Before You Dive In
- Sereno, now part of Christie’s International Real Estate, began in the summer of 2006 and is marking its twentieth year in 2026.
- The company grew out of a friendship that started more than fifty years ago, back when this valley was still orchards rather than Silicon Valley.
- Its founding conviction was simple: doing right by people is its own reward.
- Twenty years on, that has grown into roughly 650 agents, 20 offices, and more than 7 million dollars in charitable giving.
- Rather than disappear into a national merger, our firm recently bought back its independence and is now the largest locally owned and operated brokerage in Northern California, while keeping the Christie’s International Real Estate affiliation.
- For me, the milestone is less about the numbers and more about what two decades of serving Palo Alto neighbors has actually meant.
A story that started in the orchards
Every company has an origin story. Ours started long before there was a company at all.
More than fifty years ago, two kids became friends along a shared country driveway, in a place that was still orchards before the world started calling it Silicon Valley. Chris Trapani and Ryan Iwanaga were lifelong friends long before they were business partners. In the summer of 2006, that friendship became Sereno, built as a deliberate alternative to the impersonal, big-box real estate brokerage. It was a boutique where hyperlocal knowledge and real relationships came first, founded on a conviction that sounds almost old-fashioned now: that doing right by people is its own reward.
I think about that a lot. Not the founding date, but the idea underneath it. This community was built by people who knew their neighbors, and the best parts of it still work that way.
Behind the numbers
The anniversary comes with the kind of figures companies like to share. Over 650 agents. Twenty offices. More than 7 million dollars given to the communities we work in.
The giving is the number I am proudest of, because it is the one that points outward. It has earned the company real recognition, including its highest placement yet on the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s corporate philanthropy list, but the ranking matters far less to me than the habit behind it. It says the goal was never just to grow. It was to be worth having around. Today the company carries the Christie’s International Real Estate name alongside Sereno, which widens the reach, but the part that matters here at home has not moved: showing up for the neighbors and the causes that make this a place people do not want to leave.
“I have watched this valley change more than once. What has not changed is the idea that doing right by people is its own reward.”
Choosing to stay local
There is a chapter in this story that says more about the mission than any anniversary number can. A few years ago, the company had grown through a national merger, the kind of move that usually pulls a firm further and further from the neighborhoods where it started. Sereno went the other direction. It bought its independence back, and today it is the largest locally owned and operated independent brokerage in Northern California, while keeping the Christie’s International Real Estate name and its worldwide reach.
Think about what that choice means. Handed the option to become one more branch of something enormous, the founders chose to stay close to home instead. That is the whole philosophy in a single decision: global reach, but local ownership, local roots, and local accountability to the people right here.
What "one mission" has meant here
Twenty years is long enough to watch a neighborhood change and long enough to keep your promises to the people in it. That second part is the one I care about.
Palo Alto is not a place you serve by chasing transactions. So many of the homeowners I know have been here for decades. They raised families here, watched the orchards give way to something else, and stayed. Working here well means treating a home sale as one moment in a long relationship, not the whole point of it. That is what “one mission” has always meant to me: the person comes before the deal, every time, whether or not there is ever a deal at all.
Thank you for twenty years
Milestones like this are really thank-you notes in disguise. So let me write mine plainly.
Thank you to the homeowners who trusted me with the biggest decision most families ever make. Thank you to the neighbors who wave on the street whether or not there is a sign in anyone’s yard. Twenty years happened because this community let it. I am grateful to be a small part of it, and I am not going anywhere.
Thank you also to my wonderful colleagues at the Palo Alto and Los Altos offices specifically who have supported me, collaborated with me, and kept things positive when times were tough. This includes our incredible marketing team, office admin staff, and transaction coordinators as well.
Here is to the next twenty years!
Celebrating 20 years of Sereno real estate!
Palo Alto Home Community Questions
What is Sereno's connection to Palo Alto?
Sereno was founded in this area in 2006, and its roots go back much further, to a friendship formed here when the valley was still orchards. Serving communities like Palo Alto has been the point from the start.
Sereno is now Christie's International Real Estate. What changed for me?
The company carries the Christie’s International Real Estate name and has global reach, which widens the audience for a listing. At the same time, it recently regained its independence and remains locally owned and operated, so the local, relationship-first way of working is not just intact, it is the whole point.
Does the brokerage behind my agent actually matter?
It matters more than most people expect. A brokerage sets the standards, the reach, and the culture your agent works within. A firm built on doing right by people tends to attract agents who work the same way.
What does "doing right by people" look like day to day?
It looks like honest advice even when it may not be what the client wants to hear, treating a home as part of a long relationship rather than a single transaction, and staying invested in the community long after the paperwork is signed.
