This is not a home-search site. You already have ten of those.

Don't find a home. Win one.

Search anywhere you like — Zillow, Redfin, my MLS site. My job begins at the moment that actually matters: when you're standing at the threshold of a place that might be your forever home, with a contract in front of you. Call me before that moment. I'll get your offer chosen, protect your money, and walk you from “they accepted” through escrow to keys in hand — thirty-five years on every side of the deal.

Call before you sign · (805) 626-8488 Browse homes on my MLS site →

I've sat on every side of your escrow.

For most of my thirty-five years, I was the broker running the office — the one agents brought their hardest transactions to when something went sideways. I built and ran a Southern California RE/MAX brokerage, originated loans, and served as president of an escrow company. When I explain your deal, you're getting what I spent decades teaching the professionals.

35+ yearsCALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE
BrokerCA DRE #01015261
Loan OriginatorNMLS #329971
EscrowCOMPANY FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Steadfast in Commitment, Inc.CA DRE #01204213
How buyers win

Found the one? Here's how it becomes yours

Three files, plain English: how offers get chosen, how deposits get protected, and how the thirty days between “yes” and keys go right — or wrong.

File 01 · Before you sign

The Papers at the Threshold

Representation agreements, buyer rights, what changed in 2024 — and why you never sign anything at a front door. Know it before the pen comes out.

Open the file → File 02 · Your money

Money & Escrow

Earnest money, escrow, closing costs, title — how your deposit stays protected from offer to keys, from someone who ran the escrow company.

Open the file → File 03 · The whole playbook

Every Guide, One Shelf

Commissions, appraisals, inspections, financing, negotiation — the complete buyer education library, free and growing.

Browse all guides →
The homes themselves

You pick the house. I make sure you win it — and know the truth about it.

My RE/MAX site carries the full MLS — every home, every photo, live. Browse to your heart's content, because the choosing is yours, not mine. When you find the one, I'll tell you the whole truth about it — the real monthly cost, what I'd flag, what I'd negotiate — and then I'll champion your choice with everything I've got, whether it's the house I'd have picked or not. It's your home. My job is to be your agent, not your judge.

Search all homes → Found the one? Tell me about it
I've championed clients into homes I wasn't crazy about. I told them exactly why — and they bought them anyway, and were as happy as could be. That's how it's supposed to work.
It happens at the threshold

One Buyer's Experience With a Tricky Broker

She signed a contract at the front door of the first house she toured. It locked her to one agent for a year — with fees owed even if her family ended up renting. Here's how it happened, the California law that now forbids it, and the five things to check before you sign anything.

Read the story →
"If anyone asks you to sign a year-long exclusive buyer agreement in California, that alone tells you something about how carefully they follow the rules — or how carefully they expect you to read them."
Stuart Schonwetter, Santa Barbara real estate broker — painted portrait
STUART SCHONWETTER · SANTA BARBARA
The broker behind the site

The library is open. The keys are the part we do together.

Read everything here, and carry it into any transaction, with anyone you choose. For decades I ran the brokerage — training agents, reviewing their contracts, and untangling their toughest deals. These days I work the other side of the desk: one or two buyers at a time, here in Santa Barbara and Goleta, getting my full attention and everything I used to reserve for the professionals. Buying elsewhere? I'll connect you with a vetted agent through my RE/MAX referral network — and I'll tell them how you expect to be treated.

Work with Stuart → His story
— Stuart

The coast isn't going anywhere. But the right house might.

One conversation, one straight answer about your next move — from someone who's given thirty-five years of them.

Call (805) 626-8488 →