Interview with: Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis
Photography by: Brandon McGahuey, unless noted

Since 2019, identical twins and real estate brokers Lyndsay Lamb and Leslie Davis have been bringing their fun, quirky style to the screen through their HGTV series, Unsellable Houses. The women occasionally invest their own money in their listings, renovate them, and, after the homes sell, split the profits with the sellers. The effective business duo, who own Lamb & Co., a real-estate brokerage and home-goods storefront in Snohomish, Washington, discuss the secrets to their success.

What is an unsellable house?

Lyndsay: That’s a great question. No house is unsellable. If a house isn’t selling, it could be because of its condition or its price. You need to adjust one or the other. You can drop the price until a house sells, but that is unfortunate. Some people pick that route because they just want to sell their house and don’t want to deal with it. But most people want the most money for their investment, so we guide them so they can sell it for top dollar.

How did you get started in investing in your own listings?

Lyndsay: It began when we were a few years into real estate and would work with our clients on small projects to help them get better list prices. It started very small, with us investing in landscaping and painting, and it snowballed from there. At first, we would pay for the fixes up front, and they would pay us back at escrow at the closing sale. We eventually started profit sharing and making $40,000 to $70,000 investments and more.

Do you invest in all your listings?

Leslie: We don’t. We only do it when it’s needed. If we see a home that needs upgrades, then we put in the funds. If it doesn’t, we don’t. We aren’t going to put money where it isn’t needed. There are times when sellers want to do things like paint their tan house gray before they list, but the new paint might not be enough to convince a buyer to pay more. We are not going to convince a seller to pay $3,000 to paint their house if it doesn’t need it.

Is it unique to invest in your own listings?

Leslie: Yes, from what we understand. But I would think other agents would want to do it. It assists us as agents because it gives us an edge on the market, and it can get our clients more money, which, in turn, can bring us more money. It can set you apart from your competition.

Lyndsay: It is a huge part of our marketing, too, because it helps us serve our clients well. Also, there is no way they are not going to tell their friends and family about us. Once a client is talking about you, they are locked in for life.

How do your methods give your listings an edge in the real estate market?

Leslie: We rely on marketing and really focus on buyers. We have a huge support base. It’s not just Lyndsay and me. We have six in-house stagers who stage every home we list and an almost 18,000-square-foot warehouse of staging material. Not all houses will look their best staged with a white farmhouse table and white plates, after all. For example, if your house is in downtown Seattle, we would stage it with black plates and a modern couch with straight edges. We are very specific to the style of the house, the buyers, and the lifestyle—be it urban, farm, or country—and we paint a picture.

Lyndsay: We decided a long time ago to make everything we do in-house; we call it “the Lamb way.” We employ and have a full marketing department, photographers, and videographers. We only have seven licensed agents, including Leslie and me. We have a staff of about thirty people to support them because we feel that agents are mainly customer service. They are there to take care of the clients. They don’t need to worry about designing a flier; a professional graphic designer should do that. They don’t need to worry about staging a home; they can leave that to someone who has a passion for design and has gone to school for it. Everybody needs their lane. It’s a mistake to expect one agent to do everything.

Are your portrayals on the show—Lyndsay being more the designer and Leslie more the businessperson—accurate?

Leslie: That is 100 percent true and always has been. I have always been a more logical and more organized type A personality. Lyndsay has always been more go-with-the-flow. As kids, I would make the plans, and she would say, “Where are we going and what are we doing?” She has always been more eclectic, like the way she dresses. She’s always been more out there, and I have been more traditional, in my box. That’s where I feel comfortable.

Does being identical twins give you an advantage as business partners?

Lyndsay: Yes. There is a level of trust there that I’m not sure we would have with any other business partner. We have a language; we can finish each other’s sentences and get what each other is saying. We kind of think as one. I am madly in love with my husband, and I can’t even explain my relationship with Leslie to him. I have known him since seventh grade, and if Leslie and I ever get into an argument, he gets into full-blown panic mode and asks me to go make up with her because he knows that neither of us can function or survive unless we are on the same page.

Do you have a favorite renovation?

Lyndsay: In season two, we renovated a home we called the semi-hoarder house. We decorated it in an earthy contemporary style, and Leslie loved it. The landscaping and the beautiful trees in the yard led me to lean toward an earthy feel with darker greens, cement, and concrete, and we mixed contemporary in with that because the home seller had a beautiful cedar wall above his fireplace that we wanted to keep. But I can’t ever pick a favorite renovation. I end up loving every house.

For more information, visit lambandcompany.com