“Several years ago I had a listing and the sellers wanted to have an open house. I was already scheduled for the weekend and could not find anyone else to hold it open. My sellers said they didn’t mind manning the open house if I coached them on what they could or could not do. After the open house I received a call from the sellers telling me there was an older couple who would be calling me in the morning because they wanted to write an offer on the house. Sure enough I received the call and scheduled a time for them to come in and meet with me.

“When we met I suggested that we take another walk through the property just to make sure they were happy and to see if there were any issues that needed to be addressed. They told me that was not necessary. We wrote the offer, negotiated the contract and things proceeded smoothly from there. The sellers packed up and moved from Ohio to Texas prior to closing.

“During the final walk-through I noticed the buyers had some strange looks on their faces. I stopped them in the kitchen and asked what was wrong. Mr. B said that this was not the house they thought they were buying! I was as dumbfounded as they were (and I was a Dual Agent). I asked how could this happen and they had no idea.

“They said they have been so excited about this home and have been driving by it for several weeks. I asked where the house was they thought they were buying and they said they didn’t know! I asked what they wanted to do.

“Mr. B said, ‘Oh well, we made a deal and we’ll still buy it.’ He followed up with a chuckle and said that he bets this is the first this has happened to me as a Realtor. Yes, it was, and it was going to be the last. Next time someone wants to buy a house, I’m going to see it first before writing the offer.”