They Spent 20 Years Building Their Dream Home in Ojai and Just Put It Up for Sale to Buy a Yacht
Most people spend a lifetime trying to build their dream home. Mark and Isabella Sutherland actually did it. Then they decided to leave it all behind for the open ocean.
The couple listed their Ojai estate, Amanjai, for $16.5 million in June 2026. The property sits on nearly 4 acres on the northern edge of Ojai, within the Los Padres National Forest, and it has never been on the market before. Nobody outside their circle even knew it existed.
This is not a story about a distressed sale or a market pivot. It is a story about two people who built something extraordinary over 20 years and then chose something even bigger.
The Home They Designed and Built Themselves
The Sutherlands are not your average sellers.
Mark is the CEO of Sutherland Presses, an industrial manufacturing firm. Isabella is an architect and the CEO and lead designer of MAGRÌ, a Milan-based luxury handbag atelier. Between the two of them, they did not hire someone else’s vision. They built their own.
The name Amanjai was inspired by the Aman brand of hotels, known for their design restraint and sense of total escape. The compound reflects that philosophy at every turn.
Completed in 2014 after a two-decade transformation of an original single-family home, Amanjai became a five-structure compound with 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and roughly 8,100 square feet spread across a main home, two guesthouses, a detached gym, and a creative studio.
The 4,324-square-foot primary residence is single-level, entered through a graveled courtyard centered on a sculpture-adorned reflecting pool. Inside, French limestone-tiled floors sit beneath exposed wood-beamed ceilings.
The great room features heat-brushed oak floors, clerestory windows, a fireside living area, a kitchen with a large eat-in island, and a climatized wine cabinet. Rolling pocketing doors open it all to an expansive barbecue and dining pavilion.
The backyard is anchored by a 70-foot pool with an inset spa, a Baja ledge, water features, a freestanding infrared sauna, and pathways through citrus groves. The property is gated by automated steel gates flanked by river rock pillars, with a three-car garage and a motor court that fits up to 15 vehicles.
A private well, Tesla solar power, and an integrated Savant system controlling all lighting, climate, audio, and shades make it nearly self-sufficient.
Why Two Successful CEOs Are Walking Away
They did not decide this overnight.
The Sutherlands commissioned their Palm Beach Motor Yacht PB55, named PRANA, two years before it was ready. That is how far ahead they planned this. The PB55 is a 62-foot ocean-rated motor yacht with CE Class A certification, built for extended open-ocean passage. It has already been out on the water.
As of this writing, Mark and Isabella have already sailed to the Bahamas and Virginia. They are currently spending the summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Next year, the plan is the Mediterranean Sea, Croatia, and Turkey.
“We’ve been boating all of our lives,” Mark told Mansion Global. “I’m semiretired, and we decided while we’re both in the adventurous, can-do club, we might as well get going and go do it. Believe me, after owning the property and developing it for 20 years, it was not an easy decision.”
That last line matters. This is not someone fleeing a chapter. It is someone who finished one and chose to open another.
The listing is held by Johnathan Pach of Compass Beverly Hills, who has been overseeing the sale while the Sutherlands are already at sea.
What Ojai Actually Means for the Buyer Who Lands This
Ojai does not make noise. That is part of the point.
The town sits in Ventura County, about 80 miles from Los Angeles, tucked inside a mountain valley that turns pink when the sun sets behind the Topatopa Mountains. It is a 90-minute drive from downtown LA on a good day. Most people know it as a wellness weekend destination.
Listing agent Pach calls it something more: a full family environment with strong schools, boutique shops and restaurants, and the kind of privacy that money in Santa Barbara cannot always buy.
The broader market context matters here. As of May 2026, Ojai is classified as a buyer’s market with 96 active listings and homes averaging 66 to 96 days on market depending on the segment.
The median asking price sits around $1.5 million. Amanjai at $16.5 million is roughly 11 times that figure, placing it in a tier where buyers take their time and negotiate with confidence.
This pattern keeps showing up across California’s high-end listings. Even Cher, whose Malibu mansion remains one of the most talked-about unsold celebrity properties in Southern California, is proof that prestige alone does not close a luxury deal. Pricing, timing, and story all have to align.
For the right buyer, Amanjai is not a compromise. It is a category of one.
If you track moves like this before they hit the main news cycle, there is a WhatsApp channel that covers California luxury real estate as it breaks. Worth keeping open.
Why This Matters
This listing sits at the intersection of two things happening simultaneously in the California luxury market.
Ojai’s upper tier is quietly maturing. According to April 2026 data, the town’s median sale price was up 11.1% year over year, even as sales volume dipped and premium properties took longer to move.
That combination, rising valuations alongside longer days on market, signals a market where buyers have leverage but sellers who price correctly still win.
The Sutherlands built something for 20 years, let it appreciate, and are now converting it into a life with no fixed address. That is a different kind of wealth calculation. And they are already living it.
It also continues a pattern worth watching in Ojai specifically. Justin Baldoni listed his 10-acre compound for $8.9 million in early 2026. Reese Witherspoon sold her retreat there years ago. Serious people keep finding this town, staying for decades, and eventually cashing out quietly.
The backstory-driven listings always land differently. The man who named Air Jordan recently listed his $25 million beach mansion, and DJ Kaskade’s Pacific Palisades mansion only moved after three price cuts.
Every major listing has a human story underneath the numbers. Amanjai has one of the better ones.
Until they buy a yacht, apparently.
Key Takeaways
- Amanjai is listed at $16.5 million through Johnathan Pach of Compass Beverly Hills
- The 5-structure compound sits on nearly 4 acres at the northern edge of Ojai within Los Padres National Forest
- It spans 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and 8,100 square feet across a main home, two guesthouses, a detached gym, and a creative studio
- Mark Sutherland is CEO of Sutherland Presses; Isabella Pia Sutherland is an architect and CEO of luxury label MAGRÌ
- The couple transformed the property over 20 years, completing the compound by 2014
- Their Palm Beach Motor Yacht PB55 PRANA took two years to build and is already sailing
- The Sutherlands have visited the Bahamas and Virginia and are currently in Newport, Rhode Island, with the Mediterranean on next year’s itinerary
- The property runs on Tesla solar power, a private well, and a full Savant smart home system
Would you trade a $16.5 million compound you built with your own hands for life on the open water? Or does walking away from something like this feel impossible? Drop your take in the comments. Genuinely curious where people land on this one.
Wrapping Up
Twenty years. That is how long the Sutherlands spent turning a plain 4-acre property into one of the most private, intentional compounds in Southern California. The orchards, the boulders, the limestone floors, the motor court, the name, the philosophy behind all of it. That does not happen by accident.
And then they bought a boat, spent two years waiting for it to be built, and sailed away before the listing even closed.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. All details are based on publicly available reports at the time of publication.
