What makes you feel most wildly alive?
Is it a midcentury in the canyons, with quiet nights and awe-inspiring sunrises? A vintage house in the thrum of Northeast Los Angeles, down the street from a restaurant so local they know you by name? A ’70s surf cabin down a forested lane — minutes from the Pacific?
I help California’s creatives buy & sell rare, earthy properties. Those of the midcentury, vintage, architectural flavor, with a keen connection to the natural world. Because I believe we should all live in dwellings that suit the kinds of lives we’re each called to — where we feel most alive.
Coming of age in Marin County — a sylvan artist’s enclave north of San Francisco — was not only hippie-environmentalist bootcamp, but fostered my deep love of organic design. I grew up in the cradle of the redwoods, learning early on that composting is mandatory and A-frames are cooler. An early partnership with one of the Bay Area’s top agents, Logan Link, was pivotal in developing my editorial approach to real estate acquisition and investment. We spent many moons in my hometown dusting off vintage treehouses and bringing them to light for a new generation of architecture buyers.
I later ventured south to earn my bachelor’s degree in Marketing from UCLA and join a prominent team at Compass, before making the move to Sotheby’s in 2025. With deep roots in both Los Angeles and Northern California, Sotheby’s pairs heritage + global reach with a long-standing reputation for representing exceptional architecture — dovetailing beautifully with the digital real estate brand I’ve created on social.
A blissful amalgamation of vintage homes and how I live intentionally between the city & the great outdoors, @samarnesonhome has grown to an audience of 200K+ and reaches millions monthly. My listings receive unparalleled exposure, along with the houses I see & sell. I’m also open online about being queer + trans, and especially love connecting with clients in the LGBTQIA+ community.
As friendly as I am honest, I was once described by a close friend as “a lighthouse of genuine spirit.” When working with me, you’ll enjoy having a creative, determined, and down-to-earth agent. With career sales of $20M+, I excel at getting buyers into escrow on special properties, and have been intimately involved in the preparation & sale of veritable masterpieces.
Keen as I am on residential sales, I’m an outright nerd for investment. So much so that in 2025, I bought & restored my own: a c. 1968 midcentury triplex in Silver Lake. As an owner-user in the markets I serve, I’m uniquely able to advise investor clients seeking quality, architectural properties across Los Angeles + California. There’s magic in buying & holding these kinds of assets over the long term, and no greater joy than helping my clients make it happen.
My listings + design ethos has been featured in Architectural Digest, The New York Times, Dwell Magazine, and other publications. Outside of work, I love walking the Silver Lake Reservoir, puttering around the garden at my triplex, exploring the California coast, or otherwise fantasizing about moving to a 1970s cabin in the woods.
To work together, reach out on my website at samarneson.com/contact. I would love to meet you!
xx Sam
