Three questions a surveyor always asks, and nobody prepares for
The roof, the wiring and the drainage, in that order. Finding the three dates before the survey is booked has saved two
Catalogue No. 14 · Autumn 2026
$412M sold since 2009 · 38 days median · 102.4% of guide
Houses of consequence, quietly sold.
Lot 07
New to market
Casa Miramonte
Picacho Lane, Montecito
Guide
$8,450,000
6 bed · 7 bath · 1.4 acres
View this lot
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A private property office on the Santa Barbara coast. Twelve houses a year, each measured, photographed and written up by a partner, and shown first to buyers we already know.
The office
Twelve instructions a year. Not because demand is thin, because attention is.
Havilon was founded in 2009 on one refusal: we would never hold more houses than two partners could personally know. Every entry in the catalogue is measured by a surveyor, photographed over two days and written by the partner who walked it.
That is slower than a portal and it is meant to be. A buyer who reads one of our entries arrives already knowing the house, and a vendor deals with the same person from the first valuation to the day of completion.
Claire Havilon
Founding partner
Est. 2009 · Montecito
Catalogue No. 14
Currently offered
By private treaty
Five houses you will not find on this page.
Some owners will sell, but will not advertise. Their houses are described in full, shown by appointment, and never photographed for the portals. Registered buyers see them eleven days before anyone else.
143 buyers are registered this season. We never share the list.
P-01
A Spanish Colonial of 1928, seven bedrooms on 3.1 acres
Riven Rock · Guide on application
P-02
A single-storey modernist of 1971 with a private beach path
Hope Ranch · Guide on application
P-03
A hillside villa with a channel view from every room
The Riviera · Guide on application
+2
Two further houses, described only by introduction
What we do
Four things, done by the same two people.
I
Selling a house
A catalogue entry, a defended guide, and eleven days with registered buyers before the public launch.
II
Private acquisition
We approach owners who have not decided to sell, on behalf of one named buyer at a time.
III
Valuation
Written, line by line, from completed sales within a mile. Valid for ninety days.
IV
Estate advisory
For families and trustees: what to sell, in what order, and what to keep.
Havilon · Catalogue No. 14
Lot 07
Casa Miramonte
A long stone house of 1962 on the upper lane, drawn around a courtyard of three olive trees. The sitting room faces south through full-height glass; the channel is visible from the second step of the pool.
Provenance
Built 1962. Three owners, the last since 1998.
Measured
6,840 sq ft, surveyed August 2026.
Land
1.4 acres, thirty-eight mature oaks.
Guide
$8,450,000
Selling with us
Every house gets a catalogue entry, not a listing.
1
Photographed across two days
Once at first light, once at dusk. No wide-angle lens, no sky replaced.
2
Written by the partner who walked it
One hundred and twenty words, signed. If a road can be heard from the terrace, the entry says so.
3
Measured, never estimated
A licensed surveyor draws every floor. The figure in the entry is the figure in the contract.
4
A guide we are prepared to defend
Set from completed sales within a mile, shown to you line by line before it is printed.
Neighbourhoods
Six neighbourhoods, fourteen miles of coast.
1
Montecito
$1,640
per sq ft
2
Hope Ranch
$1,210
per sq ft
3
The Riviera
$1,060
per sq ft
4
Upper East
$980
per sq ft
5
Summerland
$1,120
per sq ft
6
Toro Canyon
$1,390
per sq ft
Median price per square foot of completed sales above $3 million, twelve months to August 2026.
Results
Sold, and what it sold for.
14.02
Park Lane House
Montecito
Guide
$6,200,000
Achieved
$6,550,000
Days
19
14.06
The Orchard
Summerland
Guide
$3,950,000
Achieved
$4,010,000
Days
31
14.01
Mission Ridge Villa
The Riviera
Guide
$4,800,000
Achieved
$4,725,000
Days
52
13.11
Las Palmas
Hope Ranch
Guide
$9,400,000
Achieved
$9,900,000
Days
27
Every completed instruction since 2009 is printed in the market report, including the two that sold under guide this year.
A vendor writes
“They turned down the first two offers on our behalf, in writing, with reasons. The third came in $500,000 over the guide.”
The partners
Two partners. No juniors, no hand-offs.
The person who values your house is the person who writes its entry, conducts every viewing and sits beside you at completion. Four colleagues measure, photograph, print and complete behind them. That is why the catalogue stops at twelve.
Claire Havilon
Founding partner · CalDRE 01987452
(805) 555-0143
Rafael Montoya
Partner · CalDRE 02041187
(805) 555-0144
Valuation
What would yours fetch this season?
A partner visits, measures and writes to you within five working days. There is no charge, and nobody else sees the figure.
- Set from completed sales within a mile
- Shown to you line by line
- Valid for ninety days, in writing
A partner replies within one working day.
Questions
Asked at almost every first meeting.
Anything else, a partner will answer on the private line.
Because two partners can know twelve houses properly and not thirteen. Every viewing is conducted by one of us, and every entry is written by the partner who walked the house.
A single fee of 2.5% of the achieved price, due on completion. Photography, the measured survey and the printed catalogue are included; there is no marketing charge and no withdrawal fee.
Always, except for private listings. A house with no figure beside it collects enquiries and loses buyers, and we would rather defend a number than hide one.
Buyers register once, with proof of funds. They receive each new entry eleven days before the public launch, and private-treaty houses that never launch at all. 143 buyers are registered this season.
Usually within forty-eight hours, Monday to Saturday. Viewings are accompanied and last about an hour; we ask for a telephone call first so the right partner attends.
