When Nat Redgrave called it quits on his 13-year mining career, he decided to give house-flipping a go. He never expected to go viral on social media platform TikTok.
Mr Redgrave was prompted to make a TikTok video to send to his friends as a joke when he realised just how dilapidated his recently purchased property was.
The video has since gained nearly two million views.
Mr Redgrave bought the 1940s cottage in regional north Queensland sight-unseen for less than $60,000, after spotting it on a community Facebook page.
"I looked at a couple of photos and thought the price was worth the risk," he said.
Just before the contract settled, Mr Redgrave left his home in central Queensland to take his first look at the house.
He thought it would be a two-month reno stint.
"[The agent] told me the house was better on the inside than it was on the outside," Mr Redgrave said.
"I thought, 'Sweet, I’ll just sleep inside in a swag. That’ll do me fine'," he said.
But when he set foot in the Charters Towers' property, an hour-and-a-half west of Townsville, he thought he had made a mistake.
"She was pretty wild inside."
Online following, real-life help
Despite being less than a week into the project, Mr Redgrave said there had been overwhelming support from Charters Towers locals.
"Someone left us a present under the steps last night … someone's left us a present today."
While most of the comments had been encouraging, some were negative.
"We've had a couple of comments, to tell me that I’m calling Charters Towers a crack town," Mr Redgrave said.
Mr Redgrave said when the house sells, any profit after $220,000 would be donated to drug rehabilitation charities in north Queensland.
Prices falling Australia wide
The low price of housing in Charters Towers had made it possible for the 33-year-old to invest in property.
"The total budget for the house is $130,000 all-in," he said.
Data released from real estate insight group PropTrack revealed the market could be changing in favour of buyers as growth stalled almost everywhere across the nation.
PropTrack economist Paul Ryan said while Australia's capital cities had seen the biggest fall in house prices since the start of the pandemic, regional locations were not immune.
Mr Ryan said it was the sharpest slow-down in prices in more than 30 years.
"We expect continued price falls across the country until the uncertainty surrounding interest rate increases is resolved."
That could be good news for Mr Redgrave, who is hoping to buy and renovate a few more homes in the region before hopefully moving into his own house in Charters Towers.
While he was confident in his handy work, he was not too sure if his new-found stardom would leave a lasting impression.
"I hope people stick around … people will probably get bored," he said.
