How to Write a Listing Description When the Property Has Unusual Features

Every agent eventually takes a listing that stops them cold when they sit down to write the MLS description. Maybe it is a converted church with 40-foot ceilings and stained glass in the living room. Maybe it is a property with a detached workshop the size of a small warehouse, or a main house connected to a guest cottage by a glass breezeway that the county assessor called a "miscellaneous structure." The feature is real, it matters to the right buyer, and you have absolutely no idea how to describe it without either underselling it or making it sound like a liability.

The instinct most agents follow is to either bury the unusual feature in the middle of the description and hope buyers overlook it, or to lean so hard into the novelty that the description reads like a carnival barker's pitch. Both approaches cost you showings. The buyers who would love that property never call, and the ones who do show up are either confused or disappointed. Writing well around unusual features is a learnable skill, and the framework is simpler than most agents expect.

Identify the Buyer Before You Write a Word

The single most important step in writing copy for an unusual property has nothing to do with writing. It is figuring out who actually wants what this property offers. A detached 2,400-square-foot workshop appeals to a different buyer than a property with a permitted ADU over the garage, even though both involve "extra structures." A home with a professional-grade kitchen appeals to a serious home cook, a personal chef, or someone who entertains frequently. Knowing who you are writing for changes every word choice you make.

Before you open a document, write down one or two specific buyer profiles in plain language. Not demographics, not fair housing categories, but functional descriptions: "Someone who works from home and needs a genuine office separate from the main living area" or "A buyer who keeps horses and needs a property that can actually support that lifestyle." These profiles tell you which details matter most, what order to present information in, and what tone to take. When you know who you are writing for, the unusual feature stops being a liability and starts being the headline.

This process also helps you separate unusual features that are assets from ones that require honest disclosure. A property with a converted basement recording studio is an asset to a musician or podcaster and a neutral-to-slight-positive for most other buyers. A property where the only bathroom is accessible through the primary bedroom is a genuine functional limitation that affects a wide range of buyers. Treat them differently in your copy.

Lead With Function, Not Description

When agents write about unusual features, they almost always describe what the feature looks like rather than what it does. "The main floor includes a large open room with exposed brick, original wood floors, and soaring ceilings" tells a buyer what they will see. "The main floor's 900-square-foot open room has hosted gallery shows, pop-up retail, and a photography studio" tells a buyer what is possible. Function sells. Description provides context. Lead with the first, support it with the second.

This applies even when the feature has no obvious conventional use. A backyard with a 60-foot lap pool does not need to be described as "a rare opportunity for the avid swimmer." Instead, write something like: "The 60-foot lap pool runs the length of the rear yard and includes a timing system and starting block, built for daily training rather than casual use." That sentence finds the right buyer and communicates seriousness without a single cliché.

For features that are harder to categorize, like a property built into a hillside with rooms at three different elevations, lead with the practical outcome: "The split-level layout creates three distinct living zones, each with private outdoor access, which works well for households where people are on different schedules." You have told a buyer what the layout actually means for daily life. That is more useful than "a one-of-a-kind architectural design."

Handle Objections Inside the Description

Unusual features raise questions, and buyers who cannot get answers from the listing description will often move on rather than schedule a showing. Your job is to anticipate the most likely objections and address them directly in the copy. This is not about talking buyers out of concerns. It is about giving them enough information to make an informed decision about whether to visit.

If the property has a detached primary bedroom connected to the main house by a covered walkway, state the distance and whether the walkway is climate-controlled. If the home has a wood-burning boiler as the primary heat source, note whether it has been serviced recently and what the average fuel cost runs per year. If the property includes a commercial-grade grease trap because a previous owner ran a catering business out of the kitchen, mention that it has been decommissioned or that it remains functional for buyers who need it. Small factual details neutralize large emotional objections.

Agents sometimes resist this approach because they worry that mentioning potential objections will scare buyers away. The opposite is almost always true. Buyers who are scared away by accurate information were not going to buy the property anyway. Buyers who are the right fit will feel more confident about scheduling a showing when they can see that the agent has been straight with them. Transparency in the listing description filters for serious buyers and reduces wasted showings on both sides.

Use Specifics to Build Credibility, Not Just Color

Vague language costs you trust in any listing description, but it costs you twice as much in a description for an unusual property. When a buyer reads "the expansive converted barn has been tastefully renovated while preserving its original character," they have no usable information and no reason to believe the claim. When they read "the converted barn measures 1,800 square feet, includes two mini-split systems installed in 2022, poured concrete floors with in-floor radiant heat, and a half bath permitted in 2021," they have facts they can work with.

Specifics do several things at once. They answer practical questions buyers have not yet formed. They signal that you as the agent actually know the property rather than writing generic copy. They help buyers who are searching for specific features find your listing, because people searching for "radiant heat" or "in-floor heating" will find that phrase in your description. And they give buyers something concrete to reference when they talk about the listing with a partner or advisor.

The most effective approach is to gather the specifics before you write. Pull the permit history. Ask the seller what was done, when, and by whom. Walk the property with a notebook and measure anything that is not in the tax record. For truly unusual features, the difference between a vague mention and a specific description can be the difference between a showing and a skip.

Structure the Description to Carry Non-Standard Buyers Through

Most MLS descriptions follow a loose structure: lead with the property's strongest point, move through the main living areas, hit the kitchen, cover the bedrooms and baths, mention the outdoor space and the garage, close with a neighborhood note or a call to action. That structure works for conventional properties because buyers are moving through a mental checklist they already carry.

For unusual properties, that standard structure often fails because the unusual feature does not fit neatly into any of the standard categories. A property where the primary suite occupies a separate structure in the backyard does not belong in the bedroom paragraph. A home where the kitchen has been removed and the space repurposed as an art studio needs to address the missing kitchen before a buyer stumbles across it in person.

The better approach is to organize your description around the buyer's likely decision sequence. What is the first thing they need to understand about this property? Start there. What is the most common objection or question? Address it second. Then move through the supporting details that confirm the property is what the lead promised. Close by grounding the buyer in the practical: lot size, parking, proximity to relevant infrastructure, any permits or inspections that are in hand. A description that follows the buyer's thinking rather than a standard template does a better job of converting curiosity into a showing request.

If you are writing descriptions for unusual properties regularly, or even occasionally, building a consistent workflow around buyer profiling, functional language, and objection handling will save you significant time and produce better results than starting from scratch each time. Montaic generates MLS descriptions and 11 other content types from a single property input, including a Fair Housing compliance check built into every output. Agents handling complex or atypical listings use it to move from blank page to ready-to-submit copy in minutes. The free listing grader at montaic.com/listing-grader will show you exactly where your current descriptions are losing buyers before you even know they were gone.