From Husband and Wife - We used Debbie Peel as our realtor when we moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Princeton, NJ for a new job at Princeton University (husband's new job). We started working with Debbie in July 2020 - right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic when our home state, California, had a spike in cases and our soon-to-be new home state, New Jersey, placed California on a quarantine list! Needless to say, the pandemic made in-person home buying difficult, if not impossible. As such, the three of us really embraced the virtual aspect of the home buying process.
Debbie's first order of business was to help us figure out what we were looking for in a new home. She started with a series of questions about what we wanted in a house, which made us think a bit extra since we had to actually write out what we wanted. For example, being from the West Coast, it never crossed our minds that a finished vs. unfinished basement required so much thought! From there, she sent us a lot of listings that ran the gamut in terms of what we listed as our "hope to have" house features. She also introduced us to neighboring towns outside of Princeton, which we didn't think to do. However, she still kept us within the 9-mile campus radius that the University required for our mortgage. We relied a lot on emails for communication with her, and she was very responsive and thorough in her follow-up. She was balanced in sharing her take on the "pros and cons" of the houses
and it was clear she was there to provide guidance; we did not feel pressured at any time to accelerate our search, make an offer, etc. She is a realtor that wants to help her clients find a true home, not a house.
After finding a few houses we liked, Debbie arranged virtual tours with the sellers' agents. During these video tours guided by Debbie, she always started at the road on which the house sat and walked us up the driveway. We appreciate that she made an effort to mimic a live tour and suspect we wouldn't have thought to ask for it. She provided commentary throughout the virtual tour, looked into cupboards for us, bent down to examine baseboards, confirmed the stove brands, touched floors to confirm the feel of the wood texture, etc. It was as if we were there in person.
We finally found a home we loved and made an offer. We ultimately felt ok making an offer on the house sight unseen because we trusted that Debbie had picked a house she thought would be a good fit and she confirmed that it was a fantastic house after we toured it - what we saw during the virtual tour with her was the real deal!
Debbie shepherded us through the New Jersey real estate buying process, including the use of an attorney, which was new to us. She felt comfortable reminding us when the paperwork was due and was comfortable working directly with our attorney and Princeton University's mortgage department at times. She also seemed to have an easy-going and warm rapport with the sellers' agent. There are many moving parts when buying a house, and the two of them getting along and staying in close contact ensured our questions were answered. She also attended all of our inspections since we could not be there in person.
Debbie is warm, genuine, professional, and pays attention to details for both finding the home and executing the purchase.
We highly recommend Debbie and can't say enough about her.
