A new launch research file that keeps every claim traceable

Three weeks after two gallery appointments, you are sure somebody said the corner stack gets little afternoon sun. You are less sure whether it was at the first project or the second, whether it was the sales representative or a line in the brochure, and whether it applied to the unit you are now considering. The detail feels like a fact. It is really a memory that has quietly merged with other memories.

New launch research runs over weeks, involves several people and produces a pile of paper. The fix is not a better memory. It is one research file per project that keeps three kinds of material apart, so that every note you rely on can be traced back to where it came from.

Why notes go wrong a few weeks later

Many households keep one running list per project: a mix of what was said, what the brochure showed and what they thought at the time. That list ages badly. A guide on how AI agents are designed to remember makes a point that applies just as well to a household's notes: raw records bury the one useful fact among everything else, and a store that only ever grows turns into noise unless someone distils and prunes it.

The same guide draws a line between things that should be remembered and things that should simply be looked up in a current document. For a property purchase, that distinction matters. A floor plan or a price list is not something to hold in your head. It is something to find, with its date, whenever the question comes up.

Three parts, three different questions

Give each project its own folder or notebook, with three sections that never mix.

1. The conversation record: what was said, by whom, and when. Every call, gallery visit and message thread gets a dated entry. Write down who you spoke to, their role as they described it, and what they said in words as close to theirs as you can manage. This section records statements. It does not decide whether they are true, and you do not edit it later to make it tidier.

2. The documents: what the paperwork says, and which version. Brochure, site plan, floor plan for the exact unit type, specification list, price list, and anything else you are handed or download from the developer's official website. Give each a reference number, the date on it (or the date you received it if none is printed) and where it came from. When a newer version arrives, file it as a new entry and mark the old one as superseded rather than throwing it away.

3. Your own notes: what you have concluded and what you prefer. This is the short section you actually reread. Each line is a conclusion, a preference or an open question, and each points back to the conversation entries and documents it rests on. If a note cannot point to anything, it is either a personal preference (label it as one) or something you need to check.

The separation reflects a wider rule: developer representations, your own verified observations and personal financial or legal advice are different things. A salesperson's remark belongs in part one. A specification line belongs in part two. Whether the purchase suits your finances belongs with your advisers, and your file should say so rather than guess.

A template you can copy

Paper, a notes app or a shared folder all work; no special software is needed. Use one copy per project.

• Project and address: as written on the developer's official website, with the date you checked it.
• Units under consideration: block, stack, floor and unit type for each.
• Conversation record: C1, C2, C3 and so on. For each: date and time, channel (gallery, phone, message), who you spoke to and their stated role, who from your household was present, and what was said, quoted where possible. End each entry with "follow-ups requested".
• Documents: D1, D2, D3 and so on. For each: title, version or printed date, date received, source (handed over, emailed, downloaded, and from where), which unit or units it covers, and status (current or superseded by D-number).
• Notes: N1, N2, N3 and so on. For each: the point in one sentence, its type (conclusion, preference or open question), and the C- and D-numbers it rests on.
• Questions for advisers: eligibility, financing, legal documents and timing. Questions only; do not fill in answers from marketing material.
• Last tidied: the date you last reviewed the notes section.

A worked example

The following is fictional. Hui Min and Ravi are comparing two projects and have a file for each.

At a gallery visit on a Saturday, the representative tells them the yard in a particular unit type includes a built-in storage cabinet. Ravi writes it as C3, quoting the remark and noting the time. Later, they compare the specification list they were given that day, filed as D4. D4 does not mention a yard cabinet either way.

Without the file, "the yard has storage" would probably have become a remembered feature within a week. With it, their note reads: "N6, open question: is a yard cabinet included for this unit type? Said in C3, not shown in D4. Ask for written confirmation." The representative may well be right. The point is that the file shows exactly what the claim rests on, and what would settle it.

A fortnight later they receive an updated price list. It goes in as D7, and D2 is marked "superseded by D7". Their notes that referred to D2 now visibly point to an older version, which prompts them to recheck those lines instead of carrying forward figures from a list that no longer applies.

Keep the file honest with a short weekly tidy

After each appointment, or weekly, spend a few minutes on the notes section only.

1. Add new notes from recent conversations and documents, each with its references.
2. Move settled questions to "resolved" and record which document settled them.
3. Merge duplicate notes. Two versions of the same point drift apart over time.
4. Delete notes that no longer matter to your decision.
5. Check whether any note leans on a document now marked superseded.
6. Leave the conversation record and the documents untouched apart from new entries.

Two limits are worth writing at the top of the file. First, a conversation record shows what was said. It is not the same as a document, and how much weight any statement carries is a question for your lawyer, not for your notes. Ask for important points in writing. Second, the file organises evidence; it does not assess affordability, eligibility or legal terms.

When you are ready to set two projects side by side, the notes sections become the input for a clear project comparison. Each line's references show which parts of the comparison rest on documents and which on a remark at a gallery.

Common questions