John Flaniken

We are both retired and have bought and sold quite a few times. When deciding to sell our Aptos home and move closer to shopping, restaurants and other life necessities we did some research and interviewed four top area realtors. We ended up selecting John Flaniken. BEST DECISION WE EVER MADE! John not only met our expectations, but exceeded them, consistently. Why did we choose John? One reason was he is also a broker, but most importantly for us was that we felt he would be the person we would deal with all the time. He is easy going, easy to speak with, and always available with answers to any questions. One of our problems was to buy and sell within a very short time frame. John quickly got a feel for what we wanted, came up with various strategies for getting the best deals, and guided us patiently through the process. He is extremely knowledgeable about what is going on in the area (Sits on several real estate related committees). We looked all over the area at many different homes, most of which we knew we would not buy, but wanted to see anyway. John was always willing to show any home at pretty much any time. We even looked at fixer-uppers, and John’s knowledge on construction, lot grading, and costs was extremely helpful. He also had suggestions for different financing options, if needed. In the end we ended up selling our old home a few weeks before closing on our new home. Thanks to John having included a rent-back option we had a relatively easy time moving into our new home, which we both love. If you wish to speak with us directly, ask John for our phone number.

John Flanikan and his team are without a doubt as good as they get when it comes to buying and selling homes. John was first recommended to my wife and I 8 years ago, and since seamlessly guided us through two purchases (in 2011 and 2020) and one sell (in 2015). John and his team are extremely knowledge in local (Santa Cruz) real estate market trends and changing housing guidelines, and provided us on numerous occasions with important information that steered our buying and selling decisions. This included insights into challenges we would have encounter in the renovation of several properties we were considering, as well as local ordinance changes impacting ADUs and hence the value of three homes we considered. This type of knowledge can only come from local real estate experts like John and is worth its weight in gold. John and his team are also whizes when it comes to structing and/or evaluating offers. They know the right levers to push and pull with offer generation and acceptance, and utilized this know-how to structured two deals for us that resulted in minimal closing cost on our end. This was important for us because we wanted to preserve cash for remodels. He and his team also helped us sift through offers on our own home and select the right one that met our needs, which at the time was a fast and low risk close. My wife and I now have several close friends who are relators in Satan Cruz, but we won’t even consider working with any other than John and his team because they are that good.

John in a word...awesome!!! I've done alot of real estate deals in my life...this latest one was the most difficult ever!!!! And John closed it!! John's not just a realtor, he is the cream of the crop...never looking to just sell a house, but build a lifetime relationship. John went to the wall for me. I'd HIGHLY recommend him to anyone happily. I really can't say enough. ..I typically don't write recommendations for anyone....but he is soooo deserving!! Trustworthy, professional, timely and knowledgable..the best. .period!!

I met John several years ago when I was interviewing realtors to potentially sell my family-owned cabin of more than 70 years. It held such sentimental value to me and was extremely hard for me to let go of it. From our initial meeting, I found John to be professional, organized, honest, empathetic and very knowledgeable about the area. He came to our meeting very prepared and when he didn't know an answer, he let me know that he'd get back to me on it, which he did. There was no question in my mind that when I decided to sell my little cabin, I would choose him as my realtor. Fast forward three years when I finally made the decision to sell my cabin. John was there with me every step of the way. He let me know what the current local market conditions were and gave me comps as well as his insight into pricing the cabin appropriately. I never felt pressured and he really was there for me before, during and after the sale. John also works with local people who provide amazing support. There were a few things that needed to be done on the cabin prior to selling it and he got an experienced contractor and painter to come in and do the work. He also used a fantastic escrow officer, Sandy Reynolds of First American Title, who went above and beyond the call of duty to get all of the paperwork completed. She even noticed that my tax person hadn't calculated something correctly and made sure I understood what she needed. I would definitely use John again. He is experienced, knowledgeable, professional, and determined to provide excellent service to his clients. He is an all-around good, honest businessman who partners with people like him who do great work for their clients. I'm so glad I used him to sell my cabin!

John was friendly and extremely helpful through the process of upgrading my home, listing and selling it. He was patient as he walked me through all the paperwork involved. John is very knowledgeable about the market and he was able to get me the sale price and terms he thought I would get before we started any work on my home.

John helped me sell my condo last summer. He did a fantastic job. John worked with me to improve details in the condo so I could get top dollar. The results were fantastic-I almost wanted to stay there-though I have a growing family and needed more space. John is honest, reliable and truly loves his job. I recommend him whenever I can.