Tricia was no stranger to the home-buying process. She and her husband had owned a condo in Chicago before relocating to the Boston area, so she had experienced the twists and turns that the mortgage application process can take. When she and her husband decided to buy a home in the Metrowest area, Tricia knew she needed to work with someone who would make the mortgage process as stress-free as possible.

"Our real estate agent referred us to mortgage brokers for banks, but the reps seemed to need to talk with lots of other people before they could get back to us with answers to questions. We knew that their approach wouldn't work for us in a market where we'd see a house go online at 6 pm and by 9 am the next morning, it would be under agreement," says Tricia.

Tricia turned to a local online moms' forum for recommendations and quickly connected with Debbie. "Debbie really listened to us," comments Tricia. "Other lenders were trying to get us to do crazy loans or just didn't seem to have the experience to deal with a financial situation that was a little outside the norm. Debbie listened to what we wanted and got the job done."

The path from pre-approval letter to closing did have some hurdles, but Tricia says that Debbie "was incredibly responsive" and "rolled with the punches". When Tricia and her husband made an offer on the house, increased the offer one day later, and then increased it again the day after that, Debbie generated the required pre-approval letters in less than an hour. When Tricia was anxiously awaiting appraisal results, Debbie sent an email on a Friday evening to put her mind at ease. And when the seller found a new home and wanted to move the closing up by one month, Debbie "got it done, no problem."

For a self-professed worrier like Tricia, Debbie was the perfect match. "She is so reassuring, patient and responsive. I never had a doubt that we wouldn't close on time," sums up Tricia.

What Buyers Want in Homes Now

Forget the two-story foyer and the Jacuzzi in the bathroom. Today's home buyers want smaller, better designed homes that are affordable to heat -- a particularly important factor in New England.

A survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders to determine the ideal house for 2015 revealed that today's buyers want:

• Large kitchens with an island
• Flexible rooms that can easily be transformed (i.e. a living room can become a home office, library or first floor bedroom)
• Large showers instead of soaking tubs or Jacuzzis
• Open area for entertaining, such as a family room or great room that flows into the kitchen spacea
• Well-organized laundry room and mudroom
• First floor bedroom
• Energy efficiency
• Porches
• Plenty of storage

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