For nearly a decade, Jacqueline Patton Trail has helped clients buy and sell real estate across Chicagoland. Her approach is simple: If the perfect house isn’t available, she helps her buyers create it. After building her own home in 2020, Trail discovered a passion for design and renovation, as well as a market gap. “Many clients are open to renovating but don’t know where to start,” she explains. “I find them the right property, connect them with trusted contractors and vendors, and stay on through completion as designer and project manager.”
Trail offers the same hands-on service for sellers, which has helped expand her business. In 2024, she redesigned six homes to prepare them for market. In one notable project, Trail reimagined a 1960s Lake Shore Drive condo, relocating the kitchen to face the lake and converting the back of the unit into two bedrooms. In another case, she had 14 days to get a client’s home ready for sale. Within nine days, she renovated the kitchen and powder room, had it photographed, listed and sold. “I do love a high-pressure renovation,” she shares. “It might be when I do my best work.”
Named a Chicago Association of Realtors Top Producer since 2021, Trail, who is also a licensed attorney, is in the top 3% company-wide and a Founder’s Club member. She has been listed in Who’s Who in Chicago real estate since 2021. While renovation is her growing focus, she continues to serve clients seeking turnkey homes and sellers listing ‘as-is’ properties. “I tailor my approach to every client,” she says. “There is no one-size-fits-all in real estate.”
Outside of work, Trail enjoys spending time with her husband, Jamie, sons Declan (5) and Rowan (2), their dogs and their large, wild, extended family.
