After stints at Keller Williams and United, in 2017 the two started their own business, Gallery of Homes (they joined forces with Compass in 2021). Kent had always known that the keystone of their business strategy would be staging, the process of moving a truckload of furniture and décor from Gallery's massive warehouse to the listing. "Houses would sell faster, and at higher dollar, if they looked truly appealing." So convinced of the value of staging, all Gallery of Homes agents offer this service at no charge to their sellers regardless of the price of the house. "Staging is even more important now that the crazy post-pandemic seller's market is over. Back then almost anything could sell. Photos with heaps of laundry, dirty showers, junk everywhere. It didn't matter. But the market has normalized. Presentation matters...

Jamie Willis admits she was initially confused by the strategy. “When we first started, all our commissions went into buying staging stuff.” Even their own household décor was sometimes pressed into service. "I'd go to a house and see my nightstand, my books and wonder, why are they here?! And why are we spending all of that time and energy and money on this? But after I had been to closing after closing with buyers telling me 'we looked at houses all day long, and then we walked into yours and oh my God, we had to have this house!' it became clear that the staging was a big deal."

"A few veteran agents told us we were nuts to offer free staging," says Kent, "but I didn't care. That's the advantage to coming to real estate later in life, from a totally different career. You get to make your own rules. We do whatever's best for our clients, even if it doesn't seem to make business sense to anyone else."

To wit: Kent has been known to talk clients out of moving. "It's obvious when someone loves their current house and all they need is a little more space. I'd rather help them figure out a way to add a room or two."

“We're the team that lets our freak flag fly,” Kent continues. “Instead of offering photos with Santa, we had Krampus, if that tells you anything. Whatever the stereotype of a real estate agent is, we're not that. Nobody here behaves like they're on Gazillion Dollar Listing. I guess it's a Midwestern thing. I never saw real estate as a glamor job. It's a helping profession. I know that sounds corny. But that's our ethos and our culture."

The right culture—warm, collaborative, inclusive— is key to Gallery's success in attracting good agents. To put it bluntly, the business has a no-a-hole policy. "We choose folks who are more than good agents, they're also really good people who pay it forward in one way or another."

The couple actively looks for ways to give back to Irvington, "the neighborhood that trusts us with their homes,” says Kent. The couple's pole barn off the Pennsy Trail, for instance, was transformed into a nonprofit arts collective offering very affordable studio spaces to local artists. Another of their buildings, on Bonna, is now a performance and rehearsal space, donated rent-free. A third building is currently being developed as a maker space, also to be provided rent-free.

People, and businesses, often speak of returning to their roots, but in this case, it's not a return; it's a continuation of the same artistic spirit that built Gallery of Homes from the very beginning.