Shawndy Linquist

7/5/25Kimberly

Google Review

Testimonial for Shawndy & Kimberly
Selling my house with Shawndy & Kimberly was an amazing experience. Prior to my house even being ready to go on the market, they were already anticipating everything that needed to be done—and had any and all vendors lined up. Their proactive approach gave me confidence that I was in expert hands from the very beginning.
Throughout the process, they were the definition of professionalism: detail-oriented, responsive, and always on top of every step. They listened carefully, communicated clearly, and followed through consistently—creating a sense of flow and ease, even during the more emotionally sensitive moments.
Their calm, grounded presence was especially meaningful as I navigated the sale during the transition of a post-divorce chapter. They brought not only deep market knowledge and expertise of the area, but also a real understanding of the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the current market. They knew exactly how and what to prioritize at each stage, which helped streamline decision-making and keep everything moving forward.
Shawndy and Kimberly also have a network of amazing local vendors—trusted professionals who brought quality and care to every detail. It’s clear they are highly respected in the community, and that strong reputation matters when navigating a complex transaction.
You can tell they love what they do—their energy is contagious, and they're always laughing and having fun. That lightheartedness, paired with their integrity and experience, made the process feel not just manageable, but even enjoyable.
If you’re considering buying or selling a home in the Santa Cruz or Monterey areas, I would highly recommend working with them. Shawndy and Kimberly bring clarity, care, and true professionalism to the table.
– Kim J.

6/17/25Karen Loomis

Google Review

Shawndy helped us sell our Capitola beach condo and purchase an upper westside Santa Cruz home. She offers excellent market analysis and knows her territory well. Shawndy has professional vendor and contractor referrals who have been a huge aid. We appreciate Shawndy’s patience in between our two transactions while we defined, and redefined, what we were looking for in a home. We received frequent emails regarding listings and comps, and texted check-ins. Shawndy was always available to us by phone and I would highly recommend her.

6/8/25Jennifer Mccann

Google Review

I really appreciate the time and care Shawndy gave us when selling our family home! Her knowledge and experience put me at ease while going through the process of preparing for and selling our home. I completely trust her judgement and abilities in helping us choose the right changes to make to our home. Our home sold quickly and above our asking price!! I highly recommend Shawndy!!
Adding to our story is that Shawndy helped me in purchasing a beautiful home in Corralitos!! About a year after selling our family home, I found a home that was just right for my family. Shawndy and her team worked so well with the other realtor and loan officers. It made the process of buying a home as smooth as possible. Shawndy not only worked helping to investigate and solve any issues that arose, she showed that she cared and gave us all of the attention needed in buying a home!! I will always appreciate her!!

3/14/25Chris O'Steen

Google Review

Shawndy helped us navigate a two week escrow. She was a joy to work with. She was very professional, organized and crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's. She was in constant communication and held our hands all the way through the process. We highly recommend her services. Rick & Chris O'Steen

1/8/25DocFaisal

Google Review

Shawndy helped us when we bought a home a few years ago and then again when we sold. Shawndy is an exceptional agent with the patience, professionalism, and perseverance to help manage our hectic schedules around all the work it takes in both buying and selling a property. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Shawndy to anyone needing to buy or sell a home. Cheers!

11/20/24Katie Carroll

Google Review

I had to sell my aunt’s house after she passed. I don’t live in the area. So it was going to be quite the undertaking.

Shawndy was amazing! She helped me get the house into a presentable condition and got a much higher purchase price than I had anticipated.

I was shocked at how much we (Shawndy!) got done in such a short period of time. I fully expected to have to make another trip to Santa Cruz, but I never did. Shawndy took care of everything!

I can’t recommend her highly enough!!

9/24/24Mackenzie Home

Google Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

We can’t say enough great things about Shawndy! From the moment we started working together, we sensed a kind, experienced professional realtor that took us on a home selling journey we knew might be a challenge and yet she stepped up and into confidence which made moving ahead a no brained. The entire home-selling process resulted in an experience we’ll never forget.

Shawndy truly listened to or needs and addressed our concerns with consistent clarity. What stood out most was her ability to manage the process, her team with incredible attention to detail, helpful insights, timely communication, and genuine care for making sure we felt comfortable with every decision. She handled everything with an innate ease and grace. Thanks to Shawndy and her incredible team, knowledge of the market and expert negotiation skills, we sold our home quickly at a great price to a wonderful family! We reflect today and are beyond thrilled with the outcome and so grateful to have had her by our side throughout the journey. We had not been through a home upgrade/remodel with a home that was a bit outside the box. We were lucky and enjoyed it, no doubt!

If you’re looking for a realtor who truly puts your best interests first and can deliver exceptional results at every touch point in the home selling process, we highly recommend Shawndy Linquist with COMPASS REALTY! Highly recommend!

7/12/24Jennifer Carr

Google Review

Shawndy is a fabulous realtor and kind person! We did a crazy thing- purchased one investment property in AZ and listed another investment property for sale in CA right before leaving the country for a three month trip. Shawndy she handled the sale in CA for us and made it much easier for us to do this. She was great about advising us on how best to prep the property for sale, she worked well with our tenant on showings/open houses and she even took care of final walk through and arranged cleaning after our tenant moved out. She educated us on the market dynamics and we felt very comfortable with her recommendations on the timing and listing price. All through the process she kept us informed about where things were and what we needed to do when, which was greatly appreciated especially after we left the country and disconnected a bit. Our home sold quickly and we were very happy with the price. We highly recommend Shawndy!

6/12/24Alexis Konevich

Google Review

I'm willing to bet that the quality of care and amount of time Shawndy spent making sure we had an ideal first time home buying experience is unmatched. Buying a house in California can be complex! If you are looking for someone who knows the industry forwards and backwards, will patiently, calmly, and gracefully answer your questions with high levels of expertise, all while getting to know your unique wants and needs in a home, then Shawndy will be perfect for you. Thank you Shawndy for helping us land our dream home while teaching us so much about real estate! -Alexis + Marc

4/21/24Justin S

Google Review

Shawndy was so incredibly patient during our home buying experience - we never felt pressured in the slightest and she truly wanted to make sure that our potential home was a good fit for us. As (anxious) first time home buyers, she guided us through the entire process and never hesitated to explain anything to us. She is also an exceptionally kind person with a professional demeanor. She checked in with us consistently and took time to understand our needs and advocate for us throughout the process. She also has a wonderful network of contractors, inspectors etc whom we trust wholeheartedly, and a great wealth of knowledge so we were able to arrange everything with ease and peace of mind. We would not hesitate to recommend Shawndy, and she is the only person we’d trust to list our house with should that time ever come in the future!

4/17/24Siobhan R

Google Review

I’d like to say thank you to Shawndy for all of her hard work and expertise during the prep and sale of our family home. She was so prepared and thought of every last detail. She was a pleasure to work with and definitely went above and beyond during the entire process. I can’t recommend her enough! We had a wonderful experience and got top dollar for our home. Thanks again Shawndy, you were amazing.

3/14/24Sara Brown

Google Review

Shawndy deserves a 5 star plus plus plus!!! We found Shawndy in the middle of a very difficult and stressful time of loss and grief. She treated our family with the utmost compassion, care, and kindness. As soon as we signed on with her, she became realtor, project manager, and advisor. She patiently helped us navigate selling the home our parents had lived in for decades. Her strategy for preparing the property, timing the listing, and marketing led to a very successful sale. She consistently checked in with us about the progress and process and was available for any concerns or questions that came up along the way. I highly recommend Shawndy and her team at Compass!

1/8/24Nick Wolfe

Google Review

Shawndy is the best. We truly believe we could not have sold our house without her. She coordinated with multiple contractors on our behalf, navigated a complicated contingency filled closing with ease, and was so on top of communication that she felt like family by the end. Almost sad that our home sale went so well and we don’t get to hear from her as much anymore.

12/22/23stacy levesque

Google Review

My experience with purchasing a new home was unique in circumstances and time consuming BUT Shawndy helped guide me through every step of the process. She is knowledgeable, patient, communicative and makes herself available on very short notice. I love my new home and many thanks to Shawndy for her diligent work.

9/21/23Susan Schaad

Google Review

Shawndy was so patient and informative all along the way and I couldn't be more pleased to know her!

9/12/23Bryan LaPorte

Google Review

Shawndy Linquist is the absolute best! We found ourselves needing to relocate on short notice to the Santa Clara Valley Area in California and (having been long-entrenched in a particular lifestyle and location) we were far from easy to accommodate in terms of our home buying needs. Shawndy not only was superlative at her job in helping us find our house, but very patient and understanding of the turmoil that the sudden move had created in our lives.

And her assistance didn't stop when our new house closed escrow. To this day she is still lending support and assistance to us as we relocate even though her part is technically satisfied. To anyone with real estate needs in the South Bay Area, I would strongly recommend actively seeking to work with Shawndy and Compass Realty.

9/7/23Aaron Mayfield

Google Review

Shawndy Linquist did a phenomenal job assisting my family and I in our search for a home. Over the the course of several months, and many tours, we finally found the PERFECT home thanks to her!! Professional and informative, always going above and beyond. Thank you so much Shawndy!!

6/21/23Steve C

Google Review

Shawndy did magnificent job helping us find just the right beach front property, she was patient, knowledgeable and pays exceptional attention to all details. I would recommend her services to any and all.

6/6/23Kevin Katz

Google Review

Shawndy just closed escrow with me on the purchase of a home in Ben Lomond. She is Knowledgeable, Resourceful, Accessible, Patient, Flexible, Professional, and a very nice and pleasant person to work with.
Knowledgeable:
1.Grew up in and currently lives in the Santa Cruz area. She is familiar with pros and cons of living the numerous and diverse Santa Cruz communities.
2.Has years of real estate experience and was able to explain and help a me navigate through unfamiliar documents
Resourceful:
1.Did research and introduced me to the Los Angeles Relator who worked with me to sell my home. The Realtor she recommended was the best of the three I interviewed.
2.Helped me find information to educate me on the properties I was interested in.
3.Through Compass, Shawndy provided “coming soon” listings, that were not yet on the market. The home I purchased was one of these listings.
4.Provided e-mails with market trends and local data on home sales and inventory.
5.Gave me references for trades and specialists in the area, which was very helpful to a newcomer to the area.
Accessible:
1.Works very hard and somehow managed to juggle her workload and provided the attention that I needed.
2.Previewed one home, not yet on the market, for me when I couldn’t come up from LA to see it.
3.Arranged with Sellers Agents for me to view numerous homes and met with me at many of them.
4.Had conversations with me and listened to my thoughts about the homes I viewed, to understand attributes that I was looking for in a home.
5.If any conversation needed to be cut short, it was always finished at a time when there was no rush to end the conversation.
Patient:
1.I never felt pressured during my search or purchase unless it was absolutely necessary.
Flexible:
1.When I wanted to change the way my offer was written, it was done without hesitation or resistance.
2.When faced with the need to close escrow with 3 days’ notice, to meet the deadline to get property insurance Shawndy coordinated with the Sellers Agent, and Escrow company to make it happen.
Professional:
1.Always felt I was dealing with an experienced professional!
2.Let me know the limits of what information she is qualified to provide and when I should seek the advice of other professionals.
3.Helped with my self-awareness regarding certain decisions and opinions that needed to be from me, not others.
Nice Person:
1.About as nice a person as you will meet.
2.Always listened to everything I wanted to say and never interrupted my trend of thought when saying it.
3.Has a wholesome approach to life, family, work and play!
4.Love the way she says bye at the end of a phone conversation.

6/2/23Morgan Markarian Arnstein

Google Review

Shawndy was the best guide for helping my fiancé and I through the home buying process as first time home buyers. From scheduling viewings, making herself available to answer questions, never making us feel rushed in discussions as we put in offers — all the way up through the close of escrow. Shawndy was the absolute best guide to help make the process manageable and enjoyable for us, and we truly felt she had our best interest in mind the entire time. Especially throughout our offer, escrow and close process - she was knowledgable on all of our questions, went out of her way to be there for us and make sure everything went off without a hitch. Beyond all of this, she’s a joy to work with and spend time with. I cannot recommend Shawndy enough and would 100% work with her again in the future!

11/27/22Ran Mayroz

Google Review

Shawndy helped us to buy our new home in Santa Cruz County in June 2022. She is an exceptionally professional realtor. She helped us at each step of the way with advice and tons of patience. Her motivation was always aligned with our interests and she never tried to convince us to buy any of the houses we saw with her (probably around 20 houses...). She was fully focused on our needs and worked to find the right house for us. Shawndy is also one of the nicest people around, and it was a real pleasure to work with her. We recommend her with all our heart!

6/6/22Dylan Buckingham

Google Review

Shawndy helped my wife and I buy our house. She was knowledgeable, respectful and always prompt. We would highly recommend her!

6/2/22Pamela Freeman

Google Review

Shawndy made the sale of our home in Santa Cruz so very smooth and stress free. We moved to Oregon and left Shawndy to manage the numerous upgrades and improvements to our home and property. She hired and worked with several designers and subcontractors, troubleshooting and managing all improvements and purchasing new appliances where needed. We would give Shawndy a ten out of ten score if possible and we recommend her highly to those looking to sell their home. You can put your trust in Shawndy Linquist and be assured of personal service and integrity.

4/29/22Jean M

Google Review

Outstanding professional, smart and kind. We were completely new to the area, Shawndy gave us a tour of the neighborhoods and communities enabling us to find the perfect fit. She has endless patience and an excellent understanding of the real estate market in SC County. She is quick to respond to all queries and finds answers to any and all questions. A great advocate for her client, she always had our interest as her priority. We will call on her again and recommend her without hesitation.

4/16/22Trish Inserra

Google Review

We truly enjoyed working with Shawndy! She is a professional who is intelligent and knows the market! But she is also a real person that cares about finding the right opportunity for you. She listened to what our requirements were and only showed us properties that fit what she knew we would like. She patiently worked with us for over 2 years looking for the beach front property that was perfect for us. We have even recommended her to family looking to buy! Many thanks Shawndy!!!

3/20/22Michael Scott

Google Review

Working with Shawndy took the worry out one of life's most important transaction. Not only did she bring us a great offer, she also provide us with escrow schedule that kept us on track and well inform through out the entire process. Her expertise and professionalism make her the first to call for our family's real estate needs.

3/18/22Mona Anninger

Google Review

3/11/22Neil Khoury

Google Review

Shawndy was so helpful and gracious during our hime buying process. We were introduced via a mutual friend who had worked with Shawndy before. The real estate market was a frenzy while we were searching for our home, and Shawndy was so patient. We finally found a dream of a beach house with her help.

11/1/21Jessica Tran

Google Review

What a fun albeit sometimes emotional ride this process has been and I am so happy that I was able to have Shawndy by my side on this adventure home. As a first time homebuyer, Shawndy is the realtor of dreams! She was extremely patient with me throughout the year long process, was readily available and thoroughly explained any questions I had or did not even realize I had, spent a lot of time meticulously reviewing disclosure reports with me, and most importantly I genuinely felt like she was advocating for me and my best interests. She went through great lengths to provide me with all the information I needed to make an informed decision. Her compassionate and empathetic nature paired with her skills as a realtor, knowledge, connections and resources is a powerhouse! It was so much fun working magic with Shawndy and seeing my vision of owning my first home come to life. I highly recommend partnering with Shawndy! Prepare to be Wow'ed!

10/28/21WNDBLWNLS LMS

Google Review

Shawndy worked with us for over a year to find our perfect home. She knew we weren’t in a hurry to buy and didn’t want to go to open houses every weekend, we would “browse” online sites and text her if a house looked promising. Sometimes we’d go months between texts, we really appreciated that she didn’t push us to go see homes we weren’t interested in, and yet she was always available when we had questions or found a home we wanted to walk through. Even when I’d text her late on a Friday afternoon, she always seemed to find a way to fit us into her day.

Shawndy has extensive knowledge of the home buying process and the particular quirks of buying in Santa Cruz County. As first time home buyers, it was such a boon to have someone who was good at sharing all that knowledge without making us feel dumb for asking 101 questions. She made sure we had all the information that would be useful to us before we needed to make decisions. That she really cares about her clients, and is committed to helping people find the home that is right for them, is apparent in every interaction you have with her.

When we did find the perfect home, Shawndy was right there with us. She answered a million more questions, walked us through the various steps, and followed up on things with everyone else involved. We closed escrow a week ago and she still makes time to answer our questions and give advice, even though her job is long done. She is highly competent, a joy to work with, and I’d highly recommend her to any of my friends or family.

9/28/21Teresa Connor

Google Review

We worked with Shawndy over the course of 8 months to reorganize our real estate portfolio. Shawndy proved to be professional, responsive and an invaluable resource throughout a complicated transaction. She is a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend her to those looking for someone who is thoughtful and hardworking.

9/14/21Wendy Laird

Google Review

Five star quality service and personal attention to detail. A great fit!

6/29/21Patrick Cunningham

Google Review

A hard working professional. Very available and a calming influence on the hectic process of home buying.

6/11/21Patrick Lahey

Google Review

Shawndy is an absolute pleasure to work with, we cannot recommend her enough! She is professional, attentive, kind, available, effective ... the list of positives goes on and on!

Shawndy cared about us and our preferences to that level that we didn't just feel like one of her clients, we felt like her CLIENT. We are sure Shawndy served her other clients with equal quality and attentiveness in the time she helped us find our home, and yet we only received fast and effective work and updates as if we were her top, if not only, priority!

Shawndy helped us find a beautiful home within the first showing set, and she got our bid accepted. Shawndy played such a huge part in us getting our home that we are so happy to be in!

Shawndy will work magic for you, work with her!

Katie and Patrick

6/10/21Tamar M

Google Review

Having Shawndy as our real estate agent was a delightful experience from start to finish. We were so impressed with her diligence, warmth, professionalism and savvy. She’s very experienced and detail oriented. She gave generously of her time to meet us to look at properties, often on the spur of the moment. She provided a wealth of information about real estate and local market trends. She was a powerful advocate for us in the negotiation and with our lender to complete the funding process. It was a challenge to navigate the market but thankfully we were in good hands with Shawndy. A lovely new home is the happy outcome :)

3/31/21Mike Sikorski

Google Review

12/3/20S Denise

Google Review

Shawndy Linquist with Compass far surpassed my hopes and expectations in representing me as a seller of my family home in Santa Cruz. Her knowledge of the market there is very thorough and current, and she stays on top of it all throughout the process, keeping her clients in the loop with email links to comparables as they come up as well as market analyses. She makes herself easily and quickly available for questions and help, whether it be via text, phone calls or emails and is very easy to communicate with. She is extremely proactive, professional, efficient and friendly with her communication throughout the entire process, as well as any necessary follow ups afterwards. Her experience shows with her exceptional negotiation skills and her ability to ask the right questions, listen and hear.

Shawndy Linquist is an absolute delight to work with, a lovely person, a true ally, and I trust her through what can be an extremely stressful process! I couldn’t recommend her more highly! I’d give her 10 stars if I could!!

11/14/20Lauren Casterson

Google Review

Shawndy is as good as it gets! I interviewed several agents and was instantly impressed with how communicative, intuitive and patient Shawndy was and decided to work with her. Throughout the house searching and the offer/sale process in a tough market, Shawndy has gone above and beyond to make herself available to see houses on short notice, proactively communicate and make suggestions to give us a competitive edge. She truly goes above and beyond for her clients, all while being a true pleasure to work with and getting things done quickly and efficiently. Working was Shawndy was the best decision we could have made! I would definitely work with her again and recommend her to anyone wanting to buy in the Santa Cruz area.

9/21/20Gabe McHugh

Google Review

Shawndy has been a fantastic real estate agent for us.

As first time home buyers she helped us navigate a a red hot real estate market, and was great at recommending lenders and contractors. She was always responsive to us and our questions and her deep knowledge of the markets got us our dream house within our budget. Shawndy is both an excellent real estate agent and a stellar human being.

7/26/20Kara Reiter

Google Review

My husband and I worked with Shawndy to find and purchase a second home in Aptos; we recommend her enthusiastically and without hesitation. Shawndy is smart, patient, knowledgeable, and served as a true and trusted partner to us – which wasn’t always easy! To begin with, I am a lawyer and my husband is an engineer – can you think of a more challenging pair to deal with when you are trying to discover the details about a home, its history, any hidden challenges, and then negotiating a deal?! But Shawndy was patient and on our side every step of the way.
I wish we could take credit for finding Shawndy, but the truth is we lucked into finding the best agent in the area. It all started the day after Thanksgiving, when we called about a house on the market, and Shawndy arranged for the owners, who were still in the house, to allow us to come the following morning. On very little notice, over the holiday weekend, she cheerfully met us at the property and patiently allowed us, and our teens, to examine the house in detail. She also took us to a few other properties she thought we might like that morning – having had to arrange each of the viewings, as none of them were holding open houses that day.
Over the course of the next several weeks, just after Thanksgiving, over Christmas, and into the New Year, we met with Shawndy several times, both by phone and in person. We were intrigued with the first property we saw – the owners of whom were being represented by Shawndy’s agency – but it wasn’t exactly right for us and would have taken a lot of work to make into our dream home. Shawndy was always patient, thoughtful, and helpful, offering her opinions when asked, and even going down to the county to pull records for us, but always allowing us to take the lead and never even nudging us beyond our comfort level – even though it would obviously have been in her interest to get the sale, and even more so since here agency was representing the owners.
After we found the property we would eventually purchase, Shawndy again exhibited exceptional patience and “customer service.” She met us at the home several times, often on short notice. The transaction became complicated, as we all learned during the course of the negotiation that the owner owed a significant amount on the house and what started as a traditional property sale turned into a short sale negotiation. And then the COVID pandemic broke out, even further complicating things. Fortunately for us, Shawndy had experience from the past with short sales, and she thoughtfully, and patiently, guided us through the process. I won’t lie – it was a challenging transaction, and much more complicated than anything I think any of us were expecting, but Shawndy was there for us every step of the way, she was always pleasant, she never lost her temper or her patience, and never once did we have any doubt that she had us and our best interests in everything she did.
I will close by saying that we are thrilled with our home purchase, and can’t imagine having had any other agent who would have been so wonderful and easy to work with through it all. She was our advocate throughout, and someone we were able to count on throughout the process. We never doubted that we were in the best possible hands with Shawndy, and her knowledge, competence, and positive attitude alleviated a lot of the stress of a long and complicated transaction. If you’re looking for an agent, I can recommend Shawndy unconditionally. You can trust her and, equally important, I guarantee you will like her. Shawndy is a gem and you will consider yourself lucky if you are fortunate enough to work with you.

2/27/20Laurie Pimentel

Google Review

Shawndy was very professional and organized. I highly recommend her as your real estate agent.

1/7/20Marie Rosecrans

Google Review

Shawndy is exceptional. My husband and I have worked with several agents in our twenty three years together and Shawndy is one of the very best.

She is a local area expert, super patient, a very sound negotiator, and ALWAYS gave us constructive and sound advice. Equally important, Shawndy is backed by a strong team.

We feel very fortunate to have worked with Shawndy — we always knew we were in trusted hands. If we were to engage in another real estate sale or purchase in the area, we would use her again in a heartbeat.

11/5/19kasey hodge

Google Review

Not only did Shawndy find our home before it ever hit the market, she lead us the whole way through a very non-convectional buy/sale. We did not live in Santa Cruz at the time we were purchasing our now home, and without a strong agent with her experience, professionalism and guidance we would not be living in our dream home. She is also exceptional at reading people, situations and has a sixth sense when it comes to what her clients want and need throughout the process. She was always 10 steps ahead of potential issues and always very candid of the pros and cons of the home. We have worked with a handful of other agents in different markets and Shawndy was by far the strongest, most direct, sincere and knowledgeable agent we have ever had. We would give her 10 stars if we could.

10/8/19Elizabeth Olson

Google Review

I highly recommend working with Shawndy Linquist. Her attention to detail, years of real estate experience, negotiation skills and in-depth knowledge of Santa Cruz county made her the perfect choose for our family. Shawndy has the unique ability of taking your needs/wants and articulating them into a manageable and realistic search. As first time home buyers, she provided the guidance we were looking and truly acted as our advocate when dealing with everyone from the sellers agent, appraisers and even the lender! We couldn’t have fallen into better hands. We found the ideal home for our family with Shawndy’s guidance and not only recommend her but can’t wait to work with her again!