Catalogue No. 14 · Autumn 2026
An office that stops at twelve.
Founded in Montecito in 2009. Two partners, twelve houses a year.
How it began
Havilon was founded on one refusal: never more houses than two people can personally know.
Claire Havilon left, in 2009, a firm that carried two hundred listings and, by her own count, knew perhaps thirty of them. The rest were photographs taken in an afternoon, square footage copied from the last brochure, and descriptions written from the photographs.
She opened an office on Alameda Court with a rule that sounded like a limit and turned out to be the product. Twelve instructions a year. Each house measured by a licensed surveyor, photographed at first light and again at dusk, and written up in one hundred and twenty words by the partner who walked it.
Seventeen years on, the rule has not moved. Rafael Montoya joined as a partner in 2016, the private list opened in 2019, and the fourteenth catalogue went to print this autumn. Four colleagues joined along the way, but there are still no juniors, and still nobody between you and the person selling your house.
The office · 18 Alameda Court, Montecito
What we hold to
Four rules, each with a number beside it.
12
Instructions a year, no more
Two partners can know twelve houses properly and not thirteen. When the catalogue is full, we say so and keep a waiting list.
0
Juniors, assistants or hand-offs
The partner who values your house writes its entry, conducts every viewing and sits beside you at completion.
11
Days with registered buyers first
Every entry goes to the private list before the public launch. Four of this year’s eleven sales were agreed inside that window.
100%
Of guides printed
Except for private listings, every house carries its figure. We would rather defend a number than hide one.
Seventeen years
The same rule, counted.
Houses sold to date, at the end of each year shown. Every one of them is printed in the market report.
2009
The office opens
One partner, one room on Alameda Court, five houses.
5
sold
2012
The first printed catalogue
Twelve lots, numbered, with guides. It has gone to print every season since.
38
sold
2016
Rafael Montoya joins
A surveyor by training. Measured areas become the office standard.
83
sold
2019
The private list opens
Registered buyers see each entry eleven days early.
117
sold
2026
Catalogue No. 14
$412 million sold since the office opened.
196
sold
The partners
Two of six, and you will meet both.
Founding partner
Claire Havilon
Nine years at a two-hundred-listing firm before founding this one. Writes the entries for Montecito, Hope Ranch and the Riviera, and still walks every house twice before a word is set down.
Licence
CalDRE 01987452
Sells
Montecito, Hope Ranch, The Riviera
Direct
(805) 555-0143
Partner
Rafael Montoya
Trained as a surveyor, which is why our square footage survives a contract. Joined in 2016 and brought the measured survey with him. Writes the entries for Toro Canyon, Summerland and Upper East.
Licence
CalDRE 02041187
Sells
Toro Canyon, Summerland, Upper East
Direct
(805) 555-0144
On the record
Brokerage licence
CalDRE Lic. 01987452
California Department of Real Estate
Member
Santa Barbara Association of Realtors
Since 2009
Listed on
Santa Barbara Multiple Listing Service
After the eleven-day private window
Commitment
Equal Housing Opportunity
Every house is shown to every qualified buyer