The things that decide what a waterfront lot is worth are mostly invisible

Here is an example

A seawall in serious trouble often looks fine. Hairline cracking in the face, a hairline in the cap, small divots in the yard where the panels meet — to most eyes that is a well-kept wall. To someone who has seen a few fail, it is a six-figure repair that has not announced itself yet.

That is the kind of thing you want identified before you write an offer, not during the inspection period when the leverage has already moved.

Here is another

Most people buy more boat over time, not less. Almost nobody goes the other way.

So the question is not what fits today. It is whether you will be able to keep what you will want in eight years, given the seawall you have and the canal you are on. A 65-foot canal and an 80-foot canal look identical in a listing. They are not the same product, and one of them will not turn a fifty-foot boat.

And that is before lot position, water depth at your seawall, overhead clearance, and how long the run to open water actually takes in the boat you will be running.

Most of this is a budget conversation

Everyone would take a triple corner lot, an 8,000 square foot house and a dock full of boats. Almost nobody is choosing among all three.

You are buying land and a structure at the same time, from one budget. Some people want the house and can accept an ordinary lot. Some have three boats and will take a smaller house to get the frontage and the water. Some want the shortest possible run to open water and will give up square footage for it.

There is no correct answer. There is a wrong way to arrive at one, which is finding out after closing that you optimised for the thing you cared about least.

Working that out is the first conversation, and sometimes it takes seeing a few properties before you know. That is fine — it is a great deal cheaper to change your mind in the car than after the closing.

Why me

I was licensed in 2003 and I have done one thing since. Not residential real estate generally with waterfront among it — only Cape Coral waterfront, and only the no-bridge section south of Cape Coral Parkway.

I have lived on and off the water here since 2002, which is a different kind of knowledge from the transactional kind. I am perfectly capable of handling any closing. That is not the part that is hard. The part that is hard is knowing which of two similar-looking properties will still suit you when the boat gets bigger.

I take a small number of clients so the ones I have get real attention. And I am not going to sell you anything. My job is to make sure you understand exactly what you are buying, structure the deal so you have a way out if something turns up, and still be reachable after it closes.