rightmove - 10:33 am on May 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

Free text with no mandatory fields is the only way to go.

For example, Ireland doesn't have postal codes, so if you have a mandatory ZIP/post code field, you won't have any Irish customers.

UK addresses don't officially have any state/county, just a post town, so you can't require people from the UK to enter both a town and a county -- people get very tired of entering Town: London, county: London.