Mara Ellison
London · Founded Vesper in 2019
About Vesper
A small agency in Hampstead, London. Twelve homes at a time, each one photographed at dusk, each one shown by the agent who listed it.
Mara Ellison founded Vesper in 2019, after ten years selling houses in north London. She had grown tired of listings that read like inventory, so she started an agency that photographs every home at dusk and writes about it in plain words.
The register stays small on purpose. Twelve homes at a time, across London, the south coast and the Algarve. Every home is one Mara, Tom or Inês has walked through themselves, and every photograph is taken at the hour the house is lived in.
We value twelve homes a month and take on four. The ones we take on are the ones we can photograph at dusk and describe honestly, and the ones we think we can sell in ninety days. If we do not take a home on, we say why, and who we think would sell it better.
There is no call centre and no handover. The agent who values your home shows it, answers the phone about it, and hands over the keys.
How we work
- One agent, start to finish. The person who values your home shows it and hands over the keys.
- Photographed at dusk. Every home, the same hour, the same grade, so the picture is the house you arrive at.
- Facts first. Guide prices, floor plans, running costs and the things that are wrong with the house, if there are any.
- Ninety days. The homes we take on are the ones we think we can sell in ninety days — and if we cannot, we say so early.
The team
The office is at 14 Flask Walk, Hampstead, London NW3 1HE. Open Monday to Saturday, 9 to 6. Contact us →