TRAILER: Dreams for Sale: Lehigh Acres and the Florida foreclosure crisis (2010)

http://www.dreamsforsalemovie.com

Welcome to Lehigh Acres, Florida.

Half-built homes litter the seemingly endless grid of half acre plots in a town built entirely on speculation. Dreams were built on the promises of Lehigh Acres, where the social benefits of a wholesome American town were second only to the vast economic potential of affordable land ownership. It was about fulfilling the American dream on dirt plots in southwest Florida.

For decades, things went roughly according to plan. By the mid-2000s, however, the dreams that were sold as half-acre lots to unsuspecting Midwesterners had turned into gold, surging in price at breakneck speed. And then, like a game of musical chairs, the music stopped.

DREAMS FOR SALE traces the bittersweet story of the rise and fall of Lehigh Acres, told through the eyes of its citizens. It is a tale of hope and despair, of prosperity and loss, and of memories and dreams.

Directed and Produced by Raymond A. Schillinger

Special Production Assistance by Luke Kosar and Thomas Keenan

(c) Decade Worldwide, Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• lehigh acres
• documentary
• foreclosures
• housing crisis
• economic crisis
• lehigh
• lee county
• fort myers
• florida
• real estate

[AirVengeance318]

I grew up here in the 80's. I was a first year student at the middle school. I recently had to go there for personal reasons and it was very sad. Every other house boarded up. The country club a waste land. The beautiful driving range just an over grown field. My grandmothers house that I grew up in boarded up and left to be demolished.

[paulomadeira1]

They would be still there keeping the homes, working and fueling the economy IF they could.I am very sorry to see this, specially in my case because I built a lot of these homes and I really cared for the community.

[paulomadeira1]

If the immigration law /reform had passed, I mean if the immigrants had been given a chance to be legal citizens this would not have happened. A LOT of the population in Lehigh was from Latin America, specially from Brazil who love the USA and gave their blood (literally) to be living in the USA. Without the chance to become a legal citzen, with all the difficulties of the economy crises and without even being able to drive a car (for documentation reasons) they had to leave.

[skitskatmeerkat1]

I'm interested in buying a property down south. Just as a vacation home. Not too sure if I wanna buy there