South Walton w/ Area Director Sabine Robertson

South Walton continues to be one of the most talked about markets along the Emerald Coast -- and in this episode, we’re diving deep into what’s really happening.

We sit down with South Walton Area Director Sabine Robertson to talk all things South Walton: the incredible growth, the challenges agents are navigating, and the realities behind current housing prices. Sabine shares insights from the ground level about what’s working, where the pressure points are, and what REALTORS® should be watching as the market continues to evolve.

From market trends and local dynamics to the opportunities that lie ahead, this conversation offers valuable perspective for anyone working in or watching the South Walton area.

If you want a clearer picture of where the market is and where it might be heading you won’t want to miss this one.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Keys to the Emerald Coast, the voice of the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors. Join us as we amplify member voices, share market knowledge, and strengthen our real estate community.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome back, ECAR. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Keys to the Emerald Coast. I am Chad Nelson, Marketing and Communications Director with ECAR, joined with my amazing co-host, Maria Howell.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Hello, Chad.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Good. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Doing very well. Loving, loving the weather, loving the sunny days. I hear we've got a cold batch coming.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

No.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Not too bad. I think 60s, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

We usually have one in March.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Yeah. So you you warned me about that.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

I did, didn't I say that? Oh, maybe I manifested it. Oops.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

We are joined by our South Walton area director, Sabina Robertson. Also in studio with us. How are you today?

SPEAKER_03 0:52

I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for having me today.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Absolutely. It's great to have you in studio with us.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Um, we we wanted to give you a chance. You know, I I think we've been talking, we're bringing all of our area directors in, giving them an opportunity to kind of highlight their area, where they're from, all of that kind of stuff. But before we jump into that, want to give you an opportunity just to uh introduce yourself to our membership, to anybody listening in, kind of personal, professional. How did you get here? Where's the accent from? All of the above.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

What do you mean? I have an accent? No.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

No, we we do. Yeah, that's true. We do. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Well, you know, uh my story is kind of long, so I'm trying to wrap it up. But I was originally born in Berlin, Germany. And then I grew up in Essen, and at age 17, I didn't speak any English. I came to the US. Um, and then uh down the road I had a hospitality degree, ended up with a master's in education and taught. And eventually we've always were vacationing here in the Emmer Coast, fell in office area, and relocated here. And now I have been in real estate for the last nine years, and I also have my own brokerage. And so that's kind of just a little bit of a wrap-up on my little history.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Yeah, how about your time then on the board? Well, you know, uh, well, Maria, first of all, thank you for doing this podcast for Ica. I think it's amazing. And uh Maria and I served on the Florida Leadership Academy uh the year before she became the uh the old president. The big old president. There you go. And so, you know, I really wanted to be part of that, and I decided to uh get involved. I think it is really crucial for members to get involved, and the only way you can make a change is if you have an opportunity to speak. So a little bit background. I have served the global uh as a global chair for eCar. That's kind of where I first started out. Um, and then I'm currently serving on the board, also for Florida Real Tour, and also I am um uh working on the profession development committee. I'm serving there as well.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Fantastic. Well, good. Well, well let's let's dive in a little bit into your area. Um tell us a little bit just about South Walton, um, kind of in general. It seemed it correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like uh a bit of a unique area for the rest, uh I guess of of e-car in general, but it seems to be a a unique market. Um but yeah, let's dive into a little bit just about the area itself.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Yeah, I I think you're right. It's like the unicorn, you know, it is such a unique area. Uh one feature that sticks out, we have uh 12 coastal dune lakes where freshwater pours in the Gulf of Mexico, and then we have, well, I have to say Gulf of America now, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Either either one.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

Anyhow, so uh, you know, the coastal dune uh is really unique. And when you come along, that is 30A is a stretch along the beautiful beaches, the Gulf, and you have different coastal communities, and they all vary in price points and what they have to offer. Uh, but you know, for somebody who really loves nature and wants to go on a bike ride, it's just an amazing area. And to top it off, we have the most beautiful sand. Uh now that's pretty much all across our Emmera Coast, but um it is really very unique, and the coastal communities are all different, they all have their own characteristics.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

That's fantastic. And uh you said it yourself. Uh, I know that's what brought me here, is I think a lot of people vacation to this area pretty specifically and then want to call it home. I guess what or how does that alone um you know dictate our market? How does that increase or decrease uh you know, number of homes that are available? What is what is that traveling to this area a lot and then maybe later in life or secondary homes?

SPEAKER_03 5:02

What does that look like for well, you know, talking about the uh cost of homes on, you know, we have 30A, we have homes that are south of 30A, we have uh homes, you know, north of 98. So we have kind of the whole area is kind of grouped in three different segments where you look on North 98, price points are very different and um more residential, and then you have the vacation rentals, the vacation homes are more on the 30A East End, and then it also carries over to the West End, and the price points are all over. Um basically 30A, you know, if you look at the average prices on homes, um, we really stand out like a unicorn. If you compare it to the national average, if you compare it to Freeport, Quest for you, and all the other areas, there we are so high in terms of cost per square foot and what these houses are selling for, that for somebody relocating to the area, it's almost pricing them out. So they have to kind of go and look for a permanent residence in Freeport or North Santa Rosa Beach. Um I mean, if you look at 38 East, you're looking at an average between 400 5 million a home, and then you go to the West End, you're looking at 2 million. But it can vary so much from community to community. I mean, it's really kind of mind-boggling. And then you go north Santa Rosa Beach, you're looking about 600, but you have homestarting maybe in the 450, 500 range. So the other big um thing that's kind of important for people who relocate to the area is that, you know, 30A does not allow any big chain restaurants. Everything is local. So the cost is very expensive if you go out for dinner. So it really is um, you know, it's really a resort community, versus some of the other areas that you had already covered are more for residential, like Questriu and Niceville and Freeport.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

I did not know that. I didn't know that we couldn't have chains in the area. That's a new one for the yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah, if you notice when you go over there, I mean I think just finally got a McDonald's and what the Burger King, but that's north of North of 98, but for for I mean forever we had not none of that at all. Even in, even on the off 98.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Yeah, even the the Walmart, you know, that they wanted to put a big Walmart and they were only able to use a small mark, you know, and now they have a second location. So it's changing a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

But um Yeah, because I think that origins area is a little bit more residential, like you said, and that has brought in the publics and a new elementary school, and you know, so that growth there um is pretty significant.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Yes, that is a huge area, and that's again the north side of of um 98.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Okay. Yeah, I've seen a lot of listings coming up because I checked the hot sheet every morning, and there's a seems like a lot of listings hitting the market there along 30A. So Yes.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

I mean we have we have a lot of listing, and also our absorption rate is pretty high. I mean, you're looking at uh like 30A East is about, you know, eight a little over eight months, and then um, you know, 30A West actually is a little higher. And that's because more investors are gearing towards the East End because they get a little bit more rental income versus the West End. So it's just all across the board, yeah. Yeah. But the market, you know, I feel like is stabilizing a little bit. You know, if you're looking at what happened over the last three, four years, it kind of was trending a little bit downward and now it's kind of balancing, at least that's what I'm seeing. I mean, a lot more people coming to look at property and writing offers.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Yeah, that's great. But lots of listing popping up like that. Yeah, I noticed that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Is uh I guess it on South Walton, uh, it feels like it's across the board, kind of in our area, but is there land limitations in South Walton with some of the the natural parks and protected land?

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Yes, so the biggest problem is that you cannot when you buy property around a coastal dune lake, um, there are specific setbacks that you can build a house on it. So you you deal with wetlands, you deal with flood zones and coastal dune protection zones. And um so that's really important to understand all the criteria when you're working with a buyer to inform them what they can and cannot build. So here's an example person bought a home in Santa Rosa Beach and thought, oh, I can put a pool in this house after I close. Uh, this was not my client, but I'm just saying they could not put a pool in there because the Costa Dun Buffa zone, which is another zone that a lot of people are not aware of, was protecting that site and they couldn't add a pool later on. So it's really important before you buy property, you understand, can I if you want to put a pool in, can I do that?

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Yeah, that is very important. Now someone has purchased a home with the idea of a pool and they can't do what they want. So yeah, that's and if we, you know, would have known that they had the buffer zone, like you said, or the different zoning, they would have known that and maybe picked a different home. Home site. So yeah. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

So you kind of alluded to it a little bit. I I think talking some of those numbers, but w what's happening in South Walton right now? Um, you know, what's the inventory like, buyer demand, pricing?

SPEAKER_03 10:20

Well, you know, I think you need to be very strategic right now about where you list your property because we have a lot of inventory. We are definitely in a buyer's market. But, you know, just you know, is we still have multiple offer situations here and there. If the property is priced right, and so you really need to know your data and and and pay attention what inventory is out there. And I always encourage everyone to go to those uh 38 tours and learn about the inventory, what's out there, what they're pricing it. But you know, we we really do have um quite a bit of listings right now. Yeah, those 38 tours, who they're popular.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Gosh, they have about 60 to 70 attendants. Wow. Yes, they have it the best attendance of all the area tours. You yeah, you definitely need to come out there.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

The the 38 West End tour is this Wednesday. Actually, today they asked me to come and I said no, I can't come today because then we appreciate it and then we'll do the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Okay. Yeah, so they split the the area 18, you know, East End into two. And then I know I've I've heard some people last year when um saying, you know, can we do the same for 17? Because it's hard to, you know, have 10 homes on tour and you can't add any more. And when you have, like we just talked about, more inventory coming on the market, you want the agents to get in and see it on the tour. And when you have to limit it to 10 to 12, yeah, it's hard to so they're like, can we split the 17 up? But I don't know if they're gonna do that or not.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Yeah, and homestead sitting longer on the market, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

So you have some time to get it in on the next tour.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

So we'll have to look into that. We'll have to not a day off on the podcast, but we'll figure out a time. We gotta get some staff out there and take some pictures and highlight some of that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

They have a great turnout.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Well, what about some growth and development in South Walton? Um, obviously we we talked a little bit, but it continues to attract, you know, new residents, visitors, investment opportunities. What kinds of growth and development are you seeing that might shape like the future in the area?

SPEAKER_03 12:25

Well, you know, when I first came here, 30A was really not developed. And then they did the everything everybody went to Destin, right? And Destin, you can have condos, 30A, we have a height restriction. There's very few that got grandfathered in. But as you're going down to 30A, it's really changing. Um, you know, more and more developments. I mean, one of our uh biggest challenges right now is the privatization of the beaches. So um, you know, Walton County has purchased several um beach properties and they're turning them into parking. Uh, but you know, when you're when you're buying or selling property on 30A, you need to really know where the public beach is. Can I go to the beach? Or how far do I go to get there? And they're building new parking um, like on 393, they just finished building a new parking spot and uh parking.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

The beach access.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

The beach access. No, they have a new parking lot with parking. Yeah, and they have a shuttle service now taking people. They do that on Grayton Beach too. So that's that's for for the season they do that. Um the state parks always offer uh free parking during the summer season, so you can park and use those beaches, but you know, that's something important to know where you can use the beach. Yeah. And um new restaurants are coming up, you know, and you know, they they're continuing to grow and offer, you know, a lot of the communities offer farmers market on the weekends and shows and concerts. That's really also attracting a lot of tourism, you know, to come.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Yeah, you're really kind of buying into that lifestyle, luxury market, beach there that they're really looking for that.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Everybody's out on their bikes, you know, you got the golf carts and yeah, it's uh it's a different feel.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

You know, they they they kind of did some restriction with golf carts in Rosemary Beach and Alice Beach, where you can't really go into off the 30A and drive around. So that's another thing to know when you're buying investment property, if that's important to you, because everyone loves to buy their little golf carts. Yeah, and it slows down the traffic with only two lanes on 30 people.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

It can be challenging, you know. But yeah, just be aware of the people.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

I thought I was gonna hit a couple people. I was like, oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Yeah. I I that's always kind of been one of my dreams. I want to have a golf cart.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Um, Sabina may have one.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Oh, yeah. I do have one to get rid of the colour.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

We were just talking about the golf cart.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

We won't have to talk afterwards. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

If you want to buy one, I have uh I have a listing and we we had a golf cart and we couldn't make it work, so it's for sale now. Uh-huh. See? And it's a brand new one, so let me know.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yeah. Look into that. We've I've always that's always strangely and you're a golfer.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

I am a golfer.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

I've always just I've always wanted to live, I think, like buying into that community. Like I love the fact that I could jump into a golf cart and go to my friend's house and park at their garage and watch a game or whatever that is. But yeah, it seemed always fun to you know.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

One of the other things is the elevation is very different. So Blue Mountain has the higher elevation areas on 30A, but you know, even sometimes you can look within communities and some elevations are higher than others. So also something to kind of keep in mind when you're looking.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah, that's a lot to offer over there in 30A for sure.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

It's very different, I think. When you look at Walton County and Okaloosa County, I really feel like it's a little bit like the unicorn because it's so unique. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Absolutely. Uh well, I mean, as area director, you you kind of bridge that gap between e-car and our members and are kind of that communication point. But uh, what are some of the biggest needs or opportunities that you see for realtors in your area right now?

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Well, I think education on some of the topics we discussed earlier, you know, uh maybe get together with the county and find out what, you know, building setbacks are, or coast to dune restriction and kind of do some more education on that. We're actually working on that on the profession uh profession development committee where we're gonna have a panel working on it to kind of uh address some of those topics. But I think that's really important for um, you know, new agents or agent agent working in that area to just become very knowledgeable about all these different um setbacks and post-to-dune lakes regulations and have more training on that.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Yeah, I I I agree with you. And also, you know, what area for vacation rental, I think, and where beach accesses are and if other properties have beach access. I you know, we hear stories about someone purchasing at home and they thought they had the data beach access and they didn't. So just uh yeah, I think the education piece of that's very important for that market. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Obviously, that fantastic member benefit that we provide our members that education we always talk about. So take full advantage of that to make for sure that people are paying attention to custom save the dates. We've got a panel coming up, make sure you're paying attention to that. That's yeah, it's a great yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

We have this wonderful Santa Rosa Beach office too that's available for the members to use. I use it quite often, it's really great. It's a beautiful office.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yes. We need more of y'all to come over. I'm teaching a class there tomorrow. There you go. So yeah, Sabina is one of our um Lord World's instructor as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

So yes, we'll have to We should get has anyone written a class on the wetlands in Coastal Dune Lake and all of that? That might be something.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yeah, you know, it's just you know, I mean, you have to look into it, but or it may just be an e-car class. Yeah, we can write. We need to look into the class. I have to get with Paula.

SPEAKER_03 18:02

Maybe we need to write one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Well, Sabina, how can how can our members get a hold or or get in contact with you if they've got any questions or need some help?

SPEAKER_03 18:13

Well, you know, I always go to the tours. I try to go to the West End tour, and uh they can always email me or call me, and I'm always here to help. Um, any questions they have.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah. Oh, that's great. Well, we appreciate you coming on. It's it's kind of been a pleasure. We've got to spend some time together at some conventions lately and always enjoy my time with you. So well, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

I appreciate all the the amazing newsletter that you created. That's really cool. That's very educational. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

We appreciate it. We're trying. We're trying to do everything we can.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Yes, trying to get the word out.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Absolutely. It's a lot, lot to do.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Yeah. Chad stays busy.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

On that note, uh, you know, again, this this podcast is for our members. Uh, we really want to bring the information, the knowledge, the education that you're looking for. Um, please reach out to us. Let us know if there's something a class on wetlands, a class on setbacks. If there's something that you're looking for, please let us know. Reach out. You know, you can always find me um at the office, um, Paula at the office, Maria is not in the office.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

I'm not in the office, but I can meet you wherever you want me to.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Absolutely. Well, thanks for listening in. Uh, you can find us on Apple Podcast, uh, basically wherever you're listening to your podcasts. We'll you can find us there. Until next time, we'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Yes, goodbye.