17 Tips For Selling Your Home Fast In London

When anyone puts their house on the market, they cross their fingers and hope for a quick sale. But if you’ve ever sold a house before you’ll know that just hoping for a buyer to come along quickly isn’t enough. It’s actually all about the prep. Buyers are out there, endlessly searching on Rightmove, Zoopla and even in Facebook groups! But, if your property doesn’t grab their attention, then they’ll scroll right by. So how do you make your property stand out? Whether you’re selling a flat in central London or a town house in Greater London, here are my 17 tips for selling your home fast from a property photographer in London. Let’s get into it:

Best Tips To Sell A House In London

My best tips for selling your home fast is to start with the foundations. Some of these tips may not be a quick and easy job, however once you put your house on the market they will help you achieve a sale faster than if you don’t do anything at all. Your agent, your solicitor, your photographer; you need to get your ducks in a row first. When it comes to selling properties quickly, you need to plan ahead, so if you know you’ll be selling your home soon, here is where you should start:

1) Hire A Professional Property Photographer For The House Sale

Let’s be honest, the first thing potential buyers see is your photos. If you’ve ever sold, bought or even rented a property, you’ll know this. Popular platforms like Rightmove and Zoopla feature your images as the hook, you see them before you choose to read more information about the property. If these photos are dark, low-quality or cluttered, people will most likely just swipe past. That’s why you need to focus more on the photos than you might initially think. They’re the first impression people have of your property before they have even set foot inside, and you want people to see the potential.

You may think I’m being biassed being a property photographer in London and all, but there are statistics to back this up. Did you know homes with high quality photos sell 32% faster? Therefore a professional photographer for house sales isn’t just nice to have, it’s a crucial part of your launch plan.

Hiring a property photographer in London will give your home the chance it deserves. I won’t just show up with a wide lens and hope for the best. I’ll bring my years of expertise in what lighting showcases your rooms the best, show the layout and space in the best way, and produce high-quality images that potential buyers won’t just look at, but they will be able to envision themselves in them. My goal is to provide you with a set of images that make people click “book a viewing”, that’s what truly matters at the end of the day.

2) Choose The Right Estate Agent

This might go without saying but choosing the right estate agent in London is also important when you're looking at tips for selling your home fast. This involves looking at reviews, feedback and even seeing the list of properties they have recently sold in your area and taking note of how much they sold for and how long it took. Pop into a couple of agencies near you and look at their listings. Are they selling homes like yours? Do their descriptions answer questions buyers actually ask? Ask them how they handle open days, how they deal with paperwork, and whether they have a plan for midweek evening viewings. Speed comes from process. If their process sounds sloppy, keep looking.

3) Get All The Paperwork Ready

Paperwork usually slows everything down. Be prepared by digging out gas safety, FENSA certificates, boiler service history and anything else related to past building and remedial work. Getting everything over to your solicitor as soon as you can will avoid these delays on your end, which will help you further down the line once contracts have begun being signed. And then when potential buyers start to ask questions, you can say “Yes, we’ve already got that.”

4) Update Exterior

Kerb appeal is just as important as making the interior look nice for viewings. The last thing you’ll want is for buyers to be put off by the outside of your property before they’ve even set foot inside. Make sure you clean your windows, and if you’ve got a garden, then spruce it up before viewings. Having a roof that appears in good condition is important too! 72% of house hunters know immediately if they will buy a property or not. Since the exterior is the first thing people see when coming for a viewing, you need to make sure that first impression counts!

5) Perform Any Repairs

This might seem like an obvious one, but if any repairs need sorting, you should really go ahead and get these issues fixed before viewings start taking place. Even if it is something small like a dead light bulb or a squeaky door hinge, minor problems give buyers the impression that there’s more to deal with later on. Nobody wants to invest in something that’s going to cause them headaches further down the line. So to avoid these turn offs make sure your property is in top condition sooner rather than later.

6) Update The Kitchen

Don’t underestimate the power of a good kitchen. It’s known that kitchens sell houses because that’s where people imagine themselves living. If this is outdated, then investing in updating this room is not a bad idea. You don’t have to spend thousands either. It’s surprising what updating cabinets, installing new taps and fresh paint can do for making that room look more attractive. 

7) Conversions

One of the best tips to sell a house quickly is by performing any obvious conversions. This won’t just make your home look more appealing to buyers, but also it will add value to your property. This might look like a loft conversion or expanding the garage. If you don’t have the time to perform these but you’ve had planning permission before, keep that paperwork ready. Buyers will see the potential and have their own plans to expand once they have moved in.

8) Open Houses

Open houses or open viewings are a fantastic way you can sell a home faster. Not only are they time efficient as they allow multiple households to view your property at a time, but they also generate hype around your house sale. If you’re looking for a quick sale, getting a few potential buyers through your door all in one go is a great way to create interest; all you need is one to buy.

9) Flexibility With Viewings

London runs on odd hours. If you can only do weekday afternoon viewing you’ll miss many of the best buyers. One of the best tips to sell a house is you need to be open and available. Let your agent book a couple of early evening slots during the week and be flexible on weekends too. The more people you can accommodate in that first week, the sooner you’ll see offers and the less likely you are to end up hanging around for “the right one”.

10) Make Sure Each Room Has A Purpose

Whether it’s someone who’s downsizing or a first-time buyer, one thing that they all have in common is that they need to picture themselves living in your property. If they can’t, it’s hard to get past. One thing you can do to help them envision a life in your property is to define each room. If you’ve got a spare room you use for storage, set it up as a bedroom. If you’ve got a barely used dining room, stage it so it looks lived in. You want people to be able to picture themselves and their family in this space, and rooms being full of moving boxes is not the way to go.

Staging A Home For Quick Sale

Now, we’ve talked about the things you can do before you put your house up for sale, but your job isn’t done just yet. You need to prepare for viewings by staging a home for quick sale. The goal is to make your space look as appealing as possible. Here are some of my top tips:

11) Make It Look Appealing

This mainly comes down to the details. Attractive curtains, matching show cushions, and a vase filled with fresh cut flowers can do wonders. A professional photographer for house sales will also pick this up in photos to make the rooms look more appealing on Rightmove.

12) Light A Fire

One of my tips for selling your house is to make it seem as cosy as possible. If you’ve got a fire, perfect. Lighting the fireplace is an extra detail that you may overlook, but it can really create that inviting, homey feel to a house which is exactly what you should be going for! 

13) Deep Clean

This might seem pretty obvious, but having a deep clean is crucial before a viewing. Even if you think you have cleaned, you’ve probably missed a spot. Make sure you get into all the nooks and crannies, as you never know where or what a potential buyer is looking at. You want your home to look as presentable as possible after all.

14) Declutter

This is an important one but there’s a fine line between tidying and stripping away all personality. You want to declutter but you don’t want to completely depersonalise your space. You’re not going for minimalistic, but buyers will want to picture themselves in your home and it can be difficult to do that when you have kids' toys scattered everywhere. A homey vibe that’s clean but also cosy is the perfect middle ground.

15) Redecorate

You might prefer dark colours, and that’s fine when it comes to your home, but there are some decorating tricks you can do that makes your house look more inviting. Painting your walls with light and neutral colours can make any room appear bigger and brighter. Yes, we’ve already established that buyers do need to picture themselves in the home they’re looking to purchase. But it’s true, and keeping colours on the neutral side will help with this more than if your walls are a blinding electric blue.

16) The Power Of Smells

You may have already heard of the trick sellers do where they bake a fresh set of cookies just before a viewing, this subconsciously makes the viewers feel more at home as the smell is associated with cosy memories. Now I’m not saying you have to become a baker before your next viewing (unless you really want to) but smells are important. Make sure rubbish is taken out so no bad scents linger, and consider lighting some nice smelling candles.

17) Hang Mirrors

One of my tips for selling your house is to make a room seem larger by hanging up mirrors. Not only do mirrors create the illusion of a space being bigger than it is, but they also have another interesting psychological effect which is they encourage viewers to see themselves there. Which you should know by now is one of the most important aspects of getting potential buyers to make an offer.

Shot By Andrew - Property Photographer In London

If you’re prepping to list your property and you want the visuals to pull their weight, I can help. I’m Andrew and I’m a property photographer in London if you want to move things along without drama. My approach is straightforward. I’ll walk the space with you, talk through the small changes that will make the photos land better, and plan the shoot for the times of day your home looks its best. If your north-facing kitchen feels brighter at 10am, we’ll shoot then. If your exterior sings at dusk, I’ll be back with a tripod that evening.

If you only take one idea from this whole guide, make it this: get the first impression right. In London, your buyer meets your home on a phone screen long before they meet your doorstep. Great images do more than just look good, they make saying “yes” easy. When you’re ready, drop me a message. As a property photographer in London, I’ll help you launch with confidence so your listing doesn’t just gather views - it gathers viewings and the right kind of offers.

Book with me for a property photographer in London today and get your sale moving quickly!