Life's A Beach For Pets

Sun Herald

Sunday April 27, 2008

By Alex May

CHRISTINE LEWIS upgraded her property portfolio to two beachfront houses after discovering the power of combining waterfront property with pet-friendly holiday rentals.

"You can turn a holiday home into a business that can turn over between $30,000 and $100,000 a year," says the Balmain businesswoman who founded lovemelovemydog.com.au, a website that lists pet-friendly holiday rentals by the beach.

"Dog owners will walk their dog on the beach whether it's raining or hailing."

Pet owners pay up to $800 for a weekend, or $3800 a week at Christmas, to rent a beach house that will accommodate themselves and their pooches in luxury.

Lewis owns two beachfront properties at Culburra Beach on the NSW South Coast, a town that also has riverfront and lakefront properties.

"Of all the types of waterfront, beachfront is the most popular with pet owners," she says.

"The lakes and the river are popular with people who fish but pet owners like the idea of letting their dog roam free on the beach."

Lewis says pet-friendly waterfront rentals are in demand year-round, not just summer. "I hadn't had a holiday in 20 years because I wouldn't go away and leave my dogs and then I decided, 'Forget it: I'm going to buy a holiday house and rent it out to other people like me,"' she says.

Her first house was so popular that she soon upgraded her portfolio to nearby beachfronts, which yield a higher rental and are less likely to be vacant.

"Everyone wants to be able to wake up and walk straight out onto a beach - it's part of the Australian psyche."

© 2008 Sun Herald

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