Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer passes Watsons Bay home to rental market after buyers play hardball

Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who plays in the English Premier League with Fulham, has listed Boongarre, his Watsons Bay property, for rent at $3,500 a week, which is a snip compared with the $10,000 being sought for the nearby Vaucluse residence, Coolongatta, the Vaucluse four-bedroom Art Nouveau waterfront.

The Schwarzer harbourfront property has been on the market with price hopes of more than $12 million through Pillinger Real Estate, but it hasn't sold so Schwarzer is now seeking a tenant. The two-storey, five-bedroom, four-bathroom weatherboard house sits on a 1,214-square-metre Pacific Street block.

Schwarzer bought Boongarre for $10.2 million in 2009.

Schwazer and his wife, Paloma , who are staying in Europe, had it previously available for rent in March last year at the same asking price.

Boongarre was the childhood home of the renowned author Christina Stead, and it was owned by the Stead family from 1918 until 1980, when it was bequeathed to the National Trust.

It’s for lease through Camilla Piggott at Laing + Simmons Double Bay Executive Leasing.

Coolongatta, the Vaucluse waterfront that last sold at $10.5 million in 2002 to the Dalley family, is a 1,750-square-metre Coolong Road property. It’s best remembered for its $5.25 million sale in 1987 by the stockbroker Anthony Crichton-Brown to stockbroker Brent Potts, who sold in 2000 for $8.5 million.