For over seven years, Jacqueline Patton-Trail has had the privilege of selling and procuring real estate for her clients all over Chicagoland. The impossibly low inventory, rising interest rates and climbing prices of the last few years have been discouraging for many. Despite the challenges of the current market, Patton-Trail has still managed to close just about $11 million in sales in the first half of 2024 alone.
This success is due in part to a simple strategy. “If the perfect house is not available,” she says, “I help my buyers CREATE it.” In 2020, after a fruitless home search, she and her husband engaged a contractor and designed and built their own home from the ground up. They were heavily involved in the entire process, even doing some projects themselves to save money. She quickly realized her passion for selling real estate extended to the design and renovation side of it. This realization could not have come at a better time; in this low-inventory market that has plagued buyers in recent years, Patton-Trail has been able to use her renovation knowledge to expand her business considerably.
She tries to find her buyers a home under budget and in need of work; connects them with the catalogue of trusted contractors, lenders and vendors she has cultivated over the years; and then stays on post-closing through the design process. She is not afraid of multiple-offer situations and is proud to say she has been victorious in all but one this year. “The winning bid paid $121k over asking in cash,” she explains. “I put those buyers in a more suitable house in a neighborhood they preferred within months. We never looked back!”
When Patton-Trail isn’t selling or renovating homes all over Chicagoland (over 30 towns and over 40 Chicago neighborhoods and counting), she spends time with her two beautiful boys, Declan, age 4, and Rowan, age 1; her wonderful husband, Jamie; her three dogs; and her large, wild extended family.
