IF you like house-hunting then property shows such as Location, Location, Location are addictive viewing.

For some, Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer have the best job in the world – travelling the country seeking out properties they think are suitable for the buyers on the Channel 4 show.

What Mary Johnson-Evans does for a living is pretty similar. With her firm, Derbyshire Relocations, she seeks out properties for families looking to move to the county.

In many cases, they are moving to the region because of work, and, because they may be a fair distance away from Derbyshire, they entrust Mary to do the legwork by coming up with a shortlist of potential homes.

"It is very much like the television programme," said Mary, who joined me for lunch at Limes, in Derby.

"I sit down with them and we go through their criteria such as location, number of bedrooms and, of course, price. I then go off travelling around the county seeking out suitable properties. I come up with a shortlist of four to five homes – and like Kirstie and Phil, throw in a mystery property for good measure.

"I basically take the hassle out of home-finding."

Mary decided to set up her business last year after remembering the experience of finding a home in Derbyshire when she and husband Chris moved to the area from London.

She said: "It was 13 years ago when Chris got a job in Derby. We didn't know which were the good areas and which were the bad.

"It took us several months before we found the right house in the right area. We spent many nights in a hotel during our property search.

"What we really needed was someone who knew the area and could guide us. It would have saved a lot of time."

When Mary and her family did settle, she got a job working for estate agent Scargill Mann.

It was a far cry from one of her previous roles, working as a PA for the larger-than-life nightclub impresario Peter Stringfellow.

Mary said: "That was a wild time but very enjoyable. Pete is a lovely guy and a very sharp businessman.

"Before joining Scargill Mann, I had worked in secretarial jobs. When I started working for them I really fell in love with house-hunting.

"It is incredibly rewarding when you find the right property and the deal gets done, but I wanted to do something on my own where I could be a bit more independent and guide people towards properties I felt was right for them, not because I wanted to get a certain property sold.

"The idea for the business really took off when a friend of mine wrote an article about me for a parish magazine. The article was published online. Someone searched for Duffield on the internet and found me. They were relocating from Germany and that was my first client."

According to Mary, who runs her business from her Duffield home, there are many desirable areas in Derbyshire.

She said: "I believe Derbyshire as a whole is a very attractive place to live. This is not just because of the Peak District and the wonderful countryside but also for the fact that Derby itself has improved.

"The new developments within the city centre have made it more attractive to outsiders. It has given people more reasons to consider Derby as a place to live and work."

According to Mary, some of the most popular areas include Darley Abbey, Allestree, Aston-on-Trent, Melbourne and Repton.

She said: "Mickleover is also very popular because there is a good choice of housing, you are in the city but not far away from the countryside and there are some good schools."

At the moment, the housing market is static and Mary believes it will continue to be tough.

She said: "Mortgages are still pretty tough to get hold of. The pace of the market is slow at the moment and it could get tougher.

"Many people are sitting on their properties and are waiting for things to improve. They are investing in extensions to their existing properties rather than buying.

"But the fact they are waiting means there's very few new properties coming onto the market.

"That said, there will always be people who have to move because of work commitments and that is where most of my business comes from.

"I'm hopeful that the market will improve next year. But it will be a slow and gradual process."