Tracy Sorge knows that confident buyers make confident offers and, with that in mind, arms them with the information that leads to self-assured decisions.

“I have found in my career that, like Patch Adams famously said, ‘If you treat the person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.’”

Sorge, a certified mortgage advisor with Wintrust Mortgage in Schaumburg, treats clients as people, not loan numbers or property addresses. “Get to know them as truly as you can, listen and learn what they want, not what others might want of them,” she says. “That will build your relationship from day one. This is where clients become confident buyers.”

She says it’s about earning and developing their trust, and continuing to support them throughout their homebuying journey and beyond.

Sorge has worked in lending for 32 years; 14 years in operations and 17-plus years in originations. Her inspiring journey began in 1992 as a bored teller at a local bank. “The underwriting manager walked up to my window and said, ‘I hear you are causing trouble back here trying to learn more … Why don’t you come up to my office after work and talk?’” That conversation led to Sorge being offered her first job in the mortgage industry as a loan processor. “I give credit to [her] for seeing something in me that others didn’t at that time. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her guidance and faith. And let me tell you, I haven’t been bored since in this career.”

Sorge is a rescue dog advocate; she has rescued five dogs with her family and volunteers at the local shelters. Her mantra is “helping as many rescue dogs into their own new backyard!” She is a member of the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors, Chicago Association of Realtors and the Women’s Council. She has earned Honor’s Circle and President’s Circle awards with her company and multiple top originator awards with Scotsman Guide and the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America.