Toni and Michael Bache are selling one of two homes they built in Koala Park after buying an original 1960s beach shack right next door. Picture: Richard Gosling
Gold Coast couple Toni and Michael Bache are selling their luxury home, after buying the original beach shack next door they had dreamed of owning for close to 20 years.
The Baches, both 41-year-old business strategists, bought the 1960s Burleigh Heads bungalow on a 632sqm lot for $2m in December 2022. It was a deceased estate held by the same family for 60 years.
The couple had planned to sit on their assets for 2-5 years, but knew the chance to snap up the neighbour’s shack would only come once.
The couple turned a pair of old duplexes into two luxury freestanding houses. Picture: Richard Gosling
They are seasoned renovators. Picture: Richard Gosling
“We consider ourselves flippers, so of course we take into account what the market is doing, but we have a hold strategy because it limits our risk and long-term, real estate always goes up,” Ms Bache said.
“But sometimes, you don’t have the luxury to sit around and predict what the market will do. When the block you’ve dreamed of owning for 17 years comes on the market for the first time ever, you take that risk.”
The Baches bought their first property in 2005, a duplex for $302,500, followed by the adjoining townhouse for $410,000 two years later. They built two freestanding houses on the site in 2020, one of which sold for $1.75m in 2021, while the other is the home currently on the market.
2/1 Guyra Ave, Burleigh Heads.
The home goes under the hammer on May 20
“The GFC hit right after we bought the block and for a long time those homes stayed at exactly the same worth, and then the market turned around in the last 5 years and prices were booming,” Ms Bache said.
Their four-bedroom, three-bathroom Guyra Ave property is marketed by Troy Fitzgerald, of Ray White Burleigh Group, and goes under the hammer on May 20.
Features of the Qld Master Builders award-winning house include light-filled open living spaces with high-quality finishes including European Oak flooring, bespoke lighting and VJ panelling.
Luxury coastal style
The three-storey home has four bedrooms and three bathrooms
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There’s an alfresco deck with built-in barbecue and drinks fridge, and an outdoor shower for rinsing off after a dip in nearby Tallebudgera Creek.
While no expense on the three-storey design, the Baches knew it wasn’t their forever home. Negotiating stairs wasn’t ideal for Ms Bache, who suffered back pain from a previous fall, plus they wanted space to add a separate home office.
“We considered keeping the house as a holiday or long-term rental, but being a luxury high-end property we built as our own dream home, it’s a hard one, emotionally, for us to rent out.”
The bungalow next door
The Baches are planning a mid-century style renovation
They dipped into investment shares to fund their purchase of the block next door at auction.
“The reality was, we had those shares as a retirement investment, so now we’ll have to re-save for that, and this property still needs renovation,” she said.
PropTrack data shows house prices in Burleigh Heads were up 3.8 per cent over the past 12 months, to a median of $1.4m.
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