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Inside Matt Gaetz’s $2.7 Million Childhood Home—and Its Starring Role in Jim Carrey’s Big-Screen Hit ‘The Truman Show’
Realtor.Com ^ | 11/19/24 | Claudine Zap

Posted on 11/22/2024 5:18:39 PM PST by Enlightened1

The charming, buttercup-yellow cottage where Truman lives in the movie is still owned by Gaetz’s parents in real life.

They leaned into their movie-famous home. A photo of a sign on their white, picket-fence gate announces its connection to the movie, (helpful for ogling tourists) along with the family’s names, including Matt and his sibling, Erin: “The Truman House. Don & Vicky Gaetz. Matthew & Erin.”

The Gaetz family purchased the seaside property in 1991 for $125,000. It was one of the first in the master-planned community.

However, the classic cottage is now estimated to be worth $2.7 million, according to Realtor.com®, although that number may well increase courtesy of the priceless publicity brought on by its role in the hit movie.

According to a 2018 profile on Gaetz by The Washington Post, Gaetz’s family “relocated from southern Florida to the Panhandle” when he was 10 years old and moved into the picture-perfect house—seven years before it was featured in “The Truman Show.”

The pastel-hued charmer features four bedrooms and four baths within 2,136 square feet.

Located on Florida’s Gulf of Mexico and steps from the beach, the two-story dwelling has a fireplace. And like many of the resort community’s homes, it has a soft-colored facade and is surrounded by a white picket fence and front porch.

Set in an idyllic vacation spot, the home is part of a quaint community and it turns out, has the perfect look for a film about a town set on a sound stage.

The family has kept the number 36 affixed above the front of the home (the street number from the movie), where Carrey’s Truman would head out each day with his trademark greeting: “Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya—good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; TV/Movies; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: florida; mattgaetz; parents; trumanshow
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1 posted on 11/22/2024 5:18:39 PM PST by Enlightened1
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To: Enlightened1

Gaetz: I was raised by middle class parents in a middle class house.

Ready to use the down to earth and catchy phrases taken from Kamala for his campaign comeback.

Local rock DJ used to mention his upper class suburb as where he came from.
“If you can survive those mean streets and make it out of that neighborhood you can face the world in good shape.”


2 posted on 11/22/2024 5:36:06 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Enlightened1

“The Gaetz family purchased the seaside property in 1991 for $125,000.”


3 posted on 11/22/2024 5:39:08 PM PST by MayflowerMadam (🎶 They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. 🎶)
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To: Enlightened1

Loved that movie and loved the location.


4 posted on 11/22/2024 5:48:17 PM PST by Da Coyote (H)
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To: frank ballenger

Then how would his dad have 25 million to use in the rescue caper? It was so convoluted it sounds insane.


5 posted on 11/22/2024 6:08:20 PM PST by RummyChick
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To: Enlightened1

How much do I miss that mystical stretch of Scenic Hwy 98 between Destin and Panama City, now the subdivision known as Seaside.

Paradise lost.

At least I can still see it in my mind.

The world has moved on.


6 posted on 11/22/2024 6:13:39 PM PST by logitech
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To: Enlightened1
This was a middle class home when it was purchased.

A lot of folks that purchased their homes in the 70’s for 30K find that their homes are now worth over 200K. Those in the 90’s now find that a 100K home is now worth almost a million.

Does that make their kids from affluent neighborhoods, just based on the current value of their homes?

Remember people have to pay taxes on the current appraised value of their homes, not what it was purchased for when built.

I know of one Florida gulf community where locals, who grew up in modest homes, now can't afford to live there. they can't afford the property taxes.

Fortunately Florida now has a law on the books that states that the appraised value of a home cannot raise by more than 3%, if it is filed as a homestead.

7 posted on 11/22/2024 6:20:15 PM PST by Yulee
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To: Enlightened1

Who in hell cares?


8 posted on 11/22/2024 6:32:33 PM PST by Kazan
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To: Enlightened1
I don't give a damn if Gaetz is cannibal that eats young children. He's been one of the few principled members of the Republican party that has stood up the rampant corruption within Deep State, the DOJ and his own party.

Compare Gaetz background to and bought-and-paid whore Nikki Haley, whose gotten rich pimping foreign wars for the defense industry.

Freep you for posting this attack on one of the few patriots in the GOP.

DC Republicans have no clue how much we despise the corruption Gaetz has stood up and opposed or how much we hate Republicans that have consistently screwed over the base.

9 posted on 11/22/2024 6:36:11 PM PST by Kazan
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To: Enlightened1

The Truman Show is highly cited as analogy for political systems and phenomenons.

North Korea resembles ‘The Truman Show’
https://www.ft.com/content/e6b896d4-3dae-11e4-b782-00144feabdc0


10 posted on 11/22/2024 6:43:41 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: MayflowerMadam

We bought our home in 1989 in central Ohio not anywhere near water, for 95K. The price at $125K for that house doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. Of course, our home was never in a famous movie.


11 posted on 11/22/2024 7:17:16 PM PST by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: logitech

Ahh, you and me. I only see the current Seaside when we visit these days, but once we leave Destin and head that way, I see remnants of “Old Florida” peeking out at me. Paradise lost is right.


12 posted on 11/22/2024 7:20:00 PM PST by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Kazan

‘ I don’t give a damn if Gaetz is cannibal that eats young children.’

Sigh.


13 posted on 11/22/2024 7:23:17 PM PST by Fuzz
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To: logitech

I was stationed at NTTC Corry from Jan to Sep 1989. I remember that area very well. Haven’t been back since 2016, so definitely need to get back there.


14 posted on 11/22/2024 7:45:34 PM PST by ro_dreaming (Who knew "Idiocracy", "1984", "Enemy of the State", and "Person of Interest" would be non-fiction?)
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To: Fuzz

Sigh this.


15 posted on 11/22/2024 7:48:05 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

‘ Sigh this.’

Lmao


16 posted on 11/22/2024 7:50:08 PM PST by Fuzz
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To: FamiliarFace

“The price at $125K for that house doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.”

Agree. The Gaetz house price was totally reasonable for that time and that location.


17 posted on 11/22/2024 8:17:28 PM PST by MayflowerMadam (🎶 They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. 🎶)
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To: Kazan

100%


18 posted on 11/23/2024 12:30:36 AM PST by vivenne
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To: MayflowerMadam
This is in SEASIDE, Florida....the CUTEST TOWN IN AMERICA!!!Seen his house MANY times, but a few years ago, they took down the sign with their names on it because of politics.

EVERYONE has their sign with name of house, owner;s name and city where they live full time!!

Seashell paths thru back of houses, everyone has a white picket fence and the pickets MUST be all different!!

19 posted on 11/23/2024 4:17:54 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Ann Archy

I’ve never been there, but have seen write-ups and TV shows about it over the years. Always been interesting to me.


20 posted on 11/23/2024 4:32:05 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (🎶 They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. 🎶)
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