Daniel Oster, Coldwell Banker Realty - Santa Cruz, California

Enda Phelan

We have just closed on our first home, and with the support of Daniel the process was almost enjoyable! We always felt that Daniel was completely open and honest with us and that he had our interests as his top priority. His experience and knowledge of houses in the Santa Cruz Mountains helped us hugely in navigating prospects as they came to market and finding our home. He was super responsive and always eager to help, and yet confident and grounded to help us through the challenging moments. You'll be in very good hands if you work with Daniel.

Claire Inayat Williams

In the many years we worked with Daniel looking for a home he was always patient, responsive, friendly, and never once pushy. He’s extremely knowledgeable and will tell you honestly, and accurately, what issues you should be aware of. We genuinely felt he had the best interests of our family at heart and trusted he would help us find the right home to fit both our budget and our personalities, and most importantly a safe space for our children to grow up! He managed to make a long and confusing process in an extremely challenging market enjoyable and easy. We highly recommend Daniel to anyone looking to buy or sell a home.

Irving Rollingher

Selling a house is hard and stressful. Daniel impressed us from start to finish with his patient manner, (which is at all times courteous and relaxed), but above all with his thoroughness and his expertise. He knows the market and he got to know us and very early on understood our needs and objectives for selling our home. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend him or to use him again if the need arises.

Arin Reisman

We just sold our house with Daniel and I cannot recommend him enough. He had worked with us for a few years when we weren't sure if we wanted to sell, and he was always supportive, informational, never pushy and let us get to the place where we were ready. When we did decide to sell, the process was so smooth and painless, he is proactive and on top of everything that needs to happen. He was extremely flexible with us, letting us determine the best ways for us to go through the process and we never felt pressured or misled. He talked us through his approach to selling our house, always giving his opinion but letting us decide and it all went better than we could have hoped! All in all, 10/10, would recommend him to anyone.

Carol Stephen

I had the absolute pleasure of working with Daniel Oster of Coldwell Banker Realty recently for both the sale and the purchase of my homes. When my house was catastrophically damaged in the storms of early 2023, I turned to Daniel to help sell it. My PTSD from the storms was awful, and there were many sleepless nights and days filled with frustration and chaos. Daniel helped me navigate the real estate seas through storms, cloudy days, and pirates.

From our very first meeting, Daniel impressed me with his people skills, professionalism, and genuine care. In my previous experience I had found that not every realtor has great listening skills, but Daniel was different: He took the time to understand what I was going through---not just on the surface, but emotionally. His high ethical standards were apparent at every turn. I really believe that Daniel is the type of person who would do the right thing even if no one was watching.

Daniel genuinely cares about his clients’ well-being and success. He sometimes seemed to care more about my success than I did! He spoke on my behalf to other agents and lenders, and he helped me find many service providers, such as a fantastic mortgage lender and electricians.

Daniel’s communication skills are flawless. I had requested a quote for some work on my new house, and the service provider was very pushy and aggressive with me. Daniel called him back, and I listened in while Daniel easily defused the situation. By the end of the conversation, the service provider was agreeable, and his tone changed from aggressive to pleasant.

Daniel also kept me informed of new listings, which is how I was able to see the house I eventually bought within hours of its being on the market and even before the open house! Thanks to Daniel’s quick thinking, I was able to land my ideal home in a very tight market. Within two hours of seeing the home, we’d made an offer, and the offer was accepted in less than one day.

Daniel has many years of real estate experience, plus a memory like a steel trap, which together create a solid experience. He was able to pull information, such as old septic reports, from the county, which saved me countless hours of searching. He was also able to quickly distill the information I needed from reports and legal documents.

Although many realtors depend on having multiple clients and spending very little time with any of them, I never felt rushed with Daniel. He patiently waited at appointments with me and sometimes no one even showed up! Daniel helped me before I became a client and has continued to help even after the close of escrow. I cannot recommend Daniel enough!

G. R.

Daniel is an experienced, savvy, hardworking ally who truly has your back!

I have high standards, and Daniel exceeded them all! His market knowledge, insight, judgment, work ethic, integrity, and attention to detail made him a fabulous partner in what is so often an emotionally, financially, and physically demanding process. In other experiences, I have found real estate agents on both sides of transactions to focus on a high-volume of transactions to rack up their commissions.

I never once felt that way with Daniel. He truly cared that the house and the commercial aspects of the transaction were right for me. He was authentically invested in my long-term outcome and invested his time and mental energy into backing that up--from suggesting, scheduling, and attending appointments at the county to pull permits and understand property history, to tracking down obscure notes in the title report with me about the status of various nearby parcels, to staying engaged to track down all the various elements of a house purchase/sale through to the bitter end and then some.

Daniel is an advocate, a source of wisdom, an emotional bedrock, and a fount of Santa Cruz County + real estate/community knowledge. Since Santa Cruz is a very eclectic and variable community that requires deep local knowledge, I cannot imagine parsing this area without his experience and knowledge.

Daniel gives a high-touch, personalized experience to his clients without being judge-y about your purchase price (mine changed dramatically over the course of my transaction and his dedication to my search remained steadfast). With Daniel you get a full package of support and he's a lovely human being to boot which makes the process as enjoyable as possible!

With the high pressure, high stakes aspects of home selling/purchasing, having a true champion is invaluable and rare. Daniel is a true champion.

Michelle Leavitt

My husband and I just bought our first house with Daniel's help. We're so happy he was the one to guide us first time homebuyers through everything. Sure he's super fun to chat with and hang out with, but more importantly he was so supportive and knowledgeable throughout the whole process.

He's been doing this for a while so he can help with every aspect of the process, from pointing out particularly good or bad structural integrity of a house, to estimating how much a future renovation might cost, to knowing characteristics of the neighborhood or even street the house is on, to having contacts for everything from plumbers to landscapers to handymen.

It's obvious he genuinely enjoys and cares about his work, so I definitely recommend him to anyone looking to buy or sell a home.

Justin Leavitt

I know my wife left a review, but I also must take the time to recommend Daniel. He made our first home purchase the most rewarding experience. Daniel is more than a realtor; he's your "house buying mentor". His advice and knowledge are invaluable. And being first time buyers we had a lot of questions and fears, but he made us comfortable and spent a ton of time preparing us for the entire process.

He's very experienced, well connected, but most importantly he's sincere and genuine. It was obvious that he believed in our goals and had every intention to help us succeed. He joined us at every open house. He was honest about the condition of the houses, the neighborhoods, and how they all fit into our long term goals. I can't recommend him enough.