Just a vacation or a home??

Our core of permanent residents is growing slowly. A lot of peole came in chasing the market the last few years. Some will stay and some will go. Its been pretty unstable because of what happened in the market but we'll go back to a slow and steady rise in residents. Once a certain amount of infrastructure gets completed we'll probably rise sharper.

It's more like a small town here than a suburb, even with the seasonal visitors. We have a lot of people and families here that will never leave.

Cooleydog, I lived in the Atlanta area for 8 years and it is VERY transient. But then, almost every where I have lived was transient (Ft. Lauderdale & Orlando)
I have found SoWal to be the most relaxed, inner peace giving place that I have ever found. I do not consider it to be transient at all, because even if it is touristy during the summer...the people that love it come back every year, and those that live there love it and do not leave! I hope to be one of the permnants soon!
The key to leaving a place like Atlanta and moving to a place like SoWal...is leaving your big city woes behind and enjoying the serenity that moving to such a place can bring. It is all in the attitude! (just mho)

I moved my family here from Lawrenceville in 2004. I was a native Atlantan and was ready to get the heck out of that rat race. My children have really blossomed since relocating to Sowal. In the gwinnett county school system they were 1 of thousands of students in a school. Here they are recognized for their achievements. In fact my daughters students/peers elected her to give the commencement speech at Sowal graduation, Sandestin lions club gave her a $1000 scholarship & she got the bright futures scholarship courtesty of the FL lottery. The GA hope scholarship pales in comparison!! We moved down here on a wing and prayer, built our own house (which was a very stressful time) and have no regrets. The nice thing is I still get the local Atlanta TV channels on my satelite dish, so I get to see all I left behind in ATL on a daily basis (murder, rape, other crimes, traffic, corruption) and then I cruise along the beach every morning to work making it a point to pull off and watch the waves roll in as I reflect on how blessed I am to live in paradise.

I moved my family here from Lawrenceville in 2004. I was a native Atlantan and was ready to get the heck out of that rat race. My children have really blossomed since relocating to Sowal. In the gwinnett county school system they were 1 of thousands of students in a school. Here they are recognized for their achievements. In fact my daughters students/peers elected her to give the commencement speech at Sowal graduation, Sandestin lions club gave her a $1000 scholarship & she got the bright futures scholarship courtesty of the FL lottery. The GA hope scholarship pales in comparison!! We moved down here on a wing and prayer, built our own house (which was a very stressful time) and have no regrets. The nice thing is I still get the local Atlanta TV channels on my satelite dish, so I get to see all I left behind in ATL on a daily basis (murder, rape, other crimes, traffic, corruption) and then I cruise along the beach every morning to work making it a point to pull off and watch the waves roll in as I reflect on how blessed I am to live in paradise.

Your is a very nice story. I humbly recommend ENDING the news watching and replacing it with even MORE wave watching. ;-)

We are trying to become a paradise resident as well!!! We've made our decision to just take a leap and make the move. Our house is on the market here, Northeast Atlanta, and as soon as it sells, we will be relocating. I was so glad to read your post about the schools and having your child recognized for their achievements. I just feel like my children get lost or overlooked here. Schools are so populated. I was just watching the morning news which lasts for about 3 hours, running same stories over and over - Thinking to myself, we've got to get out of here. All you ever hear about is murder, crime, etc. There's never anything positive or encouraging or celebrating anyone's accomplishments on the news!!!

Gotta go make beds, etc, etc....Hopefully the perfect buyer will visit our house today!!!

.

an amazing place to live...very blessed

Most of the families that I know with young children are here to stay. Since moving here 6 years ago, my kids have had very few of their close friends move away. Once you're here, it is hard to think of a place you'd rather be.

There are some adjustments to living here, but its a trade-off. We're still a rural community (and hopefully will alway be) so living in SoWal is as different from Atlanta as any small town.

SoWal for our kids is like how growing up in the suburbs in the 70's and 80's was for us. It is still possible for kids to maintain a degree of innocence and enjoy just being a kid.

Along those same lines......is there an area (or subdivision) along 30-A where more permanent residents live versus areas where tourists visit........or are they interspersed throughout the area?

Most full-time SoWallers don't live along 30-A but are concentrated more North of 98 in Point Washington, Santa Rosa Beach, Mack Bayou area, and in Miramar Beach. Just to give you and idea, Butler Elementary has 700+ students and its boundaries are HWY 393 (Gulf Place/Santa Rosa Beach) west to the county line. Bay Elementary has less than 200 students and its boundaries are HWY 393 east to the Bay County line. Of course, families can still choose either school, but that give you a general idea of where the population is.

Along 30-A, locals are quite spread out. There are a few large neighborhoods that don't allow short term rentals such as Sea Breeze in Camp Creek. Sea Breeze has a few families, but is mostly older couples. Escada had lots of families and those that live there love it because it is a real neighborhood with tons of kids. The most popular place for families to live seems to be Watercolor (lots of locals are building there). There are tons of activities for kids and other kids to play with. It is also centrally located in SoWal so is close to the schools and the ballpark. Rosemary also has many (maybe 30) full-time families. However, when you live in one of these developments, you trade private space for community space so you have to decide if you really want your own yard or if you don't mind walking to the park. Also, there are many rules and covenants that some people may find annoying.

There are many families who don't live in the big developments--but as I said they're just a little more spread out. Lots of families prefer this lifestyle to living in a big development (we're one of them). One drawback it that it is uncommon for 30-A kids outside of the big developments to have a pack of neighborhood buddies to run around with and it takes a little more effort to arrange playdates, etc.

There are permanent residents everywhere along 30A, just not as heavily concentrated as in the other areas mentioned. You will miss some of the big city conveniences when shopping or looking for evening activities, but the area is constantly growing, bringing in new stores and talent, and the great restaurants, beaches, parks, and small town feel more than make up for it. It is an area w/ a large transient tourist population at certain times of the year, but a deeply rooted core group of locals - I call it 6 degrees of separation and 2 degrees of 30A. After being here a year or 2 you will not be able to go into a restaurant, grocery store, or bar w/o knowing someone there.

Just a few points...

On my street south of 30A near Eastern Lake there are 18 houses, of which 9 have full-time residents, 3 are private vacation houses, and the remainder are rentals. My impression is that most of the streets immediately west of the lake other than Ryan (Lake Dr, Gulf Dr, Dalton, Williams, Brown) are pretty similar mixes. So there are some concentrated pockets of locals south of 30A, but the percentage is surely lower than north of 98.

I think if you don't live in the car-intense suburbs, we Americans tend toward communities. When I lived in Midtown in Memphis (population maybe 25,000 out of the city's 800K), I saw folks I know every time I went to the local movie theater, grocery, or liqour store. It works the same here.

For me, the things to adjust to here were the difficulty of access to specialized urban services (the man who re-coned my stereo speakers, for example), flying out of commuter airports, cost of living, annual concern over hurricanes, and the constant driving to Destin/FWB/PC just to go to the driugstore or Home Depot. But I'm not complaining.

The weather is beautiful, I live at the beach, both full-time residents and visitors are generally happy and friendly, access to outdoor activies is great, and we have a thriving, if low-key cultural life right on 30A.

We moved to SoWal in 1979 (year round) raising three children.
They grew up, went to colleges in numorous areas, and all three have moved back to SoWal very succesful. Now we're raising grandchildren at the beach.

It's a wonderful wholesome area for families to live, play, and experience.
Once you've got the sand between your toes you'll never leave much less look back.............

Okay, I have a sort of crazy question for all of you locals of South Walton. We've been coming down here for a couple of years and have spent all of our time on the west side. But we took a drive to the east side of south walton yesterday and fell in love all over again. We've never thought about this area as more than a vacation but it got us thinking!!

We live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta where people seem to move in and out every two to three years. It gets old - having your kids make friends then seeing their hearts break when they see their friends moving away - always seems so transient. So my question is this.... is South Walton transient? Do people with young families come here to live and stay awhile? Or is it as transient as Atlanta? Is it more of a place for retirees to come and live? If people do stay awhile, where do they call home? (I assume south of 30A is mostly rentals/investment properties and second homes).

Just curious....

Please see countdown timer.

Please see countdown timer.

I've been meaning to ask you--does this mean we are getting a new pediatrician in SoWal?

It's a great place to live. I'm never going to leave.

I've been meaning to ask you--does this mean we are getting a new pediatrician in SoWal?

Please spill the beans--where are you going to set up shop?

Cooleydog,
We have a vacation home in SoWal, love it, and spend as much time as we can there. But, we also love our home in Atlanta. That's because 12 years ago we left the 'burbs and moved intown. We have a real neighborhood and I rarely go anywhere, but don't I run into somebody I know. We have three generations of several families living in our 'subdivision' which was built in the 1920s. There's a public pool and 3 parks within 5 blocks. My kids were able can walk and bike to friends, stores and school. We don't have the sprawl and bad traffic of the suburbs. I can usually be anywhere I want to be in 10-20 minutes without getting on the interstate.

So, if you can't make it as far south as SoWal (which is a little slice of heaven) try looking a little further south into Atlanta for permanence and neighborliness .

hi cooleydog-- We moved our 4 children here last Fall, from a much larger city.... 2 are in grade school, 2 are in high school... we didn't know a SOUL here--we literally just moved here because we've always wanted to live near the water.... although the first 2-3 months were a little bit of a culture shock (frankly, moreso for us than for our children), we absolutely LOVE it here... now, you couldn't force us to go back (we unanimously agree that it was a positive move for our whole family)... we've spent more quality time together in the last 6 months (boating, kayaking, biking, beaching, etc) than we have in the last 6 YEARS.... don't be afraid of taking that plunge! =)

I can only ditto what everyone else has said so far. Moving here was the absolute best thing we have ever done. I moved from Atlanta when I was expecting our 1st child- didn't want the rat race life for her. Moved to a smaller town in south Ga. It did have its advantages, but talk about keeping up with the Jones's....we spent every waking moment improving our home into that perfect place, so much so that we totally forgot how to play!
Today as my children were driving me crazy with the summer "what do I do now.....?" I happily told them to get their bathing suits on and go to the beach- read, catch crabs, whatever... It's just so nice to give them a taste of what life should be like. I do have changing neighbors some times, but as I see it- the core group will be the ones they grow up with, the transient ones teach them how to meet people and go the the flow. I am eternally graytful for this life I have been blessed with.

The more I read from everyone about making the beach your permanent homes - the more reassurance I get for myself and family to make the move. We are feeling the same way in regards to making the house just so!!! We've got 4 kids and feel like we just do not spend enough quality/fun time with them. Can't wait to be there and build sandcastles!!!
.

Me too. These locals sound suhweet too.

It's not perfect here- the local job market can be a little wonky in the white collar sector, and every so often there will be things you'd want from a bigger city that you can't just order over the internet. But for us, the plusses so far outnumber the negatives that we're probably here until retirement age (then something like Naples or Sarasota where the winters aren't so cold)

And there's something to be said for living in a place where people are there because they made a conscious decision to move there, not just because it happens to be the place they were born or ended up. You end up with a lot of people who seem genuinely happy to be here, and it carries over into how everyone interacts. It's a very different vibe than the careful Midwestern reserve of where I grew up, or the two-faced nature of Southern hospitality. (had a really bad couple of years in Tennessee dealing with that)

If you have the jobs/means to move here, I strongly suggest it! The quality time you'll get to spend w/ your kids and at the beach more than make up for the lack of certain big city amenities.

I think it's a great place for kids............and those of us who are kids at heart!

This was a super thread!! So encouraging and nice to hear that the reasons/dreams many of us are using in our minds to relocate are actually realities for so many locals.. can't wait to "help" my kids catch that dream when we spend some time there in August.. Hoping that leads to a move as well. Thanks for all the quality responses and supportive people posting on this board....Y'all are grayt!