Everything good in life requires hard work, and Bobbi Schaper Eastman is always up to the challenge. “Having a really successful year in a pandemic while supervising remote learning for my two teenage girls and navigating all the uncertainty for clients was a huge accomplishment,” says Eastman, a mother and broker with Baird & Warner. “The fact that we like one another after a year of being cooped up together means I’m doing something right.”

Fully vested in helping buyers and sellers in Oak Park, River Forest and the near-west suburbs, Eastman cares about what clients need after the deal is closed and always keeps in touch. About 95% of her business comes from past clients and referrals.

“I try to never present a problem to a client without also having a solution or without already having solved it,” she says, noting that she is very hands-on and stays in close contact with clients, lenders and attorneys throughout the transaction. “If I am in it all the way with a client, the problems get handled before they get big.”

Eastman has worked in real estate for nearly 20 years, with eight years behind the scenes for a luxury developer and 10 years in sales, earning several awards as a top producer. She got her start in real estate a year after graduating from college, working as an executive assistant to a senior vice president of construction. The experience taught her how to distinguish between good and bad craftsmanship, knowledge she shares with clients.

Eastman is well known in Oak Park as a professional and a community volunteer, and as a lifelong resident, she can recommend the best coffee shops, veterinarians and gyms to clients. During the pandemic, she added to her menagerie of family pets by adopting two puppies.