I personally think the cladding would look nice and be the easiest to maintain. We also live on the Gold Coast and have a brick house that has been rendered (not by us) and, to be honest, it is not particularly low maintenance (if you want it to stay looking good that is). It is prone to leaching which leaves ugly stains so regularly needs retouching with the paintbrush. It can also develop small cracks in the render due to temperature change and movement. However, the most worrying thing for us is with regards to termites. If you render over your brick on the lower half of your house, it is highly unlikely you will see the telltale "mud" they leave that indicates they are trying to gain access into your house (they climb up in between the render and the brickwork). I would be trying to keep the exposed bricks in preference to rendering over them, particularly if you have a garden bed up against the house anywhere.

Is this serious? IF [and that's a big if] this was real then obviously there would be odd size humans using it considering so many of the objects are not even close to being in proportion to other items and the [room] as a whole. I absolutely love that you can make these wonderful 3D images and they certainly have their place in design etc. However I cannot stand how real estate agents use 'fake' furniture etc in their photographs to sell a house - instant turn off!

Is the pic of the house attached to this discussion exterior rendered in Taubmans pebble bay?

Yes, when I looked at the other photos I realised they were real (though heavily photoshopped). The things that tipped me off were: pictures hanging out from the wall at a slight angle - never happens in a digital model; and the rug on the floor with a slight curl up at one point.