Nineteen years on this coast, one client at a time
Ava Laurent founded her practice in 2007 with a simple promise: every client is represented personally, with candor and care.
From architectural history to the art of the sale
Ava grew up on the Riviera, in a 1920s house her grandparents bought after the war. She studied architectural history at UC Santa Barbara and spent six years documenting the Spanish Revival and estate architecture of Montecito for the county's historic resources survey.
Those years taught her how to read a house: who built it, what has changed, what buyers will treasure and what they will worry about. When a family she had interviewed asked her to help sell their George Washington Smith house in 2007, she found her calling.
Today she leads a small team from an office on Coast Village Road. The practice has sold 312 homes worth $1.46B, but still takes on a limited number of clients each year so that each one receives her full attention.
Ava Laurent
What we hold ourselves to
Tell the truth about price
We would rather lose a listing than win it with a number we cannot defend. Sellers get a written analysis, not flattery.
Protect privacy by default
No client names, no sale terms, no interior photographs shared without written permission. Ever.
Do the homework buyers skip
Permits, insurance, geology, water rights and hazard reports reviewed before an offer, not after.
Stay for the long run
64% of our business comes from past clients and their referrals. That only happens when people are looked after years later.
The team
Small by design. Ava handles pricing and negotiation for every client, supported by specialists in search, marketing and escrow.
Ava Laurent
Principal and founder
Nineteen years selling estates in Montecito and Santa Barbara, with $1.46B in career sales. A former architectural historian and lifelong Santa Barbara resident.
CA DRE #00000000 (demo), CLHMS, GRI
Julian Okafor
Buyer specialist
Leads search strategy and off-market sourcing for buyers relocating from Los Angeles, the Bay Area and New York.
CA DRE #00000002 (demo)
Marisol Vega-Huang
Director of marketing
Produces every listing campaign, from creative brief to film. Previously a photo editor for a national design magazine.
Marketing and production
Theo Brandt
Transaction manager
Keeps every escrow on schedule, coordinating inspectors, lenders, attorneys and title from contract to keys.
CA DRE #00000003 (demo)
Track record
- Career sales volume
- $1.46B
- Estates sold
- 312
- Average of final list price
- 98.4%
- Years on this coast
- 19
Sample figures for illustration.
Credentials and licenses
California DRE license
Licensed real estate salesperson, CA DRE #00000000 (demo), affiliated with a licensed California brokerage.
Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist
CLHMS designation with Million Dollar Guild recognition (sample).
Graduate, REALTOR Institute
GRI designation covering contracts, finance and ethics.
Fair housing trained
Annual fair housing and implicit bias training for the whole team.
Awards
- 2026Top 100 Agents in California by sales volumeCoastal Real Estate Review (sample)
- 2025Santa Barbara Luxury Agent of the YearCentral Coast Realty Awards (sample)
- 2025Top 1.5% of agents nationwideNational Agent Rankings (sample)
- 2024Best Listing Film, Residential Over $10MProperty Media Guild (sample)
- 2023Readers' Choice, Best Real Estate AgentMontecito Village Journal (sample)
- 2022Hall of Fame, $1 Billion Career SalesCoastal Realtors Circle (sample)