The two-story house at 1980 Lake Buffum Road E stands on roughly 285 acres of improved pastureland, oak hammocks, pine stands and palmetto scrub, with a pool, a party barn and a guest apartment over the storage barn. It closed September 16, 2026, one of five reported home sales in the Lakeland metro area that came to $7.65 million combined.
Fort Meade and Polk City contributed the week’s large acreage tracts, while Lake Hollingsworth, Lakeland Highlands and Cleveland Heights are represented by houses inside Lakeland. The oldest of the five was finished in 1925, the newest in 2025.
No. 1 — $3,900,000 · 1980 Lake Buffum Road E, Fort Meade, Florida
Fort Meade’s top sale is a ranch set up for hunting, fishing and entertaining. The main house went up in 2005 and carries two bedrooms, three bathrooms and a reported 2,144 square feet over two levels; the second bedroom and a full bath sit upstairs beside a loft office, and the primary suite on the main floor has a gas fireplace, a double-vanity bath, a walk-in closet and its own door onto the front porch, where a hot tub faces the sunset views across Lake Buffum.
Cypress woodwork, vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and hickory hardwood floors and cabinets carry through the house, where the central room opens to the dining room and kitchen. A metal roof and a 25-kilowatt whole-home generator serve the property. Guests have separate quarters: a 784-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of the storage barn, with a full kitchen, living room, bathroom and a large screened porch.
The land holds a 13-acre private pond stocked with largemouth bass and fitted with a dock, and it is buffered by about 3,178 acres of conservation land. A custom 5-stand for sporting clays, an outdoor fire pit, two deer stands and three wildlife feeders are spread across the acreage, and the party barn has a built-in wet bar and its own bathroom. The sale also carried five buildable acres directly on Lake Buffum with 225 feet of direct lake access, on a lake of about 1,268 acres fished for largemouth bass, bluegill and catfish. The sale closed on September 16, 2026.
Reed Fischbach and Ellie Dahl of Fischbach Land Company LLC were the listing agents. Carlos Castro of Lpt Realty, LLC represented the buyer. The $3.90 million closing put Fischbach and Dahl at the listing side of the highest-priced sale RealtyWire reported in the Lakeland metro area for the week.
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No. 2 — $1,100,000 · 6780 Sugarbush Lane #9, Polk City, Florida
Just under 40 acres came with the house at 6780 Sugarbush Lane #9 in Polk City. The 39.90-acre parcel sits between Orlando and Tampa with access to Interstate 4 and the Central Florida attractions, and Disney about 35 minutes away, yet the ground itself is open country shaded by mature oaks.
The residence on the parcel dates to 2003 and holds four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a reported 2,124 square feet. Shopping, dining, golf courses and lakes are within reach of the property. It previously changed hands for $900,000 in 2022. The sale closed September 18, 2026 for $1,100,000.
Claudia Guzman of Odry Vargas Realty Group represented the listing side of the sale, which ranked No. 2 in RealtyWire’s Lakeland Metro Area Top 5 for the week ending September 20, 2026. Bertrand Le Helley of Fcg Realty represented the buyer.
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No. 3 — $1,095,000 · 2611 Berkeley Avenue, Lakeland, Florida
New construction accounts for the No. 3 sale: 2611 Berkeley Avenue, finished in 2025 a short distance from Lake Hollingsworth in the heart of Lakeland. The cottage-style house has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a reported 3,380 square feet, and it opens on a front porch and a foyer laid in brick with vertical shiplap on the walls.
The great room centers on a brick electric fireplace with custom Amish built-ins and a bookcase, beside a dry bar and a solid-wood Amish kitchen with quartz countertops and a walk-in pantry. The dining space looks out over the back yard and pool. The primary bedroom is on the first level with French doors to the yard, and its bathroom has his-and-her vanities and closets and a large shower. Additional bedrooms, two full baths, a second laundry room and a bonus room fill the upper level, where the shiplap detailing continues.
Triple sliding doors off the great room lead to a covered entertaining area with an outdoor kitchen, an oversized pool deck and an in-ground pool with a sun ledge, and turf covers both side yards. The property previously changed hands for $205,000 in 2023, before the current residence was completed in 2025. The September 15, 2026 closing came to $1,095,000.
Amy Fuqua of Xcellence listed the house, which went under contract the same day the current listing went live. The sale ranked No. 3 in RealtyWire’s Lakeland Metro Area Top 5 for the week. Carolina Wilson of Paige Wagner Homes Realty represented the buyer.
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No. 4 — $850,000 · 6556 Crescent Lake Drive, Lakeland, Florida
The No. 4 sale occupies a corner lot on a cul-de-sac in the Crescent Lake neighborhood of south Lakeland. Listing materials identify Duane McQuillen as the builder of the 1996 residence, which has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a reported 3,826 square feet.
The kitchen is fitted with a custom copper hood, a six-burner gas stove, Cafe series double ovens, an Advantium microwave-oven and a quartz island with seating for six. The primary suite sits on the main level with quartzite countertops, a jetted whirlpool tub, a walk-in shower and his-and-her closets. A formal dining room and a family room with a mini bar and gas fireplace are on the same floor, and a pool bath opens to the back yard.
Three more bedrooms and two bathrooms are upstairs, along with a custom theater built around a large movie screen, a 4K projector, quartzite counters and fixed seating. Marble-like tile imported from Spain runs through the house, which also has an instant gas water heater, plantation shutters, a newer roof and a two-car garage. The Italian-inspired back yard is enclosed by a vinyl fence and holds a pool, a wide patio and outdoor speakers. The property previously changed hands for $420,000 in 2017, and this sale closed on September 14, 2026 for $850,000.
The house went under contract 11 days after the current listing date, with Ken Dunbar of BHHS Florida Properties Group on the listing side of the No. 4 sale in RealtyWire’s Lakeland Metro Area Top 5 for the week. Melissa Mottern of Keller Williams Realty represented the buyer.
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No. 5 — $700,000 · 743 E Edgewood Drive, Lakeland, Florida
The week’s fifth sale is a Spanish-style house of 1925 at 743 E Edgewood Drive in Lakeland’s Cleveland Heights, renovated in a way that keeps its period character. A newly tiled terracotta entry and staircase open the house, which holds five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a reported 3,840 square feet.
The remodeled kitchen carries designer tilework, quartz countertops, soft-close cabinetry, stainless steel appliances and a custom island built to suit the older rooms. Newer systems include 2023 plumbing, a three-stage whole-house water filtration system, 2023 air-conditioning with new ductwork, a 2019 clay tile roof and dual-pane windows downstairs. A laundry room framed by antique French doors and a mudroom opening onto the back yard were both added.
Behind a fully fenced yard with an automatic gate, the pool was resurfaced and converted to salt water in 2024, and a pergola, a custom-built swing set, room for a vegetable plot and a fenced chicken run share the grounds. A zig-zag staircase and deck lead to a 420-square-foot accessory dwelling unit updated in 2025, with a private entrance, full kitchen, in-unit laundry, mini-split system and new water heater; a 580-square-foot pool house with water and electricity sits beneath it. There is no homeowners association, and the house stands near lakes and parks minutes from downtown Lakeland. It previously changed hands for $530,000 in 2023, and the sale was completed September 15, 2026 at $700,000.
Bethany Cromwell of Keller Williams Realty was the listing agent. Christi Ramey of Keller Williams Winter Park represented the buyer. The property closed at its full asking price, and the sale ranked No. 5 in RealtyWire’s Lakeland Metro Area Top 5 for the week ending September 20, 2026.
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RealtyWire selected these transactions from publicly reported residential sales identified for the calendar week ending Sunday, September 20, 2026. The report may exclude private, off-market, delayed or nondisclosed transactions. Prices, property details and professional representation are reported as available at publication and may be updated following confirmation from transaction participants.
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