HGTV's Egypt Sherrod And Mike Jackson On What Buyers Should Be Looking For In A Home - Exclusive

HGTV's hit show "Married to Real Estate" is back, and network stars Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson are helping even more Atlanta-area families buy and transform their dream homes in Season 2. As an expert real estate broker with extensive knowledge in finance, Sherrod works with homebuyers to help them realize that with a little imagination and an eye for design, the home they have always wanted is closer than they might think. By helping her clients make smart property investments, she sets buyers up for financial success while her bold design aesthetic completely transforms every lackluster space. 

After a design plan is in place, Sherrod's expert-builder husband, Jackson, works to execute it and give their clients an increased return on their investment, all while sticking to a strict budget. By investing in a property in a desirable neighborhood and giving it a facelift, buyers reimagine their new space in a way that complements their design tastes without breaking the bank.

In an exclusive interview with House Digest, Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson reveal the features they encourage their clients to look for when shopping for a home.

When Egypt Sherrod walks into a potential home for a client, she gets excited to see already existing features that would otherwise be very expensive for the buyer to do on their own. She explains, "Anything that has to deal with changing the structure or roof line of the house can be very expensive to do, so I love when clients find homes or I walk into a home and see high ceilings and great big windows, because the value of natural light is underrated. Anytime you can bring in natural light and you have tons of windows, it's wonderful." 

Sherrod continues, "We have done a house — I think you'll see this in this season — we walk in and it's gorgeous. All this natural light floods in, but all of the windows needed to be replaced. It can be pricey, but it's also great for return. Again, that's something that feeds to all three. When I talk about value, financial return, it feeds into your aesthetic value and to your quality of life."

As for Mike Jackson, he places the most value on the bones of the house and encourages clients to look for a home with a solid foundation. "I look for good units being in place because those are the things that are hidden, but they can hit your pocket pretty hard," he says. "If you got a good HVAC that's working and you got a solid foundation, no cracks, the roof looks good — listen, everything else we can build and work on later. As long as those three things are working, we're good."

New episodes of "Married to Real Estate" air Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV and are available to stream the same day on discovery+.