Beginning in the 1950s, the so-called “installment land sales industry” hawked billions of dollars of Florida residential property, sight unseen, to retiring Northerners. For $10 down and $10 a month, working-class pensioners could buy a piece of the American dream in planned communities like Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, Deltona, Port St. Lucie, and Palm Coast. Eventually “swamp peddlers” completely transformed Florida’s landscape and demographics.