Our Story
A Family Legacy
For the Barré family, real estate has never been simply a career — it is an inheritance. It began with Olivier’s grandmother, Betty Lessing, who was among the very first agents at the Jon Douglas Company, the storied Los Angeles brokerage that set the standard for luxury residential real estate before it was acquired by Coldwell Banker. Hers was a remarkable, accomplished family: Olivier’s grandfather, Norman Lessing, was a nationally ranked chess master and a prolific screenwriter and playwright whose work spanned the stage and the early decades of Hollywood television. As a young boy, Olivier would tag along on his grandmother’s showings — sitting quietly as she walked buyers through grand homes and talked through deals at the family table. Watching how she listened, how she earned trust, and how she carried herself were the first and most formative lessons of his life in the business.
That influence carried into the next generation. Olivier’s mother, Laurie Barré, was a licensed real estate agent in her own right, though she built her early career primarily as an attorney — bringing a sharp legal mind and a deep respect for diligence and detail to the family’s understanding of the business. Between his grandmother’s instinct for people and his mother’s discipline, Olivier grew up surrounded by two very different, complementary models of professionalism.
No one, however, shaped Olivier more than his father, Guy Barré. A lifelong real estate and mortgage professional and a gifted mathematician, Guy had a rare gift for making the complex feel clear. In his early years he taught as a professor at UCLA, where he was celebrated for his lectures and admired for the patience and precision he brought to every explanation. He carried that same brilliance into the business — and into his role as a father and mentor. More than anyone, Guy shaped how Olivier thinks about real estate, about people, and about doing work that lasts. He remains the reason Olivier does what he does today.
In 2007, the family turned that shared experience into something of their own. Together — Olivier, his father Guy, and his older brother Joshua — they founded Westside Property Management, Inc. on the Westside of Los Angeles. Beginning with a handful of doors and an uncompromising standard of service, they grew it, over the years, into one of the most respected and well-known property management companies in the city. It was a true family enterprise, built on a simple conviction: that managing someone’s property is a matter of trust, never merely a transaction.
Olivier’s older brother, Joshua Barré, was central to that success. An exceptional, lifelong real estate professional and broker, Joshua had operated boutique luxury real estate firms across Los Angeles before bringing his talent to Westside Property Management — and he has been one of Olivier’s most important teachers along the way. Today, Joshua continues to lead WPM in Los Angeles, while Olivier provides broker oversight and steps in wherever he is needed, devoting the better part of his energy to building Barré Properties here in Arizona.
In 2021, Guy passed away after a battle with brain cancer. His loss was profound — felt every day by Olivier and the entire Barré family — and it became one of the reasons Olivier chose to move his family to Arizona for a new beginning. In many ways, Barré Properties is a continuation of his father’s legacy: the same standards, the same care, carried into a new state and a new chapter.
That legacy is the pride behind everything the firm does. For the Barrés, property management has never been merely about maintenance schedules or managing tenants — it is about strengthening the overall wellbeing of the neighborhoods, towns, and counties they serve. With more than thirty years of family real estate experience behind it, Barré Properties carries that standard forward with honest, professional, and genuinely serious work on behalf of every client — one property, one relationship, and one community at a time.
