Highlands County Florida Land for Sale: The Best Kept Secret HGTV Just Told Everyone About

Hi, I'm Juliana. I own Golden Ridge Partners, and I sell owner financed land in Florida: no banks, no credit checks, no hassle, and no artificial urgency, because I find urgency exhausting and so do you.

I was originally going to write you a post about a secret. Highlands County was going to be my quiet little tip, the lake-covered stretch of inland Florida that nobody was paying attention to. Then HGTV parked an entire television production in the middle of my secret and renovated it on national TV. So let's adjust: Highlands County is now a formerly classified location, and I am simply the person handing you the file.

The short version, up front: Highlands County has more than 100 freshwater lakes, a downtown that just got the full HGTV treatment, a racetrack that generates over $600 million a year for the local economy, and vacant residential land you can buy from me for $249 down and $199 a month at zero percent interest. Everything below is the evidence, plus jokes.

The Part Where Television Found Us

In 2024, Ben and Erin Napier, the nicest couple on television, brought Season 3 of HGTV's Home Town Takeover to Sebring, the county seat of Highlands County. Over four months, they and a small army of HGTV experts renovated homes, local businesses, and the iconic Circle Park at the center of downtown, with improvements to every business on the historic circle. The six episode season started airing in March 2025 and is streaming now, which means new people discover Sebring from their couch every single week.

And the town needed it, which I will say plainly because honesty is the whole business model here. Downtown Sebring had dwindled from 22 businesses in the 1960s to about 11, as the highway pulled traffic away over the decades. Then the show happened. Now there are lines out the door at the Cuban cafe, a steady stream of root beer float traffic at the soda shop, people actually using the gazebo, and cardboard cutouts of Ben and Erin downtown that visitors pose with, which I understand completely and refuse to judge.

I am not going to throw a made-up visitor statistic at you here, because I do not do that. What I can tell you is that the show is real, the renovation is real, the renewed attention is real, and the land around all of it is still refreshingly affordable. Some sellers would call that a closing window. I call it a nice Tuesday in Highlands County.

A $603,219,914 Economic Engine (Yes, Down to the Dollar)

Here is my favorite number in the entire county, and I want you to notice how specific it is. According to a study by the Florida State University Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis, events at Sebring International Raceway generate an annual economic impact of $603,219,914. Not "about $600 million." Six hundred three million, two hundred nineteen thousand, nine hundred fourteen dollars. You can always tell when economists were involved, because economists do not round. Rounding is for the rest of us.

The raceway is home to the 12 Hours of Sebring, America's oldest road race, run since 1952, and the track hosts more than 300 days of activity every year: driving schools, club events, testing, the works. The same study found the raceway's activity supports 7,139 local jobs (again: not 7,000, not "over seven thousand," but 7,139, bless them) and contributes about $69 million a year in state and local taxes. ExxonMobil has been the title sponsor of the big race for 28 consecutive years, and I promise you oil companies do not commit to anything casually.

So when I tell you Highlands County has a world-class economic anchor, that is not me being sunny. That is me reading a spreadsheet out loud.

One Hundred Lakes Did Not Need a Makeover

HGTV renovated the downtown. The lakes were already finished. Highlands County has more than 100 freshwater lakes, including Lake Istokpoga, Florida's fifth largest at roughly 27,600 acres and nationally loved by bass anglers, some of whom have been known to extend vacations without consulting their families first.

I gave the full tour of the towns, the murals, the caladiums, and one extremely committed elevator operator in my complete guide to every town in Highlands County, so I will not repeat it here. The short version: Sebring, Avon Park, and Lake Placid are all genuinely charming, and the quiet lake country between them is where affordable vacant land lives.

The Citrus Plot Twist

Florida citrus has been fighting a disease called citrus greening for more than fifteen years, and unlike me, the disease does not respond to charm. Highlands County has long been serious citrus country, and local officials say production in the area is down roughly 80 percent from its heyday. That is a genuinely sad thing for a proud industry, and I will not pretend otherwise.

But it also means the land story here is slowly changing. A county built on groves is gradually becoming a county of lakes, trails, racing, and rooftops, and that transition is part of why inland land deserves your attention over the long haul. I am not going to tell you exactly what any of it will be worth in ten years, because I sell land, not crystal balls, and my crystal ball inventory remains firmly at zero.

About That Trail (An Honest Update Other Sellers Will Not Give You)

You may see land marketed around here with breathless claims that a big paved trail is "coming in 2027." Let me give you the version that matches FDOT's own paperwork, because you deserve the boring truth more than you deserve an exciting rumor.

The Florida Heartland Regional Trail is a real, planned multi-use paved trail that would cross six counties, with potential routes running through Highlands County, Lake Placid, and Sebring. It is currently in the feasibility study phase, and those studies are expected to be completed in Spring 2027. Read that carefully: the studies finish in 2027. The trail itself, if it moves forward, comes after that, on government time, which is its own time zone. There is even a formal "no build" option still on the table, because that is how these processes work.

Is it exciting that the state is seriously studying a major trail through this county? Absolutely. Should you buy land based on a ribbon cutting that has not been scheduled? Absolutely not, and I would rather bore you with the truth than sell you a rumor. This is also, incidentally, why people trust me with dirt.

So Is Highlands County Land Actually Affordable?

I could quote you per-acre "averages" for Orlando and Tampa right here, and plenty of land websites do. I am not going to, because those numbers wobble wildly depending on who is counting and what they are counting, and I only publish numbers I can stand behind. So let me give you the one number I can stand behind completely: $249. That is the down payment on my parcels. The county government's own website leads with the fact that living here costs less than much of Florida, and when a government website admits something is affordable, believe it. Governments do not undersell.

Meanwhile, the big picture has not changed: Florida is adding roughly 650 new residents every single day, state forecasters expect us to pass 24 million people by 2027, and coastal costs keep squeezing people inland, where the sunshine is identical and the price tags are not. I laid out the full argument in my honest investment case for Florida land, and the short version is this: land rewards patience, Highlands County rewards it with a lake view, and I am not a financial advisor, so talk to yours about the big picture and talk to me about parcels.

How Buying Works (The Whole Thing, No Fine Print)

Owner financing, directly from me: $249 down, $199 a month, zero percent interest. Not low interest. Not interest hiding in a closet waiting to surprise you in year three. Zero, for the life of the agreement, so your balance drops every single month. No bank, no credit check, no six week wait while a stranger who has never seen your land decides whether you deserve it. Approval happens the same day.

And when the parcel is paid off, the deed records at the county with your name on it. Real deed, real records. Until then, you make simple monthly payments under a straightforward written contract, I hold up my end, and you hold up yours. There is no countdown clock on my website, there is no "only two left" banner, and if either ever appears, please assume I have been replaced and send help.

Come See For Yourself

My current Highlands County parcels (and my Putnam County listings up north) are at goldenrp.land. Browse around, join the VIP list to see new parcels before they go public, and sign up for The Dirt, my free monthly newsletter about land, Florida, and an amount of cabbage content my conscience has stopped fighting.

Or just call me at (407) 917-0848, or email juliana@goldenrp.land. Bring questions, bring skepticism, bring your cousin who thinks all land sellers are shady. I love converting that cousin.

Related reading: my complete guide to every town in Highlands County, how to buy undeveloped land in Florida the right way, and the honest investment case for Florida land.

Talk soon,

Juliana Scolari

Golden Ridge Partners