Aussie influencer Michael Drake spent $50,000 on a houseboat twice his age.

An Aussie influencer has traded renting for a life on the water by choosing to move into a renovated houseboat.

Twenty-two year old Michael Drake purchased the houseboat three months ago for $50,000.

Since then he has revamped the 40-year-old houseboat, which cost about three hundredths of Sydney’s median house price.

With a kitchen, a lounge room and a fresh coat of navy blue paint, the houseboat has been turned into a fully-functioning home on the water. His plan is to live in it.

The houseboat has been anchored in The Central Coast during renovations. Picture: @michaeldrake11 on Instagram.

It comes in response to an ongoing struggle for renters in Sydney, where the average rent for a unit sat at $714 per week in August, according to SQM Research.

Mr Drake said he wanted a place to live independently without renting.

“I would prefer not to pay rent and put the money into someone else’s asset, so buying my own houseboat seemed like a good option as an affordable starting place,” he said.

“I plan on living in it in summer, and when I am not travelling.”

MORE: Sydney engulfed in ‘bidding wars’ as property panic spreads

Inside the renovated houseboat. Picture: @michaeldrake11 on Instagram.

Mr Drake enjoying the views from his refitted deck. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Drake – who has over 1.4m followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – said the response to the project from his followers has been “fantastic”.

“Because the housing market is so out there, I think people are interested in exploring other avenues to enter the housing market,” he said.

“People are curious to see what other housing options there are for the lifestyle they want to live.”

He shipped the houseboat from an hour north of The Central Coast, where it was anchored during the course of renovating.

“I purchased this one because it was the most affordable houseboat available that was close to home,” he said.

According to Mr Drake, the biggest challenge during renovations was identifying the source of leaks in the boat.

“The houseboat is 40 years old, so it needed some work,” he said. “There was a lot of reno stuff to do before making it liveable.”

MORE: City regions where prices grew fastest after rate cuts

The content creator spent three months renovating the boat. Picture: Supplied.

A fresh coat of paint was a must. Picture: @michaeldrake11 on Instagram.

Mr Drake, who was helped by family and friends during the process, said it was his first project of this kind.

“This was my first time renovating anything,” he said. “My Dad has been a great help in the process as he is a cabinet maker by trade and has renovated a few houses in the past.

“Now that the renovations are done, I am hoping it will be a place I can call home, plus a place I can invite my friends to, to enjoy the water lifestyle.

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The houseboat pre-renovation. Picture: @michaeldrake11 on Instagram.

He will have to be aware of NSW anchoring laws, which state that you can stay at anchor in one place for up to 28 days on a houseboat before having to move to another area.

NSW government restrictions also limit houseboaters to a maximum of 90 days a year at anchor.

MORE: Sydney house prices shoot up by $66k

Houseboats are common on the canals of Amsterdam. Picture: iStock.

Throughout history, houseboats have increased in popularity during property crises.

Amsterdam is a well-known hotspot for houseboats, with over 2,500 residing on its canals.

They surged in popularity as a housing alternative following World War II, which left a lack of undamaged homes in the Dutch capital.

The post Influencer’s $50k boating solution to Sydney’s rental crisis appeared first on realestate.com.au.

When new rules governing buyer’s agent compensation went into effect, the share of real estate agents Intel surveyed who saw the National Association of Realtors as bad for the industry shot up. One year later, some agents are coming back around.

Australian audiences are about to get another peek inside the Durie family’s life with season two of Growing Home. 

“It was pretty challenging. It certainly took a lot out of myself and our family, but I felt that this was a very, very important project to share with Australia,” said Jamie Durie of the home he built on a 1069sqm sloping block of waterfront land in Sydney’s northern beaches. 

The 10-year process from design to completion was not only arduous because of the almost-impossible slope, seven-storey design and dozens of new materials and technologies that the long-time TV personality decided to integrate into his home. 

Durie also added an element of stress to the process by deciding to film during construction, putting his family on-screen – including wife and two young children – and launching it as a four-episode series on the Seven Network called Growing Home with Jamie Durie. 

“It’s the first time I’ve ever allowed cameras to come into my personal home and see what really goes on behind the scenes,” Durie explained to an audience of builders and building industry leaders at the Housing Industry Association’s Future Homes Forum held in Sydney on 29 August. 

It was an audience that was primed for interest in the many modern building techniques that Durie employed to construct the four-bedroom waterfront home, dubbed Belah House, that he finally completed late last year. 

But as he also shared, it turns out that many other Australians also had a high level of interest in the ambitious, eco-friendly build. 

In fact, the show notched over a million viewers for every episode, and skewed very high in the  demographic of viewers aged 21 to 29.  

“It was really nice to see lots of younger, engaged viewers,” he said, noting that it’s clear that cohort cares a lot about the environment. 

Attracting that interest in sustainable, innovative building methods was the whole point of the show, which Durie initially hoped to call Green Home but couldn’t find any takers for the concept.  

A name change allowed him to get the show to air, and the consummate TV host was prepared to put his family front and centre to essentially show that every Australian has choices when it comes to the environment, their home, and their family’s way of life.

Durie admitted, what he ended up creating in Avalon is an “extraordinary home” and not what the typical Australian is embarking on when taking on a building or renovation project. 

“We wanted to build the Ferrari of eco-building and then for viewers to take those lessons and feed them into maybe something else down the track, where people might adopt some of these ideas and build them into their everyday lives.” 

For Durie, a key element of his home was ensuring that it was a safe haven for the two family members who suffer from asthma – his wife and young son. 

Durie discovered that “it only takes five plants in an average size living room to absorb 75% of the volatile organic compounds in your living room”.

But five wasn’t good enough for him. In Belah House, there are 230 plants living in purpose-build planters through the foyer and main living room, essentially “turning the house into a giant planted box”. 

“We worked very closely with the asthma association,” he shared, and it informed such decisions as eliminating the property’s gas hookup and using a low VOC paint that actually absorb 14.2 kilograms of carbon per bucket of paint,” he said.

“We then painted the entire building and achieved [the equivalent of] 21 trees absorbing carbon for an entire year just from the paint that we used on the building.” 

Other features of the house include the use of Envisia concrete, which is a low-carbon, low-shrinkage, high-strength next-gen concrete product by Boral. Timber in many elements in the home – including the feature staircase – came from Parkside Timber, which uses selective harvesting allowing the forest to regenerate and remain healthy for the future.  

A recycled kitchen carcass showed how disused elements from other homes can be recycled into even high-spec builds, and massive rain-water tanks and a recycling system from the planter boxes help ensure that no drop of water on the property goes to waste. 

An 18kw solar system on the roof complements geothermal heating and cooling systems that keep the home so comfortable they barely need to use additional energy for temperature control. 

Of the geothermal system, Durie noted that the technology is hardly new – with home-sized systems having been available for decades – it’s just underutilised in Australia.  

“Why is it new language to us here in Australia? We call ourselves green, but actually we’re one of the dirtiest nations on the planet. And I say that with all honesty. This is a system that could be in every second home in Australia,” Durie said. 

The second season of Growing Home

Of course, Durie acknowledged that it’s a big leap of faith for Australians to approach their builds using technology that’s new, or not well understood, and that few have the finances to be able to experiment like he could. 

That’s why in season two of Growing Home, Durie will be spotlighting not one single mega-build, but several families embarking on a home build using innovative technologies to show how other Australians are future-proofing their homes. 

The focus will particularly be on modern methods of construction, such as pre-fabrication, off-site construction and 3D printing. 

Not to be left out, one of the builds will be for Durie and family – a property on their farm that he will attempt to 3D print in the space of a weekend. 

Another ambitious project, Durie admitted “I don’t do anything by halves”.

Are you interested in Australian home building? Check out our dedicated New Homes section

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A unique slice of coastal paradise should be a steal at no more than $38,500, but finalising a sale could prove more difficult than it seems.

The oceanfront block on South Australia’s Wedge Island has been on the market for the past month but, based on previous island property sales, could be without a new owner for another year, said selling agent Corey Carbone, of Harris Real Estate.

“It’s a weird one,’’ Mr Carbone said of the large 1351sqm allotment at Lot 91 The Lookout.

“At that price point, we are getting a lot of inquiries – I would say anywhere between five and 15 inquiries a week.

Wedge Island property, The Lookout, at Lot 91 has hit the market with a $35k to $38.5k asking price.

The property can only be accessed via boat or plane.

“But no one knows where Wedge Island is. They say, ‘Can I bring my caravan’ or ‘Can I bring my dogs’ – and the answer is always no, it’s an island, that’s not how this works.

“So while it’s appealing to think you can get a piece of island for next-to-nothing … the logistics can be scary.’’

The rugged and remote Wedge Island is the largest of the Gambier Islands, located near the entrance to Spencer Gulf, halfway between the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas.

Lot 91 is among 114 residential allotments on the 10sq km island but Mr Carbone said there was so far just eight homes.

Accessible only by boat or plane – with chartered flights from either Parafield or Port Lincoln costing about $1500 return – he said building a home required materials and trades to be brought to the island by barge.

But with no restrictions on the style of the home – provided it was off-grid and self-sufficient – or the time to complete the build, the new owner could relax and perhaps pitch a tent to camp on the block in the interim, Mr Carbone said.

He said while most dwellings on the island were holiday homes – with many available as short-term rentals – permanent residency on the island was a possibility, with Port Lincoln supermarkets able to facilitate grocery delivery.

Chartered flights leave from either Parafield or Port Lincoln and cost about $1500 return.

There are just eight homes on the island.

Mr Carbone said the island offered an idyllic lifestyle.

“There’s nothing like it. The fishing is amazing,’’ he said.

“It’s a little piece of paradise that not many people are really aware of and being cliffside (Lot 91) has phenomenal panoramic views and is only a short stroll to the beach.

“I would call it a bargain for (the listed price guide of) $35,000 (to $38,500) for a block on an island that you can just have all to yourself and is absolutely beautiful.

“And the logistics (of building) are not as bad as they look. It’s really a no-brainer.’’

There are currently four other land parcels listed on realestate.com.au for sale at Wedge Island, priced from $29,000 to $75,900.

– by Lauren Ahwan

Australian island properties

South Australia

Kangaroo Island and Hindmarsh Island south of Adelaide are becoming more popular among those looking to buy a home or holiday house but Wedge, Thistle and Boston islands between the Yorke and Eyre peninsulas are still relatively unpopulated.

From old beach shacks to modern holiday homes, they offer a wide range of properties for people seeking a sea change.

A three-bedroom residence on 4575sqm at Thistle Island is listed for sale with a $1.39m price guide.

Meanwhile, 6000sqm of residential land at Spilsby Island – also between the Yorke and Eyre peninsulas – sold last year for just $70,000.

The Thistle Island property a Lot 30 Whalers Drive is just one of the island’s properties on the market.

Is has epic views of the water.

New South Wales

Properties at Scotland Island on Pittwater in Sydney’s north are some of the most sought after as the picturesque spot offers a one-of a-kind lifestyle and ‘some of the cheapest waterfront homes’ in the city.

The island, which is around 1km in diameter, can only be accessed by boat.

While it offers more modest properties, it is also known for its mansions, including one on the market at 103 Florence Tce.

Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally bought a waterfront home on Scotland Island in 2017, while billionaire tech guru Mike Cannon-Brookes also owns a holiday home nearby.

Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes was rumoured to have purchased a property on the island for $8m in 2021, while Australian politician Kristina Keneally bought a waterfront home in 2017.

The Scotland Island mansion at 103 Florence Tce is a standout property.

The island is on Pittwater in Sydney’s north.

Atlassian chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

Queensland

It’s not just island properties you can get across Queensland – here you can own an entire island.

Recently a deserted island with a derelict resort abandoned by its Chinese investor owner hit the market after years of mystery over its future.

The 28ha South Molle Island is the second derelict resort island in the Whitsundays to hit the market in the past few months, after the Queensland government seized Double Island for re-sale off Hong Kong billionaire Benny Wu in June last year.

Another, Keswick Island, which is part of the Whitsundays off the coast of Mackay also hit the market a few months ago as a pre-approved development site.

It features 117ha of land lease and 25ha of marine lease, along with ownership of the island’s ferry and barge.

South Molle Island in the Whitsundays.

Keswick Island is also part of the Whitsundays.

The post Remote property on SA’s Wedge Island selling for a steal – but there’s a catch appeared first on realestate.com.au.

The Summer I Turned Pretty has made its highly anticipated return to the small screen, taking viewers back to the fictional town of Cousins Beach – and the dreamy beach house at the centre of the drama.

But despite idyllic scenes of barbecues on the sand and cocktails in front of the pool, the dwelling used for filming doesn’t actually sit on a beach.

Located on a golf course inside an exclusive gated community called Porters Neck Plantation, the home was chosen for its mix of Cape Cod-charm and Hamptons chic.

But the perfect summer home does exist – we’ve found six of the best luxe beachside homes on the market across Australia.

Hamptons on the beach

It doesn’t get better than this – a sprawling 664sqm parcel of Hamptons-style luxury right on the shores of Sapphire Beach.

The beachfront home is one of only a handful of homes along the exclusive seaside enclave, with over 15 metres of uninterrupted beach frontage.

The four bedroom home is an entertainer’s dream, with a media room, gym or yoga space, and a wine cellar just minutes from Coffs Harbour’s city centre.

Expressions of interest close on 4 September, with a price guide of $4 million.

Brand new coastal marvel with panoramic ocean views

Perfectly positioned to capture endless views Moreton Island, this architecturally designed coastal marvel is the ultimate coastal haven.

Set on a 997sqm landholding, the striking home has a 25m frontage to take in the ocean views.

Located in the Queensland coastal town of Point Lookout, the four bedroom, three bathroom abode includes an upstairs parents retreat with an ensuite, bar area and an outdoor spa.

Highlights of the interior include spotted gum flooring, VJ panelling, high ceilings with skylights, an internal lift and a stone fireplace.

Outside, there is a saltwater pool with built-in seating to take in the panoramic ocean views

The home is on the market via a ‘Best Offers’ campaign closing September 23.

Hampton’s stunner a first for its locale

With its listing describing this five bedroom residence as “a masterpiece of coastal luxury,’ this picture-perfect residence in the NSW town of Lake Cathie is the ultimate beachside abode.

Located at 25 Marine Parade, Lake Cathie, the two level home features all the hallmarks of Hampton’s style including Blackbutt timber flooring, wainscot panelling, plantation shutters and a neutral colour scheme.

Sales agent Rosie Model from Lifestyle Camden Haven said the 2019 built home was one of the first Hampton’s style homes to be built in Lake Cathie.

She said in the few days since it has been listed for sale, it has garnered strong interest and she expected it to appeal to a range of buyers.

“Maybe a family moving to the area, or even maybe a local family,” she said.

“It does lend itself to someone who is of age, because it has the main bedroom and everything else downstairs, so they don’t really have to go upstairs for anything.”

Set on a 500sqm block in close proximity to a beachside access path, the home itself features 400sqm of living space.

An upstairs kids’ retreat, a laundry chute from the main bathroom upstairs, a rooftop terrace, an outdoor kitchen with stone benchtops, a fridge and pizza oven, and a 6.5m in-ground heated pool are among the property’s long list of highlights.

The home is set for auction September 20.

Elegant homestead the ultimate in Hampton’s design

With its breathtaking Hamptons inspired interior, a unique floorplan and private homestead ambience, this bayside abode is attracting keen buyer interest.

“It’s a very private estate. It’s a large landholding in Burraneer, so it’s sitting on 1970sqm,” said sales agent Matthew Johnston from MattBlak Property Cronulla.

“It’s north facing at the rear. But what I find is, as you’re driving in it’s got the big U-shape. You feel like you’re coming into a regional, rural area.”

The six bedroom, five bathroom residence at 260 Woolooware Road, Burraneer, is being sold via an Expressions of Interest campaign.

The home’s elegant and refined style combines grand proportions, and resort style outdoor living with a seamless indoor-outdoor connection, where an in-ground swimming pool is accompanied by a poolside cabana.

Inside, the main living has a gas fireplace, feature raked ceilings and multiple streams of windows bring in natural light.

The residence’s single level layout has been a popular buyer drawcard, Mr Johnston said.

“A lot of the high-end waterfront properties on the peninsula here are quite steep, multi-level down to the water,” he said.

“So we’ve got a bit of interest from the downsizer market, who are not quite ready to go to the luxury apartments or a duplex but still want that nice house, but on a single level.”

Located within walking distance to the Royal Motor Yacht Club, cafes and schools, Mr Johnston said the home was also a five minute drive to Cronulla.

“You’re not in the hustle and bustle of the hub of Cronulla but you can still drive into Cronulla easily,” he said.

Showstopper sanctuary

Aptly described as “A new benchmark in coastal luxury,” this Barwon Heads residence comes with a price guide of $4 million to $4.4 million.

Located at 6 Jasper Avenue, Barwon Heads, the two-level coastal home features an eye-catching curved elevation.

Its sprawling floorplan includes five bedrooms and three bathrooms, bespoke finishes, a west-facing balcony with pool views, motorised blinds and a choice of an upstairs or downstairs main bedroom.

The Expressions of Interest campaign closes October 14.

Beachside bliss

Situated less than 300 metres to Shelly Beach, this five bedroom, three bathroom residence is the ultimate luxury beachside haven.

Sales agent Paul Witney from Ray White Bateau Bay said the unique property combined luxury, functionality of design and outstanding finishes.

“Being so close to the beach and the golf course, it’s certainly a lifestyle location,” he said.

Priced at $3.1 million, 31 Waterview Street, Shelly Beach includes a long list of impressive features such as soaring ceilings, an extensive use of glass, four bedrooms, Snowy River gum hardwood flooring and a private entertaining deck.

There is also a fully self-contained secondary dwelling that has its own street front access, entertaining area and courtyard, and a single car garage.

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