairly similar, but the ones he had were New Balance, and the ones the other guy had were Nike. Eventually, he realised he had shoes with a tick on them instead of shoes with an N for New Balance on them. He admitted it and gave the shoes back. 

“Then we got the other guy to come to the last open home and they did a little swap.”

Cunninghams Real Estate director Andrew Lutze recalls the inspection that was more rave than real estate

“Many years ago, I remember selling a beautiful townhouse – it was two-storey with an unusual subfloor basement area. When I turned up to do our first open house, [the vendor] was having a massive party in the middle of the day with all of his friends. 

“I had all these buyers waiting outside, ready to go in – I just had to turn them all away. He’d just forgotten. As far as strange things happening at opens, that’s pretty up there.

“The best thing [in these situations] is not to react. You need to be a real person and see the brighter side of things, but also keep calm. And if you’re not sure what you’re doing, then call a senior colleague because they will have advice and wisdom to share with you on how to best handle the situation. There’s no rule book for this stuff, but you do need to maintain a professional outfit and you can’t get enthralled in the drama of what’s going on.”

* Pseudonym address