How to prepare your home for sale: the method we use before every photo shoot
A buyer’s first impression forms online, looking at the listing photos. Not during the viewing — before it. If the photos do not convince them, the viewing does not happen.
This is why, before publishing any listing, the property needs to be prepared. It is not a question of budget or major work: it is a question of perspective. You need to be able to see the home as a stranger will see it — and address what they will notice first.
The goal: an apartment that feels like a hotel
The reference point is not a magazine home — something unattainable and artificial. It is a good hotel room, or a well-kept holiday apartment: clean, tidy, with a few well-chosen objects and nothing superfluous.
This goal is within reach of any home, regardless of how it is furnished or how long someone has lived there. It requires time and attention, not money.
The first thing to do: remove
In every home — and this is not a criticism, it applies to everyone — there are things that have accumulated over time and are no longer noticed because people have grown used to them. Ornaments, objects on kitchen surfaces, documents on the table, clothes on chairs. For those who live there, they are invisible. For a buyer entering for the first time, they are the first thing seen.
The most effective way to declutter quickly is to use the cupboards. Everything that should not appear in the photos — and in many cases during viewings too — goes inside. There is no need to go as far as they do in the United States, where sometimes a storage container is rented outside to empty the home. It is enough to start from the premise that fewer objects means more breathing space — and a buyer who can more easily imagine themselves living there.
What we add
Removing is not enough. A home that is too empty or bare can feel cold. The goal is a balance: few objects, but the right ones.
This is why we bring items from the office: cushions, bedspreads, sofa covers, towels, ornaments, small plants. Not to transform the home, but to add a few details that make it feel more welcoming in the photos and during viewings.
If the owners agree and a small budget is available, targeted purchases can be made. This is not always necessary, but sometimes it makes the difference.
For empty properties, a fresh coat of paint is often worth it. A vacant apartment with yellowed walls starts at a disadvantage. With a coat of white paint, the same space appears larger, brighter and better maintained — at a modest cost.
The photos: when, how, how many times
Photos are taken on a sunny day. Natural light is the most important variable — it cannot be recovered in editing.
The first photo session is almost never the last. It sometimes becomes necessary to return because a different angle works better, or because something that should have been moved was not noticed the first time. This is not a problem: it is part of the process.
In editing, the main work is on brightness. The goal is not glossy or unrealistic photos: it is realistic photos, but well executed. The buyer who comes to the viewing should find what they saw in the listing, not feel misled.
When the owners are still living in the property
Preparing an occupied home is more demanding than preparing an empty one. There are personal belongings, habits and spaces used every day.
Owners are usually cooperative. The most common resistance concerns small purchases: sometimes they do not feel it is necessary to spend anything, or they think the home is fine as it is. This is an understandable position — but it is worth remembering that the photos will remain online for the entire duration of the sale, and that the first impression forms there.
What we ask, when the home is occupied, is to keep it in the condition it was prepared for the photos — at least during viewings. It is not a huge commitment, but it makes a concrete difference to how the property is perceived.
How a home changes with a few targeted interventions
What you see in the after photos is not the result of a renovation: it is the result of rearrangements, replacements and small additions made before the photo shoot.
Same bed, same room — with a deliberate colour palette it becomes a space that stays in the memory.
The same room in the same light — reorganised, it reveals how much space and how much view it had all along.
A few coordinated details — and the bathroom feels like the one in a good hotel.
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