How to Write a Listing Description for a Property With Unusual Features

Every agent eventually gets a listing that stops them cold when they sit down to write the MLS description. A converted church. A property with a professional-grade indoor shooting range. A house with a detached structure that was once a dental office. A floor plan so unusual it defies any standard template. The instinct is to either apologize for the feature in vague language or skip it entirely and hope buyers notice it in the photos.

Both approaches are mistakes. Buyers who encounter an unexpected feature at a showing without any preparation often walk out, not because they dislike it, but because they feel blindsided. The listing description's job is to find the right buyer for the actual property, not to reframe the property into something it is not. That means naming unusual features directly, framing them honestly, and writing toward the buyer who will genuinely want them.

Identify Who Actually Wants This Property

Before you write a single word, you need a clear picture of who the buyer is. An unusual feature is only unusual to the wrong buyer. A 1,200-square-foot workshop with three-phase power is a problem for a buyer who wants a backyard. For a machinist, woodworker, or small manufacturing operator, it is the entire reason to buy.

Write down two or three specific buyer profiles for the property. For the workshop example, your list might include tradespeople who work from home, serious hobbyists who currently rent industrial space, or small business owners who need to consolidate operations. Once you have those profiles, every sentence in your description should speak to at least one of them.

This targeting exercise also tells you what to leave out. If the property's indoor lap pool is the dominant feature, spending three sentences on the kitchen finishes dilutes the message. Lead with the feature that makes the property worth buying for your target audience, and let the standard details support it.

Name the Feature Directly in the First Two Sentences

The single biggest error agents make with unusual properties is burying the key feature in the third paragraph after a generic opener about hardwood floors and natural light. Buyers scanning MLS results spend roughly six seconds on a description before clicking away or clicking through. If your unusual feature does not appear in the opening, you lose the buyers who want it and keep the buyers who will be surprised by it at the showing.

A direct opener sounds like this: "Former commercial greenhouse converted to a four-bedroom residence, with 2,400 square feet of living space under original glass-and-steel roof panels that run the full length of the home." That sentence immediately filters the audience. Buyers who want a conventional ranch house move on. Buyers who are intrigued by that conversion click through, read the photos, and book a showing.

Direct does not mean clinical. You can write with energy while still being precise. What you want to avoid is the hedge, where you describe the feature in language so softened that it communicates nothing. "Unique architectural details" tells a buyer nothing. "Original 1940s root cellar converted to a 400-bottle wine storage room with separate temperature zone" tells them exactly what they are getting.

Frame the Feature Around Function, Not Novelty

Unusual features lose their appeal when the description treats them as quirks rather than capabilities. A buyer is not buying a conversation piece. They are buying a property that will serve their life in a specific way. Your copy should answer the question the buyer is already asking: what does this actually let me do?

For a property with a detached recording studio, the frame is not "music lovers will appreciate." The frame is: "Detached 600-square-foot studio with acoustic isolation, dedicated HVAC, and a separate electrical panel, built to professional recording standards in 2019." That sentence answers the function question completely. A musician or podcaster reading it knows immediately whether the space meets their technical requirements.

The same logic applies to features that are polarizing. A property with a legal accessory dwelling unit where the main house is small might seem like a liability. Framed around function, it becomes: "Main house at 1,100 square feet with a permitted, separately metered 650-square-foot ADU currently generating $1,800 per month." That copy speaks directly to the buyer who sees rental income as part of their purchase calculus.

Handle Potential Objections Before the Showing

Some unusual features carry practical concerns a buyer will need to resolve before making an offer. Addressing those concerns in the listing description is not a liability, it is a service. It saves you a call from a buyer's agent asking the same question you knew was coming, and it builds credibility with serious buyers who appreciate an agent who does not waste their time.

If the property has a private well and septic where most nearby homes are on municipal systems, say so and give the facts: "Private well (tested 2024, results on file) and septic system inspected and certified 2023." If the unusual layout means one bedroom is accessed through another, name it and frame the buyer profile: "Fourth bedroom accessed through the third, which many buyers use as a nursery or private home office suite." You are not hiding the feature and you are not apologizing for it. You are giving the buyer the information they need to decide.

Avoiding objections in copy does not make them disappear. It just moves them to the showing, where they land at the worst possible moment for conversion. A buyer who has already processed a concern in writing and decided to book a showing has mentally moved past it. A buyer who discovers the same concern cold at the showing has not.

Structure the Full Description Around the Feature, Not Despite It

Standard MLS description templates follow a predictable order: lead with the home's overall appeal, mention bedrooms and baths, describe the kitchen, note the yard, close with location. That structure works for conventional properties. For unusual ones, it buries the lead and makes the unusual feature feel like an afterthought or a problem.

Rebuild the structure with the unusual feature as the organizing principle. Open with the feature and its function. Follow with how the rest of the property supports it. Close with location and practical logistics. For a property built into a hillside with below-grade living spaces, your structure might be: open with the architectural concept and what it produces in terms of temperature stability and light, describe the main floor layout and how it connects to the hillside setting, then close with the lot size, garage access, and distance to town.

This structure also helps with word count discipline. MLS character limits force choices. When you build the description around the unusual feature, every sentence either advances the buyer's understanding of that feature or provides supporting context. Sentences that do neither get cut. The result is a tighter, more persuasive description than you would get from a standard template with the unusual feature awkwardly inserted.

For agents who write a high volume of listings or regularly take on unusual properties, having a system for rebuilding the description structure quickly is the difference between copy that converts and copy that confuses. Montaic generates MLS descriptions and 11 other content types from a single property input, and handles non-standard features without defaulting to generic filler. The free listing generator at montaic.com/free-listing-generator is a practical place to start on your next difficult property.