Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson Are the Full-Service Home Experts Buyers Need (They Know Renovation, Too!)  

Get to know Apartment Therapy’s 2025 Design Changemakers, the talented risk-takers, disruptors, and doers leading by example and pushing their industries forward. This content is presented by Benjamin Moore; it was created independently by our editorial team.

A dynamic real estate broker, investor, and designer married to a multi-talented contractor — sounds like a made-for-TV combo, right? HGTV thought so. Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson are the powerhouse couple behind Married to Real Estate, but their work together started back in the early aughts when the two crossed paths in the real estate world. 

At the time, Sherrod was a savvy, design-minded real estate professional known for flipping properties. Mike was the experienced builder. The duo began working on properties together in 2005 — until they realized there was more than a professional connection brewing. As sparks flew, they did what they thought was the “right” thing and separated their businesses. 

For nearly a decade, they both worked in parallel, navigating the same industry from their respective sides. But inevitably, they realized they were working against their own best interest by not uniting as a team, particularly given the learnings they both had from decades in real estate and renovation.

“We thought, we’ve been together 21 years, we can do this! We can raise a family and build a business,” Sherrod exclaims. The duo teamed back up professionally, and their HGTV show launched in January 2022, bringing their unique home-buying and renovation approach to a nationwide audience. 

They both had seen over and over again what happens when clients would find a home in their dream neighborhood, but they couldn’t see the vision of what it could be. “We could feel the frustration when people liked the location of the home but not necessarily the aesthetic,” Sherrod says.

Sherrod and Jackson realized that they held the keys to a more cohesive real estate journey. With their combined experience, they could take a 360-degree approach to real estate, renovation, and design — and bring it all under one, easy-to-understand umbrella. 

“We’d see them have trouble finding good contractors or making the home look like they want it to look,” Sherrod says. “We could shift this model to serve them from soup to nuts.”

Today, they specialize in getting clients into homes in dream locations but with less-than-dream-home looks. Sherrod and Jackson can see the potential and guide clients on whether the necessary renovations are navigable or a red flag worth raising. When working with a potential homebuyer, they always bring in an inspector to carefully point out any compromising structural issues or limitations that could quickly balloon a budget.

They’re always evaluating the possibilities through the lens of a realistic renovation for that client. “There’s nothing we can’t do, but how much can your budget sustain? What are the smart choices we can make?” Jackson says, adding that the house actually needs to suit the client — no matter how good the location is. He asks clients, “What is your lifestyle and can this house sustain how you actually want to live?”

Sherrod adds that, first, they look at a home from the perspective of the client’s needs. “Then we can stretch ourselves to the wants. That helps us manage expectations and budget.”

Once they get into the house, their priority is to help the client bring the home to life, making it the best it can possibly be. Not every home has the same end game, and that’s okay. They’ll typically recommend putting money into the spaces where the clients will see the most return — kitchens and baths. Jackson looks at each renovation project from the construction standpoint, considering the smartest moves they can make to get the highest quality products within an owner’s budget to withstand wear, tear, and everyday living.

In an ideal world, they’ll add square footage to a home, but they’ll also consider adding rooms without blowing out the footprint. “We’re looking at the highest and fullest potential of what a space can be in terms of flow and layout, and that can mean adding another bedroom without adding square footage,” Sherrod explains.

While Sherrod and Jackson know their way around a renovation, they understand that many of their clients are tackling DIY for the first time. “Sometimes we think anyone should be able to paint, but it depends on their level of comfort and skill!,” she says, while noting that electrical and foundation work should always be left up to the pros.

Even as they continue helping homebuyers, this high-energy couple isn’t close to slowing down. Sherrod just launched the Indigo Road by Egypt Sherrod Capsule Collection at JCPenney, bringing her liveable luxe look to soft goods, including bedding, bath accents, and decorative accessories. Sherrod and Jackson are also dropping new episodes of their Marriage and Money podcast, where they share insights gleaned from two decades of working together — and staying together.

Every new project they pursue is part of their larger vision board. They’re always trying to reach their highest potential while expanding on the work they’ve been pursuing and building for years. As Sherrod explains, “It’s all been an organic evolution of peeling back the layers of everything we’ve already done.”