Florida's Vacant Lot Market Offers Alternative Investment Path

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

22 Jun 2025

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“These are baby boomer Bitcoins,” says Sean Seward, describing the thousands of vacant lots scattered across Florida’s landscape. As a realtor with Keller Williams Island Life Real Estate specializing in vacant land sales, Seward has tapped into a little-known investment niche that’s gaining significant traction on social media platforms.

The Origins of Florida’s Lot Parceling Boom

Florida’s vacant lot market has roots in ambitious mid-20th century development schemes. “Port Charlotte and North Port are both part of the same 200,000 lot parcellage,” Seward explains. “These were created for the exclusive purpose of selling them.”

In 1956, developers purchased land from Bertha Honore Palmer, an instrumental figure in Sarasota’s development, for just $40 an acre. After subdividing and adding canals, they sold quarter-acre lots for $900 each using a simple financing model: “$10 down, $10 a month. As soon as they got their first $10, they were made whole.”

The success of this model attracted imitators. By 1958, the Rosen brothers had adopted a similar approach in what would become Cape Coral. “What do I need? I need some swamp land, some bulldozers, and a civil engineer,” Seward says, channeling their thinking.

These developers created massive canal systems—some 30 feet deep—not primarily to provide waterfront properties but to drain swamps and create buildable land. “Everything you scooped up from this side died, and everything you smashed on this side died,” Seward acknowledges of the environmental impact.

The COVID-19 Land Rush

Before the pandemic, North Port’s vacant lot market was sluggish, with approximately 1,400 listings and only 500 sales in a six-month period, representing about 18 months of inventory. Prices hovered around $5,000 per lot, “basically propped up by pride and closing costs,” according to Seward.

Then COVID-19 changed everything.

“When COVID happened, people started gobbling up Florida,” Seward recalls. “They couldn’t believe it. They’re like, ‘What’s wrong with them?’ And there’s nothing wrong with them. There’s just a bunch of them.”

As out-of-state buyers rushed to secure Florida property, lot prices skyrocketed. “All of a sudden everybody came through, buying up all the five to $8,000 lots and having me relist them for $20,000, and it worked,” says Seward. “In 2021, I sold 751 units, and about 100 of them I sold twice in the same year.”

The demand was so intense that Seward and his team would prepare listings in advance, ready to activate the moment a property closed, allowing them to immediately relist at a higher price. “Lots that sat on the market for 700 days at $12,000 just sold for a second time for $23,000,” he notes.

Self-Directed IRAs: The Hidden Investment Driver

What’s particularly interesting about this market is who’s buying and why. Many investors are using self-directed IRAs to purchase these lots as long-term holds.

“I own about seven of them in my self-directed IRA,” Seward shares. “These are baby boomer Bitcoins. What do you do if you’re a baby boomer? You own it, you have it.”

The tax advantages are significant. “You don’t have to pay capital gains,” Seward explains. In every Florida county, you’ll find “hundreds, if not thousands, of lots or houses owned in these IRA trusts.”

For many investors, these lots function almost like collectibles. “It’s like a coin collection. What do you do with those? You own them.” Some buyers strategically acquire adjacent lots to create additional value through assemblage. “Two lots together are worth more than two lots separate. The premium of adjacency,” as Seward puts it.

The Wholesaling Revolution

Beyond traditional investors, a new generation of real estate entrepreneurs is capitalizing on this market through wholesaling, getting properties under contract and then assigning those contracts to end buyers for a fee.

“If you go on TikTok right now, it’s gaining significant traction,” Seward says. He points to one educational company that has “600 paid members that gave them at least $3,000, if not $10,000 apiece, to learn how to do this.”

These wholesalers employ sophisticated marketing strategies, sending out thousands of mailers offering around two-thirds of market value. From 10,000 mailers costing about $6,000, they might get 100 positive responses. They then market these properties to end buyers at 85-90% of market value, aiming to close within 30-60 days.

Seward sees this as a positive development for young entrepreneurs. “These guys are in their 20s, and they’re learning how to get something legally under contract, and then sell it to somebody and make $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, sometimes $100,000 on the sale. I think it’s beautiful.”

One of Seward’s favorite wholesalers operates entirely from Belgium, having never visited Florida. In a recent deal, this wholesaler identified a storm-damaged property in Fort Myers where the owners hadn’t paid taxes for years due to an unresolved probate issue. He offered $185,000, handled the probate process, and then sold the property for $307,000, netting a six-figure profit.

Geographic Variations in the Market

Not all Florida lots are created equal. Location and infrastructure dramatically affect pricing:

• North Port lots currently trade around $20,000 (b1$5,000-$10,000)
• Cape Coral lots fetch approximately $40,000 (b1$20,000)
• Port St. Lucie lots on the east coast, “where they have jobs,” command $120,000-$160,000

The east coast premium exists because “you have dual income families that can go and move there and build these awesome houses,”Seward explains. By contrast, southwest Florida’s development is relatively recent—”the Tamiami Trail is less than 100 years old, it was finished in 1928″—resulting in significantly lower lot prices.

Ocala, in central Florida, is generating particular interest lately. “What they like about it is it’s not coastal,” Seward notes, adding that the area features larger lots and is popular for horse properties.

Current Market Conditions and Future Outlook

After the pandemic-fueled frenzy, the market has cooled somewhat. “I have about 20 lots pending, and I used to have 80 pending at all times,” Seward says.

Despite this slowdown, Seward remains optimistic. “I think right now, it’s a great time for a buyer,” he advises. “Anyone who’s even kind of thinking about buying should come in and put in a low offer… because a lot of the sellers right now, they don’t know when this is all going to end.”

The market continues to show unpredictable patterns. “Some days I totally disagree and think that we’re back in full swing, and I have things going for multiple offers,” Seward observes. “They’ll be weird. They’ll be on the market for 30 days and no offer, and then in a span of three days, get five offers.”

As for the Florida lot market itself, Seward sees enduring value despite the criticisms sometimes leveled at these developments. Responding to an author who described these subdivisions as “roads to nowhere” and an “environmental travesty,” Seward offers a different perspective:

“What he doesn’t understand is you’re driving down the guts of people’s 401(k)s and IRAs. You’re looking at what’s backing up the values in there. They’re not roads to nowhere, they’re roads to financial freedom.”

For investors looking to diversify their portfolios or explore alternative real estate strategies, Florida’s lot parceling market offers a unique combination of relatively low entry points, potential tax advantages through self-directed IRAs, and a distinctive history that continues to shape the state’s development patterns today.