Most holiday home adverts describe the home. The ones that sell describe what the buyer is looking for. Those are not the same thing, and the gap between them is why two similar caravans on the same park can sit for six months and six days.
We can see what buyers type. Every month tens of thousands of searches land on Sell My Group from people hunting a static caravan or a lodge. What they search for is specific, repetitive, and mostly absent from the adverts we are sent.
Key takeaways
- Buyers search by feature, not by manufacturer. Sea view outranks everything else by a distance.
- Name the park. Searches for a park name plus the word photos are among the strongest we see.
- Put the price in. Listings without one get skipped.
- Say what is included, because that is the question every enquiry asks anyway.
- Photograph it on a bright day, doors open, clutter gone.
Lead with the feature buyers are hunting
Over a typical four weeks, here is how often the main features turn up in searches reaching our site.
Sea view is not slightly ahead. It is roughly five times the next feature. If your home has any kind of sea outlook, that is the single most valuable phrase in your advert, and it needs to be in the headline. Buyers looking for one already have a page to browse them on, our caravans for sale with sea views collection, and adverts that use the phrase are the ones that surface there.
Name the park
One of the strongest patterns in our search data is a park name followed by the word photos. Dozens of parks show up that way every month, and those searches rank near the top of the results.
What that tells you is simple. A buyer hears about a park, or drives past it, then goes home and looks it up. If your advert names the park, you are in front of that person. If it says a lovely coastal park in the North West, you are not.
Sellers leave the park name out because they think it narrows the audience. It does the opposite. The buyer who wants that park is already searching for it by name, and they are the one who buys.
— Justin Allitt, Sell My Group
Put the price in
Every listing without a price generates the same first enquiry, and it is not an offer. It is a question. That costs you a week and filters nobody.
Price it against what is actually selling on comparable parks, not against what you paid. Age, condition, the pitch and the length of the site licence all move it. If you are unsure, ask us and we will tell you what similar homes are going for.
Say what is included
The questions that arrive with almost every enquiry are the same handful, so answer them in the advert and skip the back and forth.
- Does the sale include the furniture, and is it as pictured?
- Is the hot tub, shed or decking part of the sale?
- What are the site fees, and what do they cover?
- How long is left on the site licence or agreement?
- Is the park open all year or seasonal?
- What is the park rule on pets and on sub-letting?
Site fees vary by park and by pitch, so give your own figure rather than a range you have heard. If you want the background on how they work, the hidden costs of owning a static caravan covers it.
Photographs do the selling
Buyers scroll pictures before they read a word. Get these right and the copy is a formality.
- Shoot on a bright day, ideally with some sun on the front elevation.
- Open the curtains and blinds in every room.
- Clear the worktops, the windowsills and the decking.
- Photograph every room, plus the decking and the outlook.
- If there is a view, take one frame that shows the home and the view together.
- Twelve good photographs beat forty average ones.
Our guide to taking great photos for your holiday home advert goes through the shot list in detail.
Describe it honestly
Overstating condition does not win you a buyer, it wins you a viewing that ends badly and a fortnight back at the start. Say what needs doing. A buyer who arrives expecting a mark on the worktop and finds one buys the home. A buyer who arrives expecting perfection and finds the mark starts renegotiating, or walks.
A structure that works
- Headline: type of home, standout feature, park name.
- First line: the feature buyers search for, stated plainly.
- The home: make, model, year, bed count, layout.
- The pitch: outlook, decking, parking.
- The park: facilities, season length, pet rule.
- The money: price, site fees, what is included.
- Condition: honest, specific.
- Close: how to arrange a viewing.
Ready to advertise your holiday home?
List it with Sell My GroupThe type of home, the feature buyers search for most, and the park name. Sea view is the most searched feature by a wide margin, so if you have one it belongs in the headline.
Yes. Searches combining a park name with the word photos are among the strongest we see. A buyer who has heard of the park looks it up by name, and an advert that names it turns up in front of them.
You do not have to, but listings without one attract questions rather than offers. Pricing against comparable homes on similar parks saves a fortnight of enquiries that go nowhere.
Around twelve good ones. Every room, the decking, the outlook, and one frame showing the home and the view together. Quality matters more than quantity.
Yes. A buyer who arrives knowing about a mark still buys. A buyer who finds one they were not told about renegotiates or walks, and you start again.
That is your decision, but say which way in the advert. Buyers assume extras are excluded unless you tell them otherwise, and it is one of the most common enquiry questions.