The 5 best real estate agents in Santa Monica

Scott Price is a broker associate at Compass, licensed since 2004, working from its Main Street office in Santa Monica. His sellers describe renovations he directed before listing, repair money spent only where it would pay back, and sales that closed over asking within days; his buyers describe repair credits negotiated after inspection and a list of contractors handed over after closing. Across both, clients mention his responsiveness and that he never pushed them toward a purchase.

Ray Lyon has been licensed since 2010 and leads a three-person team at Compass from its Main Street office in Santa Monica. Alongside ordinary on-market sales, his team advises on investment property: duplexes and small apartment buildings, 1031 exchanges, land and ADU feasibility, and off-market tear-downs sold to developers. Clients describe him handling a four-property estate sale for an heir living out of state and bringing in local contractors to prepare a home for sale, and several mention his knowledge of the Westside market.

Keri White has been licensed since 2005 and is president and co-owner of Human Element Real Estate, a brokerage of about ten agents on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica that handles leases as well as sales. Her clients, and her team's, repeatedly describe buying a first home with her: patient with questions, and able to negotiate credits when inspections or a closing delay turned something up. Responsiveness is the quality mentioned most often in her reviews, including by agents on the other side of her transactions.

Regina Vannicola has been licensed since 2003 and leads the Regina Vannicola Real Estate Group at Compass, based in its Montana Avenue office in Santa Monica. North of Montana is the neighborhood that recurs most in her named sales, on 14th Street, 15th Street, 21st Place, San Lorenzo and Euclid, with others across the city from Ocean Avenue to Sunset Park. Clients describe her getting deals done under pressure, including a purchase closed in five weeks for a family that had lost its home to fire, and several have come back to her for a second or third transaction years later.

Gary Limjap has been licensed since 1986 and works on his own, without a team, from Coldwell Banker's Montana Avenue office in Santa Monica; he works in English and Tagalog. His site names high-, mid- and low-rise condos, townhomes and two-to-four-unit buildings as his property types, and first-time buyers, relocations, estate sales and investors as his clients; several of his named Santa Monica sales are condo units. The qualities clients mention most are that he is reachable, returning calls the same day and even from abroad, and that he is patient and never pushed them, with several noting he flagged complications before they became problems.