Australia’s favourite real estate makeover show Selling Houses Australia marked its milestone 200th episode on Wednesday night – and it’s quite the tear-jerker.
Host and real estate expert Andrew Winter, interior design extraordinaire Wendy Moore, and resident landscape guru Dennis Scott banded together in one of the most meaningful transformations in the show’s history (now streaming on Foxtel and BINGE).
The trio get emotional as they help parents of three James and Amelia McCann sell their much-loved family home on St Huberts Island in the NSW Central Coast, a 90-minute drive north from Sydney.
This reno is deeply personal as the couple, who are both paramedics, aren’t just looking to make money from the sale of their property.
Rather, they are hoping the sale will be enough to break even so they can move back to Sydney and be closer to Westmead Children’s Hospital for their baby son, Pat, who is battling serious illness.
The tiny tot, who has yet to hit his first birthday, sees about nine specialists that monitor abnormalities in his brain as well as a tumour in his belly.
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“We’ve done a really special one with this episode,” Moore told news.com. au ahead of Wednesday night’s 200th episode. “It’s just a really, really lovely story. Two paramedics who decided to make a bit of a sea-change to give their family lovely, relaxed lifestyle.”
“But one of their twins was born quite unwell. What they found is that their lovely sea-change was actually just a really long way from the hospital, which is where they needed to be.”
Moore said that the McCanns did not apply to be on the show, which is the Foxtel Group’s longest running Original series.
The show typically sees homeowners approach the program wanting help with renovations to sell their properties. But in this episode, a person applied on the behalf of the McCanns, nominating them as a family who could use a helping hand.
Winter, Moore and Scott were moved by their story and took on the challenge, but it was an uphill battle turning the family’s three-bedroom, one-bathroom house into a four-bedder, two-bathroom property without adding any square footage.
Without money to play with, the trio turned to the community for help – and they were met with an army of local volunteers who donate their time, goods and services to help out their struggling neighbours. From tradies to butchers and bakers, each volunteer came with their sleeves rolled up, ready to work.
“[James and Amelia ] are just the loveliest people, so loved by this small community that we had so many people putting their hands up to come and help,” Moore recalled. “We had to actually run shifts of who could come at what time and give them work because we just had so much help, which meant that we got a hell of a lot more done.”
Their mission was successful, with the McCann’s selling the newly renovated house for $1.4 million just one month after Winter, Moore and Scott worked their magic. The couple had bought the property for $1.1 million a year ago and needed $1.15 million to make the clean break back to Sydney and secure a long-term rental home closer to vital medical services.
The sale, which exceeded their expectations, allowed them to do that while also giving them some wiggle room during a trying time.
“That whole story was just such a great Selling Houses moment because it was about the community,” Moore reflected to news.com.au. “It was about these homeowners that really needed their help. It was an amazing transformation. I’m so proud of it.”
“Dennis and I both worked our arses off, but we were both so proud of the result. And I think that we did justice to 200 episodes,” she concluded.
Selling Houses Australia’s 200th episode is now streaming on Foxtel’s LifeStyle channel or on demand and available to stream on BINGE