What makes a good property brief

The form on the home page asks for an email and not much else. The reply we send back usually asks for a one-paragraph brief. Most briefs land in the same shape: "4-6 bed villa, sea view, €3-5m, Marbella or Mallorca." That's a property requirement. It's not a brief.

What we actually use

The briefs that get us moving fastest answer three questions:

1. Why now? What changed in the last six months that means you're enquiring this week, not next year. Family relocation, business sale, lease ending, partner's wish — the answer matters more than people think.
2. Best-case use. Describe a typical Wednesday at the property in two years. Who's there, what you're doing, where you woke up. The picture surfaces requirements the property list never does.
3. What would make you regret it? Properties get bought against the dream. They get regretted against specifics — the commute, the rental season, the neighbour, the maintenance burden. Naming the regret in advance is the cheapest form of due diligence.

What we don't need yet

Bedroom count, exact budget, hard preference between regions. These all move during the brief conversation. Coming in with a rigid spec usually means we waste a meeting unwinding it.

The property is the easy part. The brief is the hard part. We're here for the brief.

One short version

If you only have three lines: "Selling the business in 2027. Want a family base in Spain to slow down after. Three kids 8/11/14, so school proximity matters at least for the next 4 years. Sailing background. Open on region."

That brief picks the region, halves the candidate list, and tells us exactly which neighbourhoods to start in. The property list writes itself.