The congressman’s father Don, a powerful Florida politico, is worth $33 million. Most of that fortune is tied up in real estate—including the house from “The Truman Show.”
Matt Gaetz has a knack for making headlines—most recently regarding a House investigation into alleged sexual misconduct, drug use, improper gifts and other ethics violations, which he denies. His father, on the other hand, has a knack for making money. Don Gaetz, 76, is worth an estimated $33 million, after cofounding a hospice provider that sold to Chemed, the parent company of Roto-Rooter, for $406 million in 2004.
Flush with cash, Don Gaetz refocused on politics and real estate. He served in the Florida legislature for 10 years, ultimately becoming president of the state Senate from 2012 to 2014. On the side, Don Gaetz built up a portfolio focused in the Sunshine State, with diversions in Wisconsin and New York.
Matt Gaetz followed his father into both pursuits, joining the Florida House of Representatives in 2010, then the U.S. House in 2017, while buying and selling a series of properties near his dad’s home base in north Florida.
Below, a tour of the Gaetz family real estate empire.
TAKE ME HOME, PANHANDLE ROADS
Don and Matt Gaetz have been building their real estate portfolio in Florida’s northwest—plus additions in Wisconsin and New York—since the 1980s.
Seaside, Fla. home #1
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $3.7 million
The most valuable home in the Gaetz portfolio: “The Truman Show” house, a 2,100-square-foot abode where Jim Carrey lived in the 1998 box-office hit. Don Gaetz purchased the four-bedroom property in 1991 for $125,000, took out a $203,000 mortgage in 1993 and renovated the home in 1997, before it appeared on the big screen the following year. Don paid off the mortgage in 2008. He’s back to work on the property now, having filed documents with the county for additional renovations last month.
Panama City, Fla. home
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $3.3 million
Don Gaetz bought this 8,500-square-foot estate, which overlooks Saint Andrew Bay, in 2010 for just under $2.5 million. He renovated it from 2013 to 2015 and is now trying to cash out. A $3.3 million listing flaunts “shades of the South Carolina Lowcountry outside and worldly influences indoors,” noting an elevator and built-in entertainment center.
Seaside, Fla. home #2
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $2.1 million
The elder Gaetz bought this three-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot home in 1983 for $64,900. Today, the home—just a block from the beach and a few minutes from downtown Seaside—is worth more than thirty times that.
Seaside, Fla. home #3
Owner: Matterin, Inc.
Value: $2 million
Through a company named Matterin, Don Gaetz purchased land in Seaside for $100,000 in 1991, then built a two-story home with a fence and gazebo in 1994, according to property records. He replaced the roof on the three-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot home in 2014.
Niceville, Fla. home
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $1.6 million
This three-bedroom, 3,600-square-foot home sits on Rocky Bayou, an inlet of Choctawhatchee Bay. Don Gaetz bought the two-story house, which appears to sport a dock, in 1995 for $428,000, then remodeled it.
New York City apartment
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $750,000
Don Gaetz bought this 670-square-foot loft in 2008 for $650,000. He says he owns 77%, and his wife and daughter also appear in property records as buyers. It’s one of 275 apartments in a 16-story Greenwich Village co-op with a doorman and rooftop deck. A recent listing suggests the Gaetz family rents the place for $4,300 a month.
Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. home
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $750,000
A thousand-square-foot home on stilts, this two-bedroom property hides behind trees a couple of blocks from Eastern Lake. Don Gaetz bought it in 1992, shortly after it was built, for $75,000, taking out a $60,000 mortgage that he paid off in 2007.
Niceville, Fla. duplex
Owner: Treveron Inc.
Value: $450,000
Matt Gaetz bought a plot of land and home for $73,000 in 2005. In 2016, while running for Congress, he sold it to one of his dad’s companies, Treveron, for $90,000. The following year, Don Gaetz demolished the existing home and built a pair of connected three-bedroom homes, boosting the property’s value.
Fort Walton Beach condo
Owner: Treveron Inc.
Value: $400,000
This one-bedroom condo on Okaloosa Island, a barrier island between the city of Fort Walton Beach and the Gulf of Mexico, is a new addition to the Treveron portfolio. Don Gaetz’s company bought this property, which is part of the Pelican Isle condominium right on the beach, for $400,000 in 2021.
Empty Lots in Florida
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $5.2 million
Don Gaetz owns three plots of undeveloped land in north Florida, including a half-acre parcel on the sand in Santa Rosa Beach. Gaetz purchased the property for $260,000 in 1993 and now says it’s worth $4 million. A neighboring property a few doors away, already developed, is currently on the market for $7.8 million. Gaetz also owns plots in Niceville and Destin.
Additional Florida lots
Owner: Treveron Inc.
Value: Assessed at $80,000
On top of the three vacant lots he owns outright, Don Gaetz holds five additional vacant lots in Walton, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties through Treveron. The company bought all five lots from Matt in 2016, when he was running for Congress the first time, spending a total of $73,000—about $26,000 more than what the younger Gaetz paid for the properties between 2002 and 2005, as Mother Jones first reported. In a statement, a spokesperson for Matt Gaetz noted that Treveron paid him the appraised value at the time for each property.
Matt Gaetz’s Florida lots
Owner: Matt Gaetz
Value: $20,000-$125,000
Before he was a congressman or a lawyer, Matt Gaetz got into the family business, buying up property in Santa Rosa County and elsewhere in north Florida. It started when he was a teenager—at 15, Gaetz purchased a lot in Okaloosa County he still owns for $35,500. He kept up the purchases throughout the early 2000s, paying $41,000 for five vacant lots in Santa Rosa County that he still owns today.
Wisconsin land
Owner: Don Gaetz
Value: $63,000
This plot of land, just under ten acres, lies on Washington Island, where Green Bay and Lake Michigan meet. The island has a population of less than 800 people. Don Gaetz is not one of them. He acquired his only midwestern property in 1993 in a foreclosure and appears to have left the land empty ever since.
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