Village Properties celebrates 25th anniversary as housing market heats up

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — It’s been 25 years since independent real estate company Village Properties was founded in a single office along Coast Village Road in Montecito.

Today, Village Properties has become a household name among buyers and sellers in Santa Barbara County. The company has grown from a team of just 25 agents in 1996 to 185 agents today, with offices in Montecito, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez. Annual sales volume has multiplied exponentially, from $102 million during the brokerage’s first full year to $2.3 billion in 2021, now accounting for almost one-fifth of the region’s residential real estate market.

Yet while other independent real estate firms have merged with or sold to national conglomerates over the years, Village Properties remains locally owned and rooted in the community. To celebrate this accomplishment, and the company’s 25 years in business, Village Properties is launching a rebrand of the firm. The new-look will be visible across all of the company’s marketing channels.

“We are so proud of how far we’ve come as a company and as a team. We really wanted to honor this incredible achievement by taking time to do a deep exploration of our origins and values,” said the firm’s owner, Renee Grubb. “Through this rebranding effort, which we have rolled out over the past few months, we hope to communicate to the world what makes our community and Village Properties so special.”

The rebrand includes a new logo, typeface, graphics and color palette used on signage, business cards, flyers, brochures and other printed materials, as well as the company’s website.

Village Properties hired Portland-based firm 1000Watt, which specializes in real estate brokerage branding, to assist with the redesign. The branding company met with Village Properties agents and staff and took aerial photos of the Santa Barbara area, emerging with images, colors and motifs that reflect the company’s standing and history, along with the region’s architecture and landscapes – from the sparkling coastline, to the rural topography of Santa Ynez, and the Spanish-style influence of Santa Barbara’s buildings.

“What we wanted to do is modernize and evolve the graphic identity of the company to make it both current and timeless,” Village Properties’ director of business development Billy Goldstein explained. “The substance of our company – our agents, our culture, and our resources - has only improved, and we wanted our graphic identity to better reflect the culture and spirit of our people and the region of Santa Barbara.”

Village Properties profits are reinvested in the company and community, with agents volunteering for and donating to over 30 nonprofits, including the Village Properties-founded Teacher’s Fund that provides educational supplies to local teachers and students.

“At Village Properties, all of our business stays here, the decisions are made here, and the profits are invested back into this community,” Goldstein concluded.

For more information on Village Properties, you can click here.