The Beverly Hills Estates opens Ojai satellite office

The Beverly Hills Estates, the luxury boutique brokerage in West Hollywood, has quietly opened its first satellite office in Ojai, a town in the mountains east of Ventura known for its arts colony and equestrian estates.

The satellite office, officially named Estate of Mind Ojai, will be helmed by TBHE agent Michelle Graci and her team of five agents.

In the past few years, some of Los Angeles’ high marquee agencies have opened offices in South Orange County, where listings for mansions have approached listing prices typically seen in Malibu and Bel-Air.

Graci said Ojai is just beginning to show its potential for luxury. 

“It’s not a saturated market,” she said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for growth.” 

Boutique agencies from Los Angeles have not moved into Ojai, Graci said. She and her agents will compete against local agents in the market.

Graci pitched TBHE co-founders Branden and Rayni Williams to open an Ojai office last year, after Graci purchased a building zoned for live-work. The office is located at 202 Canada Street in Ojai’s main commercial district. The new office is based across the street from Bart’s Books, a famous bookstore owned by David Grant, the former general manager of luxury retail center South Coast Plaza, and his wife, Andrea Grant.

Branden Williams said his company is scouting other areas to open offices which also will bear the Estate of Mind brand. 

“Our goal was to own five to 10 really cool offices around the L.A. area,” Williams said. “The goal of Estate of Mind is to stay boutique, like The Beverly Hills Estates. It’s never been a goal of ours to expand like a Coldwell Banker or a Compass.” 

Williams said the satellite office was not a franchise.

Estate of Mind Ojai will offer an event space for artist receptions, yoga classes or sound bath installations. The interior design will feature green and pink color schemes like TBHE headquarters on the Sunset Strip.

Ojai, located about 83 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, is not regularly in real estate news like Montecito, another place north of Los Angeles that has attracted the attention of luxury real estate agents. But Ojai, a town of 7,600 people, is getting notice. A wedding celebration for Rose Schlossberg, a granddaughter of President John Kennedy, was held in Ojai in 2022. Recently, Will Graham, a showrunner for Amazon series “Daisy Jones & The Six” bought a $6.4 million estate in Ojai, according to Robb Report. The home is located on a 2.5 acre lot.

In October 2023, the median price for an Ojai home was $1.175 million, according to a Redfin market report. The median price has increased about 19 percent in a year-over-year comparison.

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