In 1979, on his first day as a realtor, Bob Lamborn listed a house for $750,000. His course was charted, and it has allowed him to remain one of the premier agents in Santa Barbara and Montecito, with his total sales reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. Over the years, Bob has been the agent of choice in the purchase and sale of Montecito’s most valuable properties — many of them several times.

Growing-up in Santa Barbara, Bob attended local schools, earned his B.A. degree in Sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, studied architecture and law — each for a year — and secured a Masters degree in Accounting from California State University at Sacramento.

Along the road from his Bachelor’s degree to his most successful decade as a realtor, Bob spent several years as a real estate loan executive in the banking industry. Loaning literally billions of dollars during his tenure as a senior loan officer, he developed valuable expertise funding everything from home loans, to joint ventures, to businesses and shopping centers.

While Bob is known for his impressive and highly-regarded intelligence, as well as his broad background in banking and law, his real estate colleagues and clients alike often refer to the importance of what they refer to as his “old soul” wisdom and understanding as keys to his success. “Although a house is just a house,” he says, “I appreciate that it’s most likely the center of my client’s universe and something that can and should improve the quality of all facets of their life.”

He combines that sensitivity with his fascination and aptitude for packaging transactions and making them work. “I love to put deals together,” he says with a smile, “If faced with the 24 hours to live dilemma, I’d say ‘I’ve got to go back to the office because I’ve got some huge deals that people are really relying on me to take care of.’ It’s helping people in a very concrete way.”

Bob is a shining example of the immensely important fact that a real estate professional can be extremely successful while remaining fastidiously ethical. “I think a definition of success should be all-encompassing,” he states, “Not just that he or she has been the number one salesman for ten years in a row. The important question is, ‘How did he or she get there?’”

Bob’s domestic team also takes priority in his life, however. He and his wife of over forty years, Carla, met and married as 19-year-old sophomores at UC Santa Barbara. Their daughter, Ciera, is a member of the Los Angeles Opera chorus and an aspiring mezzo soprano with a Doctorate in Music from UCLA.

An avid surfer since 1957, Bob still rides the waves regularly. He also loves to ski and is an ambassador for Santa Barbara’s world-famous outdoor lifestyle.