South Australia's weirdest open inspection tales At a house auction in Hazelwood Park a koala climbed down from a nearby tree, walked over and stood with all the bidders. ONCE the decision to sell your house is made, a real estate agent is brought in to help make the sale of the property easier, and open inspections can begin. But often this opens a can of worms and all kinds of funny, bizarre - and sometimes just plain dangerous - things can happen, as some of Adelaide's leading agents have found out. A brown snake at an acreage in Brownhill Creek was a less welcome animal visitor at another auction. I once had a 'guard rabbit' who bailed me up after an inspection and circled me, thumping and blocking the door Monty Python style. Adam Timms, Timms Real Estate I was listing an acreage in Brownhill Creek which included a hillside on the other side of the road. It was a hot day and we were walking up these steep tracks when the owner, a big man with a bushy beard, jumped, leapt down the hill and dove straight into the middle of an olive tree, screaming "snake!." I thought he'd gone mad. The next thing a big brown snake lifted it's head then came straight for me. I lifted my leg as it shot straight under me and disappeared into a stone retaining wall. The owner climbed out of the tree scratched and bleeding. He told me he hadn't been up on that side for a couple of years and that the last time a snake had wrapped itself around him and stuck its head out between his legs. He had been worried about snakebites in terrible places ever since. Did I show buyers that part of the property before the auction on the beautiful lawns beside meandering Brownhill creek? I just made a lot of noise before venturing up that track. David Smallacombe, Smallacombe Real Estate While marketing a property in Gilberton, I was preparing the home by turning on the lights etc.. When I entered one of the bedrooms I noticed a lump in the bed, but didn't think anything of it. A group entered the room and I walked up to give them a brochure and noticed the lump had moved, and so on. When no one was in the house I went into the room to satisfy my curiosity and turned back the doona and a cat flew out at a million miles an hour past my face and straight outside. It scared the hell out of me and then I had to find it and try and get back inside. Richard Hayward, Bernard Booth Real Estate I was conducting an open inspection at Semaphore and all of a sudden a lady and man came running into the house from the backyard looking absolutely terrified. I looked out into the backyard and there was a horse doing laps and people were charging into the house to escape it. One lady was just looking at the backyard and then all of a sudden this horse just bolted at her - she was terrified. About five minutes later the trainer arrived with a bridle and collected it and it turns out it had escaped from a stable two blocks away. I found out later on that the lady who used to own the house used to let the horses come and eat the lawn in the back yard, so the horse was just coming here for a feed. Troy Tyndall, Toop&Toop Real Estate We had an auction in Hazelwood Park and just as the auctioneer was asking for the opening bids a koala climbed down from a nearby tree walked over and stood with all the bidders. He then sat down and began scratching his ear, making it look like he was actually bidding on the auction. Everyone lost it and the auctioneer couldn't even continue with the auction. Alex Ouwens, Harcourts Ouwens Casserly I once had an open where a prospective tenant opened the freezer only to find a galah ... Obviously dead & frozen! Donna Hughes, Toop&Toop Real Estate I can vividly remember my very first open inspection some 13 years ago. It was a rented property and I had given the tenants plenty of notice regarding the weekend open inspection. On entering the property I called out just to make sure no one was about so you can imagine my surprise when heading up the hallway to open the front door I heard a noise to my right, looked across and saw a young couple going "hammer and tongs" in the bedroom." Bernie Altschwager, Cocks Auld Real Estate I remember the alternative couple who had their fluffy handcuffs and straps on the four poster bed upstairs for the open, causing buyers to come downstairs giggling and whispering. I also had a tenant who had an inflatable penis and tools of trade including a whip, spiked heels and feather ticklers by the bed. The questions that were asked by the child of the potential buyers much to the embarrassed parents horror as they steered them into other rooms... We had a mid-week open inspection at about 5.30pm at a property that has views over the city so that buyers could see the lights come on in Adelaide. We arrived about five minutes before the open started and we would always meet the vendors at the property and then they would leave, but we knocked and there was no answer. Occasionally they would leave the door open for us so we knocked and knocked and then I opened up the door and yelled 'hello' and as I did that I saw them running from one room to the other. The vendor had forgotten about the open inspection and they were 'on the job', so to speak. I had a vendor whose family was going to be overseas, so because the property was vacant we'd arranged for me to kick it off that weekend. I arrived with some prospective buyers and the entire family were there with about 10 or 20 dead piglets spread out across the front lawn, like a mini slaughterhouse and they had a big old school smoker going. It was really awkward. It was like a little abattoir, full-sized pigs, right there on the front lawn. One lady looked at me, looked at the piglets and just said 'mate, that's not right'. Phil Harris, Harris Real Estate These three sisters were executors of a property and, during the auction, they started to doubt the process and not believe the bidders and thought it was all rigged. One of them started debating with another one inside the home that it was rigged and then they started punching each other and spitting on each other. We had to separate them in opposite sides of the house and take one of them out the back. After the auction had ended so we went inside, got our gear, and had to evacuate the purchasers out of the house and back to the office to finish the paperwork because the women were still beating each other up. Everyone at the auction was completely aware of it. It was chaos, mayhem and legendary in the street and was spoken of for years and years after. Mike Spurling, Cocks Auld Real Estate FLOOD OF INTEREST "I was standing at the window with approximately eight buyers at a property at Mount George, all looking at the panoramic view of the acreage. The terrain sloped up to the right-hand side and out of view. From out of nowhere came a huge torrent/wall of water gushing down the hill. It would have been 30 feet wide and would have knocked anyone in its path clean over. We were all baffled and standing there stunned, none of us could perceive where it had come from. After a good 10 seconds of silence someone realised the tank at the top of the hill and out of view had burst. Anita Hardingham, Toop&Toop Real Estate I had a three-bedroom townhouse available in the city and seventeen (yes, 17) people turned up and all went inside. I didn't realise they were all together until I went inside and discovered one lady was lying down in the European style laundry - the small ones behind sliding doors - and another girl closing the door over to see if she would fit inside. I turned to the right and another one is under the stairs after climbing through a manhole sized opening to see if she would also fit inside. They then asked how many people were allowed to live in the garage. Needless to say they were not approved! Kerry Todd, Century 21 Central I have a little egg speaker that plays music at my open houses wirelessly from my phone. The unit needs to be charged and upon being fully charged emits a blue light representing that it is ready to go when turned on. I accidentally left the egg behind after an open house in St Georges. As it started to go flat, it began emitting a red flashing light. When my vendor got home, she saw this apparatus and thought that someone was tracking her. She proceeded to call the police. The police came over, inspected the egg and told her it was just a speaker playing music! Ken Bruce, Toop&Toop Real Estate I remember one eccentric owner who insisted at staying during his open carrying a brochure and talking on a very large mobile phone to an imaginary wife telling her how amazing the home was within earshot of other buyers. When one of my agents turned up to an open inspection there were four police officers and an ambulance present. The drug dealer with a mental disability who lives in the units at the back was being carted out in front of all the people after suffering an overdose. He started yelling obscenities at the 20 people waiting to come in to view our unit as he was being rolled out on the ambulance gurney. Surprisingly at least three people still wanted to look inside! At a villa in Parkside about four years ago we were standing on the front veranda taking names and numbers. On looking out to the street I noticed a man with a rucksack on his back with some electrical equipment sticking out. The man was hovering around people's cars as they were inspecting the property. I called the police to notify them and was told they were sending a car. A little later, the man walked into my open house. As he approached, I welcomed him and asked if he was looking to buy a property. He said 'no' and that he just wanted to have a look through. I told him that we were only showing buyers through this property and that he should move on. In a fit of anger, he pulled out a filleting knife and said "I am going to kill you." I put my hand out and said "now is not the time, I am conducting an open house." He looked at me and didn't know what to say, upon which I further explained that the police were on the way to arrest him. He said "I'd better get out of here," and ran off down the street. He was later apprehended around the corner, still looking through people's cars! I did an auction at Flinders Park and this little kid ran out and hung onto my leg. I bent down to pick him up and split my pants, absolutely done my duds from the top all the way down to the back of my knee - the biggest split you've ever seen. It was a hot sweaty day so the pants just stuck to my legs and gripped rather than flexed. The whole audience knew it and the agent next to me was just roaring with laughter. I had to back my way into the house and a neighbour came over with safety pins and clipped me back up. Phil Harris, Harris Real Estate. I had an unstable tenant freak out halfway through an open inspection, which she had agreed to, and proceeded to yell at prospective tenants to get out of the house while ushering them down the hall towards the front door. Nathan Moore, Toop&Toop Real Estate