ABOUT
Richard Stearns, founder of Stearns + Partners at Compass, is considered one of the leading real estate agents on L.A.'s Westside, consistently recognized as a top producer by The Wall Street Journal and named to both Variety Magazine’s Los Angeles Real Estate Elite and Hollywood Reporter’s Top 25 Re ... read more »
Richard Stearns, founder of Stearns + Partners at Compass, is considered one of the leading real estate agents on L.A.'s Westside, consistently recognized as a top producer by The Wall Street Journal and named to both Variety Magazine’s Los Angeles Real Estate Elite and Hollywood Reporter’s Top 25 Real Estate Agents. With career sales that exceed $1.5 billion, Richard possesses an impressive understanding of the Los Angeles real estate market and, together with his team at Stearns & Partners, emphasizes the importance of clear and timely communication among both agents and clientele.
Richard’s forte combines his astute knowledge of the Los Angeles real estate market and unwavering appreciation and respect for each client. Distinguished for his insightful and accurate handle of inventory, values and trends of the various micro-markets on the Westside, Richard is reputed for his off-market intelligence and acumen for pricing. With a strong affinity to and knowledge of the Westside market—from Beverly Hills to the coastline—Stearns is amongst the most renowned brokers in Los Angeles.
Richard grew up in Binghamton, New York, attended Cornell University in Ithaca and later lived in New York City, affording him the ideal can-do east coast mentality. He has forged roots and made his mark in Los Angeles, where he moved in 1984. He was recruited to work in marketing at Mattel Toys, but left Corporate America to pursue his entrepreneurial passion and his career in real estate.
Prior to the formation of Stearns + Partners team at Pacific Union International, now Compass, Richard was one of the founding partners of Partners Trust, a leading independent real estate firm in Los Angeles that merged with Pacific Union in 2018 and Compass in 2019 to form the number one independent real estate firm in Los Angeles and the state of California. Richard founded Partners Trust with the ambition to create a real estate culture that required, and went beyond, playing at the highest professional and ethical level. Through his leadership, he continues to distinguish Compass as a company whose real estate professionals empower one another to thrive and develop enduring, reliable bonds with their clients.
When not representing his clients in the buying or selling of real estate, Richard serves as the head of scholarship and fundraising for Cornell University’s Los Angeles board of directors and sits on the University Council in Ithaca. He and his wife are deeply committed to the Alzheimer's Disease community and sit on numerous local and national boards, taking them around the country to battle this disease. He spends time volunteering at the UCLA Blood Center and he plays and works out at the Jonathan Club. When not leading his peers in the industry, Richard can be found searching for hidden mountain bike trails throughout the Santa Monica mountains.
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Richard, Thank you and it was a pleasure working with you and your clients. You are a consummate professional and we know your clients will love the home as much as we have!!! Regards, Scott
- Scott
Richard Stearns was working on our purchase out of a tent while bicycling across the state for a charity ride. We were very pleased with the representation we received from Richard on the sale of our old home and purchase of our new house. His help was indispensable and he was available to us literally day and night. Weekends, too.
- Anna D. and Jesse L.
I consider it a stroke of great good fortune that I found Richard Stearns to represent me in the purchase of a new home and the sale of the old one last spring. I enjoyed and appreciated his singular intelligence, personableness, and wit. He was perceptive and forthright. I felt I was in trustworthy as well as able hands. I was impressed and amazed at how quickly he moved when speed was of the essence and how adroit he was when strategy was required.
- Shoshana G.
We recently sold our property in Santa Monica and simultaneously found a perfect property to purchase, also in Santa Monica. I must tell you that Richard’s assistance and guidance was invaluable to us, not only in terms of our financial best interests but also in structuring the logistics and timing of both transactions. Richard went above and beyond what I would have expected from a real estate agent and the results were outstanding.
- KD & BD
We had the pleasure of working with Richard Stearns on the sale of our home on 11th Street north of Montana in the spring of 2010. Richard's guidance and leadership during the sale of our home was exemplary. His knowledge of the market and his keen understanding of how to model, prepare and price our home lead to a very swift and successful sale, above asking price. We continued working with Richard as we searched for a home to buy. After a few months, we decided to rent for a year and he assisted us in that transition. After a year of renting, we worked with Richard again to identify, negotiate and close on our new home in the Palisades. His perseverance and attention to detail throughout our long association has been very much appreciated by our entire family. We are now happily settled into our new home and would recommend Richard without reservation to anyone seeking to buy or sell their home.
- Z.D. & K.D.
Thank you again for all of your help with the purchase of our first home on Jonesboro Place! Working with you (and with Partners Trust) was absolutely essential in allowing us to win our dream home despite the 27 other offers made on it within the one-week offer period. Your guidance surrounding our offer was simply impeccable with respect to price, conditions and timing. Also critical was your willingness to allocate the time, energy and Partners Trust resources to ensure that our offer was accepted and that our transaction was closed in the 10 day-period. Simply put, we could not have made this purchase without you! We can’t wait to show you our home once renovations are completed.
- Pete W.
We want to thank you again for all your help & patience in finding a beautiful home for our family. We couldn't be happier! And we have already referred you to a couple of friends. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
- Pamela K.
After all the time and work (not to mention aggravation) I certainly never expected to get a gift from you. You are a real professional, and a great guy, and it was more than a pleasure to work with you. I was not always on my best behavior, and despite that, you never lost your cool, patronized me, or got snippy with me (my least favorite thing). Your patience is really rather remarkable, and I am sure it stands you in good stead in your business, as well as life. So, as our friend Larry said, you are a mensch and a class act. I will be recommending you whenever I have the chance.
- BT
