Sara Linton has been a broker with Baird and Warner’s Lincoln Park office since 2016 but dreamed of being a Realtor since she was just seven years old. That’s when, during a family move, she enjoyed interacting with and watching the Realtor work. Today, Linton works with a variety of clients but focuses on first-time homebuyers. She has a special fondness and expertise in assisting single female homebuyers, who now officially outnumber single male buyers a generation after being kept from owning their own homes due to restrictive laws.

Originally from South Carolina, Linton “immediately fell in love with the city” when visiting Chicago for her former career in marketing. In 2014 she found a Lincoln Park apartment to call home and focused on building her Chicago knowledge, block by block. She’s since called the Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods home. For her clients, she focuses on the near North Side and near West Side neighborhoods. “My clients appreciate that I know the neighborhoods I work in—the street festivals, parking concerns, restaurants, commute times and upcoming developments,” she says. However, moving to Chicago when she was only familiar with Michigan Avenue has allowed Linton to easily relate to city transplants with a fresh perspective—learning the bus routes, Lower Wacker, the street grid and the city’s proud history.

When interacting with clients, Linton never sugarcoats, aware that an open and honest approach is more valuable in the long term. “My clients always know they will get my honest opinion. My clients feel like I am a true resource and partner. If I don’t know something—no one knows everything—I acknowledge it quickly and get busy to find the answers,” she says.

Linton pushes herself in business as well as in leisure. She enjoys traveling, loving both beaches and mountains. A recent accomplishment was completing the Inca Trail in Peru and her next large, multi-day hike is Patagonia—after completing her second Chicago marathon.