The Bassike fashion designer Deborah Sams and her husband Toby have upgraded homes in Avalon.

The couple have settled on Leontine, the grand 1930s California-style hacienda modelled in the Spanish Colonial tradition. It cost $4.73 million through LJ Hooker agent David Watson.

The 1630 sqm estate has been recently restored with a five bedroom home along with a wet-deck heated pool.

They sold their redundant Whale Beach Road designer digs after dropping the price to $2.2 million having initially sought $2.5 million to $2.75 million for the 2011 Kelvin Ho-designed home.

The couple’s Blueys Beach holiday home is under construction having bought a beachfront block two year ago for $975,000.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

More than $2.9 million is being sought by the former General Manager of Rheem, Phil Whitburn, and his wife Heather in Kirribilli.

Their first floor waterfront apartment faces north over Careening Cove.

One of six, the apartment has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

There’s a communal pool and barbecue area.

The property goes to auction on July 29.

The former newsreader Helen Kapalos sold her "Offspring style" Collingwood factory conversion apartment at weekend auction.

Set in the sought after Foy & Gibson precinct, Kapalos’s two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, along with two car spaces, fetched $1.3 million.

The initial price guidance was between $980,000 to $1,078,000, but the guide for the two level apartment was raised to $1,095,000 to $1,204,5000 during the marketing after strong interest.

Abercromby's agents Sam Goddard sold the apartment to a couple in their 60s from regional Victoria who will use it as a city base, the Herald Sun reported.

The lower level features an open plan living, dining and kitchen area.

Its master retreat with ensuite sits on the upper level.

Kapalos paid $755,000 for the apartment in 2012 in the Bohemia block, just before her contract wasn't renewed by Network Ten who were cutting costs in the news room.

In 2013 Kapalos began presenting Today Tonight on the Seven Network but Kapalos then left commercial TV to direct documentaries.

The former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating has popped another apartment into his property portfolio.

It is a one bedroom 65 sq m unit in the patch he knows best, Elizabeth Bay. He has implemented a visionary approach to family estate financial planning through residential property investment ts.

This one, which is on Billyard Avenue, cost $1,625,000.

It is set in an block of 11, across the road from the famous Fox family trophy home Boomerang.

Keating has been an owner in Elizabeth Bay for more than decades.

He paid $225,000 for a terrace house in the neighbourhood in 1983.

He was briefly Woollahra based after paying $2.2 million for the historic St Kevins in 1994 when he was Prime Minister.

Keating, who led the Labor Party from 1991 to 1996, was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia having first served as Minister for Northern Australia in the Whitlam government.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

Sydney's high profile retired TV executive, David Leckie and his charity cheerleader wife, Skye, have finally sold their Centennial Park home, Lactura

Whispers are their patience yielded a $10 million plus buyer, which was an impressive price given eleventh hour competitive interest.

The grand two storey Lang Road home hosted many private soirees during their near two decade ownership.

They had paid $2.5 million in 1998 when David was chief executive of the Nine Network under Kerry Packer.

The 1910 residence has five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a grand formal lounge and dining room with marble fireplaces. 

The Will Dangar designed gardens surround the Hamptons style outdoor entertaining area which features a heated pool.

There is a pool house with guest studio and tiered TV room where Beckie was able to watch the evening news and sports from when he ruled the network, at Nine and then Channel 7.

Earlier this year Boy George rented the home while he was a judge on The Voice Australia for around $27,500 plus a month.

Ben Collier at The Agency sold the home after near neighbour, estate agent Bob Guth introduced the eventual underbidder.

It missed out on the suburb record set by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie two years ago some eight doors away. They paid $12 million for the 1918 trophy home Braelin.

The Beckie's initially thought on downsizing to a harbourside apartment, but instead paid $9 million for a house in Woollahra.

They also spent $1.2 million, on a two bedroom apartment for their son, Harry around the corner.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Amelia Mather, creative director at Tigerlily swimwear company, has listed her Alexandria home.

Amelia and husband Thomas completely rebuilt the one bedroom Victorian workers' cottage from top to bottom after paying $970,000 in 2015.

The home now has three bedrooms and two bathrooms and is kitted out with Amelia's furnishings inspired from all areas of the world.

Brad Gillespie at The Agency has a guide of $1.6 million for its August 12 auction.

Amelia began her career at rival company Seafolly before joining Tigerlily in 2004.

It was founded by Jodhi Meares in 2000 who sold the company to Billabong for $5.8 million in 2007.

Earlier this year Tigerlily was sold by Billabong for $60 million to Crest Capital.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

The former Federal Minster Ian Macfarlane has bought an apartment on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

He has paid a savvy $1.25 million for an apartment in the Jedda complex which overlooks Mooloolaba Beach.

The apartment last traded for $1.25 million in 2006 and then was completely refurbished three years ago.

Villa Prestige Property agent Linda Shore-Perez was asking $1.5 million for the apartment that had been on the market for nearly 200 days.

Set on the top floor, the unit has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a private rooftop with jacuzzi.

There are views to the Point Cartwright lighthouse and Old Women Island.

The Mount Lofty-based Macfarlane represented the Groom electorate for 18 years before retiring last year, then becoming the chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian Mansion Australia section.

Aussie singer songwriter Xavier Rudd has repriced his northern NSW retreat, dropping the price over recent weeks.

The popular songwriter, who is currently touring the USA and Canada, was asking $2,695,000 for his New Brighton home in the Northern Rivers region.

It was knocked down to $2.5 million, then to $2.39 million, with Katrina Beohm at Katrina Beohm Real Estate taking over the listing.

Rudd paid $722,500 for the land in 2012 before engaging Chris Walker Constructions to build the 220 sqm home on the banks of Marshall's Creek.

Built with a mix of native timbers and stone and designed to create a connection with nature, the homes oversized sliding glass doors open to a large deck that offers creek views.

The stylish home of course comes with a soundproofed recording studio with acoustic insulation.

Rudd has shared the four bedroom home with new wife, holistic wellness trainer Ashley Freeman. They wed in late 2016 in a Byron Bay Australian Aboriginal Ceremony.

Born near Torquay in Victoria, Rudd, who is described as an Australian surf/roots musician on his website, has released eight studio albums and has just completed his tour across 13 countries in Europe.

He began in Copenhagen in Denmark and finished in Madrid in Spain.

Rudd has always had a love for the Northern Rivers region.

He previously co-owned a home with now ex-wife, artist Marci Lutken-Rudd, in Burringbar before selling in 2007 for $850,000. They paid $595,000 in 2004.

Rudd also had a 20 hectare parcel in Wilsons Creek in the same region. He sold for $785,000, having paid $820,000 a year earlier.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

Wine producer Robert Channon and wife Peggy are selling The Granite Belt, their Queensland vineyard and home.

It was the late 1990s that the couple planted the vineyards before building the winery in 2001 out of Gymie Blocks sandstone.

The nationally recognised vineyard and wine business was the first in Queensland to receive five stars from James Halliday.

The 130 hectare estate across two titles has a main six bedroom homestead and a low set brick veneer home built in the 1970s with three bedrooms and one bathroom.

There's a floodlit tennis court, oak paddock with trees inoculated for truffles, five dams, six paddocks and a number of cattle yards.

The 100 toone capacity winery is fully equipped with crusher, press, tanks and a cold room with a separate wine storage shed which converts into the concert hall Swigmore Hall.

Also on the property is the 2008 built Singing Lake Cafe built which is leased at $150 a week.

Robert Channon Wines can be bought as a separate entity at $1.95 million or $3.85 million for both lots.

David Schnitzerling & Co Stanthorpe agents Anne Lindsay and David Schnitzerling are marketing the property.

Hotelier Justin Hemmes wants to have more sunlight in his heritage harbourside Vaucluse home, The Hermitage.

The Hermitage, one of the earliest mansions in Sydney's east, is of the Victorian Rustic Gothic style, built in an era when the curtains were drawn.

The latest proposal by architects Hess Hoen for Hemmes is for a $260,0000 sunroom pavilion designed to be sympathetic to the overall style of the home which for many decades made do with an enclosed verandah space.

The 35 sq m space "enables the sunroom extension to be read as a separate pavilion in the garden," the recent application to Woollahra Council advises. 

Since taking ownership in 1975, the Hemmes’ family have not made any major changes, their impact mainly consisting of the re-decoration of interior spaces.

It was in 2011 when Justin Hemmes, the chief executive officer of the Merivale hospitality group, moved back into his family home, where he had previously lived with his parents, Merivale and the late John Hemmes, and his sister Bettina.

In 2012 there were some $750,000 in renovations with Hemmes telling Vogue he favoured a relaxed, individual approach.

Hemmes’ overall vision was to preserve the building’s integrity but begin to open it up to allow light and an organic flow through the 7000-square-metre space.

“A home is a very personal thing; it should be a reflection of how you like to live and what makes you feel comfortable,” he said.

“It’s not a project that has to excite; 
it’s about finding your own relaxation and pleasure.”

The Hermitage is a very significant property known for its association with some of Sydney's most influential retailing dynasties including the colonial jeweller Alexander Dick, the McCathie haberdashery family, Victor Boyce of Palm Island Fashions, Theo Kelly of Woolworths and most recently, the Hemmes family of Merivale and Mr John fame.

The house, now set on 4978 sq m, was almost destroyed by fire in 1936, iignited by embers from an attempted back burn in the nearby gully area on the Hermitage Reserve.

Almost all of it was rebuilt in 1937, with architect Emil Sodersteen’s careful attention to detailing ensuring that the replacement "only evident on the closest inspection."

The main house was constructed of solid sandstone blocks with a terracotta Marseilles pattern tiled roof. Its 1965 wing is clad in sandstone veneer and has matching green terracotta tiles.

The interior of the main house is dominated by the imposing cedar-paneled entrance hall and main stair with a gallery extending around the hall at the upper level.

"This baronial quality is carried through into what was once the billiard room and is now the main family living room and then into the formal dining room," the heritage report noted.

"One of the most notable characteristics of the house is that although it has undergone so many layers of change it still ‘reads’ as a substantially intact yet distinctively personal family home," it noted.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

Mooloolaba-based Jetts Fitness co-founder Brendon Levenson has paid $4,975,000 for a Sunshine Beach home.

The Tim Ditchfield designed home has six bedrooms and five bathrooms.

The outdoor entertaining area features a covered terrace, an outdoor kitchen, grassed yard with cubby house and a solar heated swimming pool with water feature.

Century 21 Conolly Hay Group Mike Hay sold the home after 180 days.

Levenson, who sold the business last year, started Jetts in 2007 after qualifying as a personal trainer and opening a gym on the Sunshine Coast with his wife Cristy.

There are now over 250 locations across Australia and New Zealand.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian Mansion Australia section.

Dreamworld co-founder John Longhurst has pocketed a $5 million windfall on his vacant Mermaid Beach land parcel. But its taken nearly three decades of ownership.

It was 1989 when Longhurst paid $1,020,000 for the 607 sqm Hedges Avenue block.

Longhurst, who resides at Hope Island, has now flipped it for some $6.2 million off market to local entrepreneur Michael Brosnan who's quickly moved to install a seawall.

Longhurst, considered one of the Gold Coast's most successful businessman,sold Dreamworld in 1989 for $180 million.

In 2013 he sold his remaining share of the Gold Coast shopping centre Logan Hyperdome for $350 million.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian Mansions Australia section.

The US based Altium chief executive Aram Mirkazemi has listed his redundant Clontarf home. 

Set on 700 sqm, the home on the Gordon Street dress circle has views over Sandy Bay to the Spit. 

There are four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a media room and a cabana that opens to a poolside terrace.

Mirkazemi paid $2.9 million in 2009.

Clarke & Humel agents Kingsley Looker and Michael Clarke have the listing with expectations of between $3.7 million and $4 million.

Aram Mirkazemi heads up Altium, a $1 billion ASX-listed company that specialises in printed circuit board design software.

The company, whose stock has soared almost 6000 percent in the last five years, has been noticed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

Mikrazmi arrived in Australia as an 18 year old refugee from Iran over 30 years ago and didn't know a word of English.

This article first appeared in The Sunday Telegraph.

Investment banker Paul Espie and librarian wife Ros have finally sold Craboon, their 1920s Palm weekender.

The stone cottage with Howard Tanner extension was first listed in 2015 with $6.5 million plus hopes.

The weekender sits on the Pacific Road dress circle which triggered his naming his advisory company, Pacific Road Capital.

The Tanner designed family pavilion with three bedrooms is linked by a covered walkway to the renovated sandstone cottage that has a master suite and a study.

LJ Hooker Avalon Beach agent David Mackay sold the home.

The Darling Point based couple are spending more time in the Hunter where they bought a grazing property in Dungog in 2012.

This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.

A restored Cobbitty cottage featured on the popular Selling Houses Australia TV show was one of the best renovation sale outcomes on the recent series. 

The Foxtel Lifestyle team are now looking for another 13 fixer-uppers with one already earmarked for Campwin Beach in Mackay, Queensland.

The restored Cobbitty cottage featured in the recent season of Selling Houses Australia sold quickly after its renovation.

Vendor Maree Kovac enlisted the help of the Selling Houses team after not getting the price she wanted for the home when she listed it for five months last year.

Kovac was asking $778,000 to $865,000 for the unrenovated home that she bought for $349,500 in 2002.

The inspectees at the mid-2016 open for inspections were advised to come back once the renovation of the three bedroom home was undertaken by property expert Andrew Winter, the landscaper Charlie Albone and interior designer Shaynna Blaze.

A rotting veranda had wrapped the dilapidated 1880s cottage that once stood alone overlooking the rolling hills of the Macarthur region.

Seriously deteriorated, the front of the home was completely overgrown.

Albone's work saw him remove the rotting veranda and reconstruct a new one using Cyprus pine.

The home was painted from its baby blue to a grey and a bright red front door.

Blaze, who focuses on the interior, added polypropylene plastic tiles, adding 'Alice in Wonderland' style flooring to the kitchen which featured a new wooden bench top and sink.

The rooms were dressed in a French Provincial style, adding additional character and charm.

United Acreage Tanya Novek sold the three bedroom, two bathroom home 'immediately' after the renovation for $835,000.

The popular Foxtel Lifestyle show, which dispenses advice on the property's sellability, has regularly won ASTRA Awards for Most Outstanding Lifestyle Program and Viewer's Favourite Program, as well as often being the highest rated Lifestyle Channel series.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

Whispers around the neighbourhood suggest fashionista Nick Kelly, co-founder of Industrie clothing, has bought the Centennial Park home of TV veteran David Leckie and wife Skye.

The media power couple sold the home, known as Lactura, for in excess of $10 million earlier this week.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Kelly, who is dating Channel 7 host Madeleine Kennard, will emerge as the mystery buyer.

He had been Vaucluse based where his estranged wife and former business partner Susan Kelly remains in residence.

She is understood to still be living in their $19 million Graham Jahn-designed waterfront on the exclusive Kutti Beach.

The Leckie's had owned Lactura for 19 years, paying $2.5 million in 1998.

Set on the Lang Road dress circle, the grand two storey home hosted many private soirees during their near two decade ownership.

The 1910 residence has five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a grand formal lounge and dining room with marble fireplaces.

The Will Dangar designed gardens surround the Hamptons style outdoor entertaining area which features a heated pool.

There is a pool house with guest studio and tiered TV room where Beckie was able to watch the evening news and sports from when he ruled the network, at Nine and then Channel 7.

Earlier this year Boy George rented the home while he was a judge on The Voice Australia for around $27,500 plus a month.

Ben Collier at The Agency sold the home to Kelly, who was waiting in the wings, after near neighbour, estate agent Bob Guth introduced the eventual underbidder who was hours from exchanging the sale.

The Leckie's are now Woollahra based having spent $9 million off-market mid last year.

The Kelly purchase marks a return to the south of Oxford Street precinct.

The Kelly owned a paddington double terrace on Stewart Street which was caught up in the landmark court case when actor Toni Collette decided to to proceed with her $6.35 million purchase in 2011.

Former Brisbane Lion triple premiership captain Michael Voss and wife Donna are continuing to offload their Brisbane property portfolio having moved to Adelaide.

Earlier this year they sold Nu Haven, their five bedroom Coorparoo home for $2,578,000.

The couple paid $2.55 million for the family entertainer when Voss took over as head coach at the Lions in 2009.

The next on the chopping block is a land parcel in Mount Gravatt East, 12 kilometres south east of the Brisbane CBD.

Voss paid $235,00 in 2002 for the 1138 sqm sub divisible land parcel on the hilltop of Panorama Place, nearby one of his earlier homes.

Ray White Holland Park agents Piers Crawford and Joseph Leong have set an August 19 auction.

Voss, the 1996 Brownlow Medal winner, had a disappointing four years at the helm of Brisbane, then returning to AFL coaching as Port Adelaide's midfield manager. 

He now lives in Glenelg.

This article first appeared in the Weekend Australian Mansions Australia section.

The Bank of Scotland CIO Patrick Eltridge has sold his designer beach home in Clovelly which was listed with $6 million hopes.

The home of the former Telstra chief investment officer and his wife Julie featured on Grand Designs Australia in 2012.

It was an ambitious own-build using prefab components.

The challenging logistics involved in transporting four 17-tonne modules from Melbourne to Sydney and craning them into place.

They paid $1,635,000 for the old fibro cottage on a whim back in 2005.They didn't begin building until four years later, then within six months the home was built, but not on site.

The home was designed in four modules by architect Pleaser Perkins.

Now set within gardens by Secret Gardens, the challenge was to make it not look prefab, Julie Eldridge advised on the show.

The pods once lifted into position created an uber modern, two storey residence.

Clad in zinc and timber, the customised home has four bedrooms, a home office, suspended fireplace and a wine cellar.

An outdoor terrace and pool on the 600 sqm look out to the ocean.

Belle Property Bondi Junction agent Daniel Gillespie sold the home well before its mid August auction. 

Local whispers suggests it sold to the formerly Coogee based luxury car dealer Steve Nasteski, who was after a stop-gap home having recently sold his apartment in the new Bondi Pacific building to Ginia Rinehart, the daughter of mining magnate Gina Rinehart.  

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

The Woollahra home of Phoebe Kyriakou, ex-wife of the Monaco-based Australian mining magnate Chris Kyriakou, has been listed with $10 million plus hopes.

Eleuthera last traded at $7.9 million in 2011 when the Rosemont Avenue home was bought from publican Peter Ryan and wife Toni.

The one time film producer Phoebe remained in residence of the home while Chris stayed in Monaco, heading up the Cayman Islands based Natasa Mining.

Set on 570 sqm, the home has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. 

Chris Kyriakou, the longtime mining magnate known as “The Golden Greek”, first made headlines in the financial page gossip columns back in the highflying late 1980s. 

His last big splash was when the couple celebrated their birthdays together with a six-day, $1 million party on Christina Onassis’s yacht off Monaco - his 60th and her 40th some six years ago.

He recently sold Bowral's iconic 1888 Grand Arcade for $10 million, doubling his money having paid $4.75 million in 1999.

Their glamorous Southern Highlands farm, also known as Eleuthera, sold in 2015 for $4.25 million. They married at the Ellesmere Road property in 2000. 

They'd previously been renting Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull's Point Piper investment mansion.

His address in Monaco has been the prestigious Seaside Plaza on the Avenue des Ligures.  

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

The Queensland investment property of Cantebury Bulldogs rising star Moses Mbye is under offer.

The Tewantin home, the Noosa suburb where Mbye grew up, came with a $450,000 price guide, unchanged despite sitting on the market since February.

The 23 year-old paid $395,000 for the three bedroom home in 2014.

Fiona Winter Realty agent Fiona Winter advertised the home as a great opportunity for investors

It came tenanted.

Mbye has been at the Bulldogs since 2014 and has made 72 appearances in the blue and white.

Last year he signed a four year deal worth $3 million, the richest contract for a rookie in NRL history.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.