We just stayed with Bailey Vacation rentals in Rio Del Mar. Their simply the best. Lisa in the…read moreoffice really took care of us. The place was clean and ready. Great location. They have great recommendations on places to eat just really great service.

This has been the worst experience I've had moving into a house in Santa Cruz in my 24 years of…read moreliving in this town. Beware of this company, they do not take care of their tenants, or do their job, which in it's most basic form would be to make sure the house is ready to be moved into on the agreed upon move-in date. I feel like I've been fighting with property management since the day I moved in a month ago, and it will probably take another month of back and forth ridiculous communication before I get all the things I paid $11k for to be done before the agreed upon move-in date. Here is a list of things I've dealt with, I am leaving them here so that others know what to look out for. The entire house was filthy on move in day, had not been professional cleaned for a move-in. It still has not, over a month later, partially due to them not getting communication right with the cleaners they finally sent, partially due to me being busy and out of town and not having the time to deal with it. They did illegally send cleaners into my home without my permission while I was on a trip, and still not clean. The landlord had agreed to moved out a bunch of his old furniture to make space for my stuff, and half of what was agreed upon to get moved was still in the house on Nov 1st. I moved it to the deck, for him to come and get, then told property management to get a tarp to cover it, so it would not get rained on. They never took care of the tarp, so it did rain on the furniture, one night I had to dragged mattresses into the house by myself. I went out and bought a trap the next day and they are now refusing to reimburse me for the tarp. The house was advertised with a hot tub, and it is broken, come to find out it has not been turned on for 2 years, which PM did not know, but the landlord did know. They put in the lease, that if the hot tub breaks down while I'm here they would not replace, but that was based on the fact that it worked to begin with. Then they said they would take $50 off the rent for each month the hot tub is not working, and when it came time to deduct that from rent they said "that is only if we can't get the hot tub working at all." (They are currently trying to get it working - so fingers crossed the can deliver on something they promised up front). The hot tub cover that was left behind, and the condition was disgusting, they said it was ready to use, though it is covered in black mold, slugs, and water is soooo dirty. There has been a dead rat under the house with rat droppings for this entire first month, and the landlord has stuffed old boogie boards on top of it twice, despite my request to take away the boards, which are mostly garbage. They left several large pieces of furniture for me to "deal with" after saying the landlord would be happy to take anything away I did not want to keep. cupboard drawers broken, closet floors need a carpenter to fix random floor boards, shower drain clogged. I am not going to get detailed about everything that has been out of integrity, but I'll close by saying, if you do rent a house from this PM be sure to go there a few days before your move in date and make sure you are getting your moneys worth and that the place is actually ready to move into. I like the house and the location, and I'm a really easy going person and fantastic tenant - worked with Portola PM for 13 years, no issues - so it's really been unfortunate to have this completely unnecessary experience, because it's tainted my view of the house, and left me questioning keeping it. My hope is that I can get everything worked out in my second month here and stay. And hopefully get to a place where I can stop communicating with PM about the house, they have been frustrating and terrible communicators. We shall see.....

In June 2025, my sister and I made the decision to sell the rental property we jointly owned. Since…read morewe had never sold a home before, we were on unfamiliar territory. We interviewed four different realtors, and honestly, they all appeared to be trustworthy and knowledgeable individuals who could guide us through the sales process. After narrowing down our choices to two realtors, we requested proposals for selling our house from each of them. These proposals included information about the costs of necessary repairs and upgrades as well as estimated selling prices. During the interviews, it became evident that we were entering a buyers' market, which may limit our ability to achieve the desired selling price. In the end we chose Kaelin. Her proposal kept us within our budget for repairs and upgrades, and she was confident that she could sell the home for its fair market value. Our other 'finalist' was not so positive on achieving those goals. One of the daunting aspects of preparing to sell a home is finding reliable and trustworthy contractors to undertake the necessary work to prepare the property. Once you have these contractors, you need to ensure they begin work as soon as possible. Additionally, you must closely monitor the progress of the work to ensure it is completed on time and in the manner you desire. This becomes particularly difficult for owners selling a home that is located far from their primary residence, making it challenging to meet with contractors and monitor the progress. Kaelin truly shines in this role. She already knew the contractors we needed and managed to get them to provide us with quotes. Once approved, she swiftly put them on the job and ensured timely completion of the work. Initially, the ambitious goals we set together at the project's beginning seemed a bit too demanding, but we managed to meet them. When a buyer wanted to make an offer before the house went on the market, she made sure it was a strong and compelling offer that aligned with the high end of the sales price range she had specified in her original proposal. She also didn't hesitate to incur the cost of staging the property (she pays for this), as this demonstrated our readiness to proceed with other offers if theirs wasn't satisfactory. Long story short, she made it happen. We ended up putting in less money than we planned in repairs and upgrades and sold the property right at the high end of what she said she could do. We found Kaelin very easy (even fun) to work with over the 2.5-3 month timeframe as we went from planning and starting repairs & upgrades to closing escrow.

Kaelin is an outstanding real estate agent. She knows the market and can guide you in what to do…read moreand what not to do in preparing your house for sale. I can't speak highly enough of her integrity and doing whatever needs to be done to sell your home. In our case, we were not able to do the upgrades, as we had left the area. Kaelin jumped in and lined up contractors, supervised their work, and beautifully staged out home. She was always present at the Open Houses, followed up on leads, regularly communicated, and kept our best interests foremost in her thought and actions. I highly recommend her and her team. They kept us appraised the dates for the work, Open Houses, and any bills. Simply a wonderful, warm, and engaging agent with a dynamic team who will work with and for you!

The technical team at Bowman and Williams rescued us from a natural disaster in 2024. A landslide…read morehad devastated part of our hillside and we needed an emergency grading permit to stabilize things before the rainy season. These guys knew what they were doing to save the day and get through all the red tape that County regulators could muster. Professional, punctual, and courteous, I would recommend Ben and his team anytime.

After the 2017-2018 winter storms that resulted in Santa Cruz County California being declared a…read morenational disaster our two-mile county service road providing access to 67 residents suffered several $M in damage as mountains collapsed onto the road and several locations when the road collapsed down the mountain. The county retained Bowman & Williams (B&W) to do preliminary damage evaluations in the disaster area. We were required to obtain 3 quotes to qualify for state and federal disaster relief. B&W offered the required survey and construction design services and always came in with a competitive price. As work actually got underway an alphabet soup of regulatory agencies, FEMA, CA OES, WRCB, F&W, made various demands that impacted the design and B&W always responded quickly to keep the projects on schedule. With all the regulatory hurdles, permits, construction bids and county construction requirements it took until FY 2024-2025 to complete the last project and Bowman & Williams stuck with us thru the last bit of paving and the last guardrail.

Pacific Appraisers did an outstanding job establishing the value of a residential property that I…read morehave in Santa Cruz. Their charges were very reasonable and I was able to get the appraisal scheduled quickly and they turned around the valuation report just a day later. Both Shain Holden and Brett Marshall were a pleasure to work with and provided meaningful market analysis. I wouldn't hesitate to work with them again and would highly recommend Pacific Appraisers to others.

This is probably the best AMC in the mortgage industry. They answer the phone, respond quickly to…read moreemails and get the job done. Don't waste your time going with another appraisal company.

My partner Becca and I were looking for a place to live for a few months. After going to open…read morehouses and responding to many ads we realized that even if we found the right place the market is so competitive we probably wouldn't get it even if we applied. One day we walked in to the Wilder Associates office and met Drayah their accountant and office manager. She also has an awesome puppy named Jill who greeted us at the door. We told Drayah what we were looking for and gave her our information. Drayah was very nice and understood our frustration with how difficult the rental market is for renters. Sure enough weeks later Drayah reached out and told us about a rental she thought would work for us that wasn't on the market yet. She sent us information and pictures about the perfect place with everything we were looking for. Well we just signed the lease and we are thrilled to move into our new house. Thank you Drayah!

Rented a house in Aptos few years ago from Jim really great experience upper Encino alway right…read morethere to fix any problem very on top it.

Octavio and Kari do an amazing job at Watsonville Real Estate! They are honest, very ethical and…read morehard working. I have worked with Octavio in the past as both a listing agent and a buyers agent and his commitment to his clients has been outstanding. He is truly professional and upfront with his clients. He works great with first time homebuyers or seasoned investors and has a wealth of information since he has been selling real estate for many years. I highly recommend Octavio and Kari at Watsonville Real Estate.

The Strock Real Estate Team is truly world-class. During a very difficult time for our family after…read moreour dad passed away, they took on the sale of his property and managed every single aspect of the process so we didn't have to carry the burden ourselves. From coordinating the clean-out, staging, and all the preparation to bringing in the right professionals, their team handled everything seamlessly. All we really needed to do was review and approve decisions, which made an overwhelming situation feel manageable. They were so prepared and strategic that they only needed one open house weekend. We received multiple offers over asking and were able to quickly select the right new owners for the home. Beyond their expertise, the entire team is incredibly responsive, professional, thorough, supportive, and kind. I am so grateful for how smoothly they handled everything. I 100% recommend the Strock Real Estate Team and would absolutely use their services again.

I cannot say enough good things about the Strock Team. They assisted my family and I with the sale…read moreof a family member's house who had passed away, and highly exceeded our expectations. The prospect of hosting an estate sale, de-cluttering, hauling away junk, facilitating inspections and necessary repairs, was overwhelming to say the least. It turns out, Strock handled it all - soup to nuts. From beginning to end, they executed flawlessly. We put the house on the market on a Thursday, and 12 days later, had a closed deal. We accepted an incredible offer, well over asking price. I was amazed to have received 6 solid offers after only one open house weekend. The Strock team's ability to remove stress from the equation was critical at this moment in our life, and I can't thank him enough. If you are making a decision on a realtor, do not look further. Hire the Strock team.

I was very impressed with the service and strategy provided for my specific investment needs. Thank…read moreyou to the SAR team for helping me make the right long term decision.

After selling a highly appreciated home, we were referred to SAR to do a 1031 exchange. We are so…read moregrateful for that referral. After analyzing our overall financial position, they helped locate suitable investment opportunities that have met our goals and needs. The whole process was professional and client centered. I have shared their name with several friends, and they have all been happy as well. It is especially nice that they are located on this side of the hill, as driving over highway 17 can be taxing to say the least.

Love it here. Management is friendly and ensures the park is kept up nicely. We have been here many…read moreyears and are very happy. Neighbors are friendly and take pride in keeping the park beautiful and safe. There are quite a few rules, but they are for the benefit of all residents.