Dreams for Sale: Lehigh Acres and the Florida foreclosure crisis (3/3)

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
• Foreclosures
• Florida
• Mortgage Fraud
• Economic Crisis
• Documentary
• Recession
• Real Estate
• Indie Film
• crisis
• economy
• property
• homes

[qamarnahaar]

Well done! I live in Lee County. Most construction workers weren't a problem, of course, but many of them were transients who blew much of their salary on drugs and alcohol, prostitution, and gambling. My Grandmother managed a store around hotels in North Ft Myers that housed these guys, and crime was rampant. When the boom ended, they left, and the area is now quiet. It's not a stereotype, it's just a fact.

[DreamsForSaleMovie]

@qamarnahaar - Thanks for watching and commenting! Be sure to pass the film onto your friends; it'll help spread the word bigtime.

[tacomeatjrsk8er]

Shame

[doordangle]

memories of the public? try 20 seconds, it only takes a light rinse to fool people ( quote by an Austraian politician)

[skitskatmeerkat1]

Amazing film!!! I want to invest in lehigh but as an investor I am worried. I currently own my own house in Canada. I'm 27 years old. Canadians are told that this is an amazing opportunity and I have 4 friends who have had their parents buy vacation homes in Florida.

[BootsOnBricks]

I just had a chance to watch this movie, and I thought it was amazing. I was born and raised in Lehigh, and by the time I was 22 years old, had a modest truck I was making payments on, and a decent house with a reasonable rent. By October of 2008, I was unemployed and living in my truck in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart on Lee Blvd. I would love to see this film openly distributed via BitTorrent in its entirety. May I offer it?

[kapesun]

@walker9898, no what I was saying was just repeating what our tax collector Charlie Green had said in the movie. Did you watch it? I was calling Tax Collector Charlie Green a racist for having blamed all the construction workers for the crime. Maybe you didn't see that part of the movie.

It was a rotten thing for him to say.

[walker8989]

@kapesun What are you saying? All construction workers are thieving mexicans? THAT"S RACIST!

[wpurplepoet]

A stunning and true tale for those of us caught in the grip of this tragedy. I am a 30 year Lehigh Acres resident and have seen my small family oriented town transformed into an endless treadmill of greed and despair. And now even before the final dust has settled, yet again the vultures (investors) have found countless new opportunities to capitalize on the losses of the fallen.

Dreams for Sale. Dreams for Sale. Nothing left but Dreams for Sale.