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

Every agent eventually takes a listing that stops them cold at the kitchen table. Maybe it's a converted church with a 40-foot vaulted ceiling and no closets. Maybe it's a house on a shared well, or a lot with an easement running straight through the backyard, or a home with a detached living unit that doesn't quite meet ADU code. The instinct is to minimize the unusual feature, bury it in the disclosure section, and hope the right buyer shows up. That instinct is wrong.

The right buyer for an unusual property is real, but that buyer is also specific. Your description has one job: find that person and give them enough information to self-select. When you write around what makes a property different, you attract buyers who will object to it at inspection and walk. When you write toward it, you attract buyers who want exactly what this property offers.

Start by Defining What Kind of Unusual You're Dealing With

Not all unusual features are the same, and your approach should change based on which category you're working in. The first category is quirky appeal: exposed brick throughout a 1920s bungalow, a greenhouse attached to the master suite, a basement recording studio with acoustic panels. These features will excite a subset of buyers immediately. Lead with them.

The second category is functional difference: an off-grid solar system, a cistern rather than city water, a septic system with an unusual footprint, a property with no traditional garage but a massive detached workshop. These features require explanation more than celebration. Buyers need to understand how the feature works and what it costs to maintain before they can get excited about it.

The third category is legal or structural complexity: a property with a recorded easement, a home that includes a non-conforming unit, a lot that straddles two zoning designations, a house where a room addition was unpermitted. These are disclosure issues first, marketing issues second. Get your disclosures right, then write copy that acknowledges the complexity without catastrophizing it.

Lead With the Feature, Not Around It

The opening of your MLS description does two things: it signals what kind of property this is, and it signals what kind of buyer should keep reading. A property with a 1.2-acre lot in a neighborhood where every other home sits on 6,000 square feet is not a standard listing. Your first sentence should say so. "1.2-acre lot inside city limits, fully fenced, with a four-stall barn and a permitted ADU" tells the right buyer in eleven words that this property exists for them.

The same principle applies to less obviously desirable features. A geodesic dome home will not appeal to every buyer, but it will appeal deeply to a specific buyer. "Geodesic dome construction on 2.3 acres, with radiant floor heat and passive solar design" is a better opener than "Distinctive property on private acreage." The vague description gets ignored. The specific one gets shared.

One practical note: check your MLS character limits before you write. Many systems cap descriptions at 1,000 characters. If you lead with the unusual feature and run out of space before you reach the bedrooms and bathrooms, you still made the right call. Buyers who aren't interested will stop reading early regardless.

Explain the Feature Like You're Talking to a Smart Buyer Who Has Never Seen One

Unusual features create questions. Your listing description should answer the most obvious ones before the buyer has to ask. A property served by a shared well should include the number of parties on the agreement, the year the well was drilled, and the gallons-per-minute flow rate if it's been tested. A home with a wood-burning boiler should mention the fuel cost savings you've documented, not just the fact that it exists.

This kind of specificity does two things. First, it reassures buyers that you know what you're selling. An agent who can explain how a gravity-fed spring system works, or what a conservation easement does and does not restrict, is an agent a buyer trusts. Second, specificity filters out buyers who will waste everyone's time. A buyer who reads "shared well agreement with two neighboring parcels, currently tested at 12 gpm" and decides that's not for them has just saved you three weeks of negotiations that were going to collapse anyway.

Write the explanation in plain language. Avoid jargon like "alternative water source" when you mean cistern. Don't say "flexible zoning" when you mean the property is split between residential and agricultural designations. Name the thing and describe it.

Reframe the Feature Around the Buyer's Life, Not the Property's Specs

There is a difference between describing what something is and describing what it means for the person who lives there. A property with no HOA and a detached workshop on half an acre means different things depending on what the buyer does for work or recreation. If comparable sales and your research suggest this property will attract a contractor, a woodworker, or a small business owner, your description should speak to what the workshop enables, not just its square footage.

"Detached 1,200 sq ft workshop with 220-volt service, six overhead outlets, and a 10-foot roll-up door" is good. "Detached 1,200 sq ft workshop with 220-volt service, six overhead outlets, and a 10-foot roll-up door, set back from the house on a separate driveway" is better, because the separate driveway tells the buyer they can run a business without client traffic going through the main residence. You added one detail and answered a question the buyer didn't know they had.

Apply this same thinking to every unusual feature. A home on a private road with a shared maintenance agreement is not just a logistics detail. It means lower traffic, more distance from neighbors, and typically lower road noise. Say that. A property with a deeded water right is not just a legal instrument. It means the buyer can irrigate a large garden without a water bill. Make that connection explicit.

Handle Genuine Drawbacks With Honesty and Context

Some unusual features are not assets to anyone, and pretending otherwise will cost you credibility and time. A house with a power line easement across the back third of the lot is not a feature. It is a constraint. The right approach is to name it accurately, give the buyer what they need to evaluate it, and then move on to what the property does offer.

"Power line easement along the rear 30 feet of the lot; remainder of the 11,000 sq ft lot is fully usable and includes a detached two-car garage" is a complete sentence that tells the truth and immediately redirects the reader to something positive. Buyers can weigh that. What they cannot weigh is vague copy that makes them feel like something is being hidden.

Context matters here too. If the unusual feature is priced into the listing, say so. "Priced below assessed value to reflect the deferred exterior work" is a sentence that attracts buyers who want a project and repels buyers who want move-in condition. You want both groups to know immediately which category this falls into. Accurate framing is not a weakness in your marketing. It is the mechanism that gets the right buyer to the showing.

Write a Separate Version for Social and the Property Website

Your MLS description operates under character limits and fair housing constraints, and it has to do a lot of work in a tight space. When you have a property with unusual features, your social captions and property website give you room to go deeper. Use them.

A Facebook or Instagram post can tell the story of the feature in three to four sentences. A converted barn with original timber framing deserves a caption that talks about when those beams were cut and how they've been preserved. A property with a permitted secondary dwelling can have a post dedicated entirely to the income potential, with actual numbers if the seller will authorize it. These posts reach buyers who would scroll past a standard listing but stop for a property that matches something specific they've been looking for.

Your property website, if you're building one, can include a dedicated section that explains the unusual feature in full. How it works, what it costs to maintain, what restrictions apply, and who typically values it. That information does not belong in the MLS description. It belongs in a format where buyers who are already interested can go deeper. When you generate your MLS description, social posts, and property website copy from the same input, the unusual feature gets handled correctly across every format rather than explained well in one place and ignored in the others.