Home Is Where Your People Are

A 30-A Real Estate Journey

By Jordan Staggs | Photography by Hunter Burgtorf

There’s something about finding the place where you belong among a family rather than a physical space. That’s certainly been the case for the Oswald family of South Dakota, who came together through adoption and grew together throughout the years to be closer than ever. When the family first visited the Scenic Highway 30-A area of Northwest Florida about eight years ago, spending the winter along the Gulf Coast, they also fell in love with the area. In early 2019, they began looking for a home there after spending about six months in the community of Watersound. But it wasn’t just the neighborhood they loved; it was the way its laid-back lifestyle and beautiful natural setting fostered togetherness for their family. The Oswalds soon turned to realtor Channing Gardner to help make their home away from home more official.

“We explored a range of opportunities along the eastern corridor of 30-A, searching for the perfect balance of location, design, and community,” says Gardner, broker associate of the Gardner Group with Rosemary Beach Realty. “The Oswalds fell in love with the charm and vibrancy of Rosemary Beach—the walkable streets, the sense of connection with neighbors, and the established village atmosphere where their children could walk to work and engage with the community. That, paired with discovering a newly renovated home with beautiful landscaping, provided them with the ideal setting—plenty of space for their family and a seamless blend of architectural beauty and lifestyle.”

They found a home they couldn’t pass up on Rosemary’s charming Bourne Lane and soon began to live like locals, taking walks through the iconic Rosemary Beach Town Center, biking along 30-A to Alys Beach for a snack at Fonville Press, enjoying family beach days throughout the year, and hosting bonfires on Grayton Beach, to name a few favorite activities. Although they maintain a home in South Dakota, they spend the majority of the year in South Walton, where the whole family has gotten to know their neighbors and made incredible connections in Rosemary.

Gardner, who remained friends with his clients through the years, says, “We watched the Oswald family wholeheartedly embrace the neighborhood and its charm—morning walks to the beach, coffee runs to Amavida, and their children becoming part of the local fabric by working in the town’s shops. They had definitely woven themselves into the rhythm of Rosemary Beach, discovering the sense of community that makes this area so special.”

As their family and lifestyle evolved, the Oswalds recently made the bittersweet decision to sell their beloved Rosemary Beach house. They again turned to Gardner and his team to help—but this was more than just another real estate transaction. The family was looking to build their new dream home rather than purchase one.

Along with realtor Sam Notte and advisor Avery Robinson on his team, Gardner assisted the Oswalds in finding the perfect location in the quickly growing Watersound Camp Creek community just a few miles west of Rosemary Beach.

Having gone through the process ourselves, we specialize in guiding our clients through every stage of building a new home on 30-A,” Gardner shares. “We’ve successfully facilitated custom builds with extended architectural plans in sought-after communities such as Alys Beach, Rosemary Beach, Paradise by the Sea, Watersound Camp Creek, and Gulf-front locations along 30-A. Additionally, we’ve helped clients navigate more turnkey development builds in Watersound Origins, offering a streamlined approach to homeownership.

He continues, “Through these experiences, we’ve learned that a hybrid approach—blending custom design elements with the efficiencies of a turnkey build—often delivers the best results. This balance allows homeowners to achieve personalization while benefiting from shorter build times and a smoother overall process.”

“We always said that it would take a lot to get us to leave our home in Rosemary Beach,” the Oswalds admit. “We absolutely loved the convenience of the town itself and the great community members that we were able to meet. What made Camp Creek attractive is that lot sizes were much bigger than in Rosemary Beach, giving us and our growing children a little more space to spread out. Camp Creek is also a non-rental community that has the potential for more full-time residents and associated full-time relationships for us and our kids.”

Gardner Group connected its clients with Jason Carter of Carter Building Company to start the process of building their new home in Camp Creek.

“My wife, Carly, and I have had the opportunity to observe Jason Carter’s work firsthand, having seen him build more than five homes in our neighborhood,” says Gardner. “Through that experience, we got to know Jason and had the chance to speak with homeowners who had purchased his completed properties. This gave us valuable insight into both his efficiency as a builder and the exceptional experience he provides his clients. Carter Building Company was an ideal fit for the Oswalds’ project because Jason serves as both the engineer and architect, seamlessly designing and constructing the home while significantly reducing the typical build timeline by six to ten months.”

The Oswalds share, “The process has gone really smoothly so far. We closed on the lot in mid-November, and they were able to get us through the permitting process by mid-January. We broke ground the next week and on schedule in spite of the crazy snowstorm we had!”

Gardner says although they will miss having the family in Rosemary Beach, it’s been a special experience to see them find a new place to call home together and start construction, especially having the trust that their project is in the right hands with Carter and his team.

This may be an atypical real estate journey, but the professional, heartfelt, seamless transition from sellers to buyers and builders has been rewarding for both the Gardner Group and its clients. The glowing testimony from the Oswald family couldn’t be brighter: “Channing and his team have been absolutely amazing to work with throughout both the buying and selling of our home in Rosemary Beach as well as finding a lot to build our dream home on in Camp Creek. Each transaction has had its own set of challenges, but their years of experience buying and selling real estate in the area proved to be an invaluable asset to our family. They truly are not just our realtors; they have become our trusted partners and friends.”

Gardner shares, “While the Oswald family’s journey is evolving with a new chapter in a new community at Watersound Camp Creek, their time in Rosemary Beach will always be a cherished part of their story to us.”

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Visit TheGardnerGroup30A.com to learn more or see real estate listings.