Lighthouse Point, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, and beyond.
Waterfront homes that actually fit your boat
I help buyers and sellers on the water start with the two things that decide value out here, bridge clearance and true ocean access. Everything else comes after.
The seller's water check
Who can actually buy your house?
On the water, your buyer pool is not set by your kitchen. It is set by the lowest fixed span between your dock and the ocean. Four questions and you will see exactly who you are selling to, and which of your problems are worth spending money on.
Structural, do not spend here
- The governing fixed span on your route
- Run time from your dock to the inlet
- Canal width at your dock
- Whether you have a turning basin
- Interior lot versus point lot
None of this changes with a renovation. It is priced in permanently, so the job is to market around it rather than fight it.
Fixable, this is where money returns
- Seawall condition and height
- Dock length and condition
- Lift, and whether its capacity matches the boat your buyer owns
- Depth at your dock at low tide
- Power and water at the dock
Most sellers put their pre-listing money into the kitchen. On the water, the dock is usually the better spend.
Active listings I am tracking, shown so you can see the frontage and dock other sellers are competing with. This is orientation, not a valuation of your home.
The number comes from me, not a calculator
Request a waterfront valuation
I will verify the governing span on your route, look at what your dock and seawall are actually doing to your buyer pool, and give you a real number with the reasoning behind it.
The calculator
Will your boat actually get out?
Two numbers decide it. How tall your boat is, and how much room the lowest fixed span on your route gives you. Put them in and you will see exactly where you stand.
Measured from the waterline to the highest fixed point on the boat. Tower, hardtop, mast, radar. Antennas folded down.
I do not know my air draft
Start from the band your boat sits in, then measure before you rely on it. A foot of error is the difference between clearing a span and not.
- Center console, no T-top. Usually under 10 feet.
- Center console with a T-top, small express. Usually in the 10 to 13 foot band.
- Express cruiser, smaller flybridge. Usually about 14 feet and up.
- Sportfish with a tower, larger flybridge, any sailboat. Tall enough that a fixed bridge is normally the end of the conversation.
At mean high water, from a primary source rather than a listing remark. Leave it blank and you will still see which tier of home to look for.
Why mean high water
Nearly every published clearance is measured at mean high water, the conservative governing figure. It is the right number to plan around, but it is not the number you will meet on any given afternoon. Broward tides swing about two and a half feet.
North of Commercial Boulevard, run to Hillsboro Inlet. South of Sunrise Boulevard, run to Port Everglades. Coral Ridge sits in the middle, where either one works depending on your day.
General working numbers, about 10 feet at mean high water and about 12 feet near low tide. They move with the tide, and a king tide takes more. Verify the governing span on any specific property before you buy a home or a boat around it.
This is a planning calculation, not a clearance for a specific home. Published bridge numbers are often wrong, sometimes by three or four feet, and your real ceiling is set by the single governing span on your route. That has to be identified and verified per property.
The part the calculator cannot do
Have me verify the governing span on a specific home
Every number above is a planning figure. The one that decides your purchase is the lowest fixed span on your actual route, pulled from a primary source. Send me the address or the area you are circling and I will run it.
The deciding factor
Bridge clearance is the thing you cannot renovate
Two homes can sit on the same canal, one block apart, and be worth a different value. One has a clean run to the inlet. The other sits behind a fixed bridge that quietly rules out most of the boats people actually want to own.
That is where I start every waterfront search. Square footage and finishes can change. The height of the bridge between your dock and the ocean cannot.
Read the bridge guide
Waterfront guides
Know the water before you buy on it
Every waterway here behaves differently. Depth, bridges, current, and how long it really takes to reach the inlet. These guides walk through each one and break them down honestly.
The Waterfront Bridge Height and Relocation Guide
The guide I wrote for buyers who are moving here and need to work out, before they fly down, which canals their boat can actually use.
My listings
Homes I represent
On the market soon
I am working with sellers right now and new waterfront homes are coming. If you want first look before anything goes live, just reach out.
Get first lookFeatured listings
Waterfront worth knowing about
Standout homes on the water from around the area. Each one is listed by another brokerage and credited to the agent who holds it.
Who you are working with
I got here through the water, not the office
I am a spearfisherman, a lobster diver and a freediver. I have dove in a few other places, but the vast majority of my diving and spearfishing has been right here in South Florida.
Spending that much time under the surface teaches you to read depth, tide, and access the way almost nobody does from a listing sheet. That is what pulled me into waterfront real estate, and it is still how I judge a home on the water.
More about meClient reviews
What clients say
Reviews from my clients will appear here as they come in. I only publish real ones, word for word.
See the reviews pageThinking about buying or selling on the water?
Tell me what you want to be able to do from your dock and I will tell you honestly which canals work and which ones do not.