Kristen Martha Brown

Your advisor, ally, and advocate throughout the mortgage process – holding your vision and having your back. Kristen’s clients come from all walks of life – engineers, artists, doctors, teachers, and entrepreneurs, to name a few.
 

Kristen joined Mortgage Trust in 2004 as a loan processor, learning the business from the inside out, and in 2006, she became a loan officer. She appreciates Mortgage Trust’s approach of addressing our clients’ finances holistically, and she supports our belief that everyone we work with might secure a better financial future. She is most proud of how cared for, heard, and comfortable her clients feel. They know they can ask her anything, that they’ll get a straight answer, and that she’s got their backs.

 

How did you arrive at this business? What path brought you here?

I have a BA in theatre from Whitman College and I was an out-of-work actor in need of a short-term, administrative-type job. A loan officer friend hired me as her assistant and processor. Seeing her client’s financial lives via their loan applications, I had a bit of a paradigm shift about how finances work. It changed my approach to my personal finances. Once my creatively-inclined brain truly understood how mortgages work, I found I was really good at putting non-analytical people like me at ease with the mortgage process. I could help them understand it, too. I liked this aspect a lot more than processing, and I became a loan officer.

What are you known for professionally?

Tenacity, patience, setting realistic expectations, and promising what I can deliver.

What do you have a knack for?

Helping people really understand mortgages and the mortgage process.

Where can we find you when you’re not working?

Trying out a new exercise class.

What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend or a Sunday afternoon?

Having coffee and doing the crossword with my husband at any one of the amazing coffee shops in town.

What is your favorite thing about working at Mortgage Trust?

The culture. It’s a very supportive place. Our employees are happy, they feel supported, and they get along with one another. With a culture like this, employees can focus on the reason we’re here – our clients.

Where did you grow up and why aren’t you there now?

In Coeur d’Alene, ID. I needed a place with more cultural diversity and more movie choices. I do miss summer days swimming in the lake, though.

Why have you chosen to live in Portland? What do you love about Portland?

The coffee. The food. The friendly and creative vibe of Vancouver/Portland. The coffee. I’ve traveled a lot, and I haven’t yet found a place I’d rather live. It’s beautiful here. THE COFFEE!!!

Any volunteer activities you’re crazy about?

SMART (Start Making a Reader Today)

Any nonprofits you love? Why?

Mercy Corps. I think it’s important for communities to help themselves, and Mercy Corps strives to give communities the tools to do that.

What would be impossible for you to give up?

COFFEE