Testimonial from Jenny Price.

We relocated from Munich to Derby in the summer of 2010. This daunting process included selling our house in Bristol (which had been rented out whilst we were living in Germany), finding an area to live within Derbyshire (Previously unknown to us), and buying a house there. We had already spent a day in Derbyshire visiting different areas and done lots of internet based research, so we had found our “target village” of Duffield. We realised after a second visit to Duffield in April, that although we were happy with our choice of village it was going to be trickier to find a house. We could see plenty available on the internet but were limited to visiting and viewing potential houses every few months.

Back in Munich a few days later, a further internet search of Duffield happened to bring up a local magazine which included a feature on Mary Johnson-Evans of Derbyshire Relocations. It seemed to be exactly what we needed - someone who knew the area and could arrange for us to view a number of suitable houses in one day. We spent a great day in May with Mary viewing various properties, including some that were not yet on the market. It was actually really useful having a third impartial opinion, especially from someone with local knowledge. She was helpful but not forceful in any way. We made our decision, and having received an offer on our house in Bristol, put an offer on a house in Duffield.

At that point I thought that Mary's part in our relocation was probably coming to a close. We had an offer accepted on a house that we loved in the right location. In actual fact it was now she really helped us and earned her fee! It was proving frustratingly difficult (and slow) to push through the sale and purchase, and especially complicated trying to do it from a different country. We had an unmovable deadline of leaving Germany at the beginning of August. Unless all dates tied up we would have to move into rented accommodation and our belongings would be in storage - something we had wanted to avoid. Mary contacted all involved (solicitors, estate agents, financial companies etc) daily to chivvy them along on our behalf. She was a complete star and also a friendly understanding person when I needed someone to grumble to.

Unfortunately, our house purchase in Duffield fell through the week before our family left Germany. Mary knew of an alternative that would be coming onto the market in a few days time and secured us the first viewing. Matt, already working in Derby at this point, viewed the house with Mary straight away. He liked the house, and Mary gave me very positive feedback. I felt at this point that Mary really did know what I was looking for in a house, so trusted her if she thought I would like it. We therefore put an offer on the house straight away even though I hadn't seen it.

Three months on, we are settled in our new home and enjoying life in Derbyshire. I feel that we ended up with the right house in the right location, and would heartily recommend Mary and Derbyshire Relocations to everyone.

Jenny Price

NB I tried to shorten this testimonial, but I really wanted to emphasise that for us it wasn't so much the property search, but your invaluable perseverance with the Bristol agent and our solicitor that really helped us. The fact that if Matt had seen the house alone without you or me, I would have wanted to see it too before we put an offer in.