The Sell: Sunrise sports presenter Mark Beretta moves into new home after marriage ends
A month after announcing he had separated from his wife of 22 years, Sunrise sports presenter Mark Berretta has moved into a swanky Mosman apartment.
NSW
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Channel 7 Sunrise sports presenter Mark Beretta has stayed in the Mosman neighbourhood after he and estranged wife Rachel pocketed $13m for their matrimonial home earlier this year.
But Beretta, who announced the separation last month, has only taken a rental despite the windfall gain.
Beretta’s new home base is a two-bedroom apartment close to the South Mosman Wharf.
The 11th-floor late-1960s apartment, which takes in views over the bay towards the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from Curraghbeena Point, was advertised as a $1375-a-week rental.
It was down from the $1550 a week advertised a few months earlier.
The rental last sold for $1.6m in 2012.
There was a two-bedroom sale in the block in May for $3.75m, with prices peaking at $6.6m for a four-bedroom apartment in 2018.
Beretta’s estranged wife Rachel has moved to St Leonards, into a two-bedroom in the St Leonards Square building.
It had been advertised at $1270 a week, well up from the $960-a-week asking rental of 12 months ago.
The 83 sqm unit sold off the plan for $1,715,000 in 2017, two years before its 2019 completion.
The couple, who have two children, had been married for 22 years before announcing their split, which took place at the start of the year. They met in 1999.
They had been in Mosman since 2005. They sold their Elfrida St home in 2011 for $1.9m. The next property they bought was a Federation home on Lennox St for $2.8m, which was sold for $5.4m in 2016.
They then spent $6,025,000 building a five-bedroom Matt Gibson Architecture-designed Mandolong Rd home, which featured a pool, outdoor spa and a Swedish sauna.
It sold for $13m, but not before its asking price was slashed by $1.75m after 66 days on market.
PRICE OF CRICKET CHAMP’S BRONTE RENO BOWLED OVER
Cricket champion Steve Smith and his wife Dani Willis have dropped their price expectations for their Bronte house listing.
They have twice scrapped their scheduled auction date and its initial $7m-plus price guide has been replaced with $6.5m private treaty price guidance.
Tanya Hatton and Frank Colacicco, of Bentley, still hold the listing for the Gordon Pl abode with its striking Dulux Vivid White painted exterior.
Smith paid $3.5m in 2019 for the single-level Californian bungalow with three bedrooms.
It has since been gutted and extended into a two-level house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an open-plan living area overlooking its pool and cabana.
Their development application put its cost estimate at $495,000, according to documents submitted to Waverley Council by Daniel Sutton at Precision Planning.
The application sought to increase its 88sqm floor space to 103sqm on the ground floor and 62sqm upstairs.
In July last year, the Smiths sold their Vaucluse mansion for $12.38m, almost double the $6.6m they had paid in 2020.
They had transformed the Kings Rd property home into a luxurious four-bedroom, three-bathroom residence by McKim Design.
Smith has long maintained a side-hustle in renovating property.
He retains two renovated investments on the Balmain peninsula as well as other coastal eastern suburbs investments.
BICKMORE LISTS BYRON INVESTMENT
Former The Project presenter Carrie Bickmore has listed her five-bedroom, three-bathroom Byron Bay investment property, which has been a popular $1350-a-night rental.
Its listing comes 11 months after the announcement of her separation from husband Chris Walker.
The 1920s Massinger St home comes with a $4.7m to $5.1m guide.
It became an Airbnb rental after her corporate entity Bickmore Media Pty Ltd bought the then renovated home, with separate one bedroom studio for $3m in early 2018 – when marketed as “a very special property perfect for a family or investor seeking an exceptional rental return”.
For $100,000 in building works, Bickmore added a pool deck to its 9m pool and spa in its 939sqm tropical grounds, which are set in the much sought-after old part of town.
The property was initially getting up to $1200 a night as an Airbnb rental.
Then, in the early stages of the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, the property sat amid the surge in empty Airbnbs returning to traditional tenancy arrangements.
The Melbourne-based landlord sought full-time tenants at $2200 a week.
By early 2021 it was back as a $1180 a night, known as Costa Rica in Byron.
Her desire for short-term tenants attracted local social media criticism the likes of “people like this have destroyed so many neighbourhoods for their own selfish gain”.
There have been short-term rental accommodation rules for Byron Shire since January last year that see non-hosted rentals restricted to not more than 180 days of lettings a year. The cap is set to be tightened to 60 days in some precincts ahead of the 2024–2025 summer.
There is no limit for hosted rentals.
With noise levels a serious issue in the town, the house comes with a no-party policy for its three-night minimum stays, with no additional guests allowed to visit at any time and no music or outdoor entertaining after 10pm. No groups under 28 years old are permitted.
HILLSONG DUO LISTS BIRCHGROVE PROJECT
Grammy-award winning songwriter and worship leader Brooke Ligertwood and her husband Scott have listed their recently completed Birchgrove residential project, having bought in the Hills.
They paid $3.42m for a five-bedroom home on 2ha at Glenhaven, with a pool and indoor squash court.
The Hillsong couple has listed the Church St, Birchgrove offering with $2.75m hopes at its December 9 auction.
It comes after completing a full renovation of an original 1890s cottage they bought for $1,425,000 in 2017.
They first renovated the home after the purchase, putting it up for lease in 2018, before they had design house Kinwolf undertake a full transformation.
The home now has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, large arched windows, and a concrete-detailed garden with an integrated barbecue kitchen and drinks fridge.
The Ligertwoods and fellow Hillsong songwriter Aodhan King retained their Birchgrove project on Grove St, which cost $2.635m last December.
Ligertwood, the daughter of former All Black Bernie Fraser, was a co-writer of What A Beautiful Name, which won the Grammy in 2018 for the best contemporary Christian music song.
She sings with the band Hillsong Worship that was formed at the Baulkham Hills-based Hillsong church.
The Ligertwoods, who married in 2008, will be near neighbours at Glehaven with former tennis champion Lleyton Hewitt and his actor wife Bec, who recently purchased a record-setting estate for $10.3m from retired Parramatta Eels great Nathan Hindmarsh and his interior designer wife Bonnie Hindmarsh.
It marks a return for the former Home and Away star Bec, who hails from nearby Kenthurst, where they sold in 2016 to move to Melbourne.
WHY YOU CAN’T PASS THIS VISTA
A Bella Vista residence that has undergone a striking renovation has been listed for December 3 auction by Maggie Marks, director of first impressions at nearby Woolworths headquarters.
Backing on to the village green, the four-bedroom two-bathroom Ripley Glade house dates back to 1990.
But it now comes with its distinct style installed by Marks’ so Nathan Roussos, of Fandr Constructions.
Set on 371 sqm, the modernised two-storey residence features engineered timber flooring, concealed skylights, Lope in-built gas fireplace and garaging for two off its white crushed rock driveway.
“I love the transformation from Federation to Country Hamptons,” Marks said.
“My son has done an absolutely amazing job. I didn’t realise I was going to sell either until about six weeks ago.
“It will be sad to leave, it has been our family home for 24 years,” Marks said.
She added that the buyers would enjoy all the acres of the village green but “not have to look after it”.
It comes with $2.5m to $2.75m guidance through McGrath agent Ben Davenport. It attracted 3498 page views on realestate.com.au during its first week on market.
The Bella Vista median four-bedroom price sits at $1.965m after 30 sales in the past year.
CAM-DO BLOCK HOST IN SELL-OFF
The Block host Scott Cam is selling up with Derowen, his 720ha Barigan cattle farm fetching $3.1m mid-week, through First National Mudgee agent Peter Druitt.
The Vaucluse-based celebrity carpenter paid $1.35m for the property in 2016.
Cam also is selling the house he transformed in last year’s The Block season at Gisborne, in regional Victoria, with a $4.1m to $4.3m guide.
BUCKLE UP FOR A LUXE LIFESTYLE
Alvia Buckle, the widow of car dealership scion Bill Buckle has listed Braeside, their long-held Church Point trophy home.
Noel Nicholson, of Ray White, is marketing the five-bedroom Pittwater Rd abode, offering a $6.5m price guide, given its sweeping views of Pittwater.
Set on a 1409 sqm parcel, the three-level home comes with boatshed. The house features a lift.
The Buckles bought for $1.25m in 1997.
WHO LANDED $4.5M MARRICKVILLE BEAUTY?
The buyers of the record $4.5m Marrickville sale have emerged as David Knights and Alexa McAuley, who head Civille, a green infrastructure and landscaping design consultancy.
The riverside Thornley St sale bettered the $4,375,000 Livingstone Rd record last year.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom 2015-built house is set on 809sqM, and comes with a pizza oven amid its garden.
Got a property news tip? Email jonathan.chancellor@news.com.au
Originally published as The Sell: Sunrise sports presenter Mark Beretta moves into new home after marriage ends
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