The Overseas Property Expert: Logic or instinct?

I've lived in London for almost 5 years now and in all that time I've lived centrally, in various flats all only a few minutes' walk to the nearest tube. My life has moved on in the past few years and as a result my need to live beside a tube station has lessened and my yearning for more green space has become more of a 'need' than a 'want'.

First came self employment (best thing I've done in YEARS). With that came the home office and loss of overbearing boss telling me to waste 2-3 hours a day travelling on torture trains packed with grumpy commuters equally annoyed at the huge waste of time that is commuting into central London. Then came the passing of the driving test (after 3 attempts!) and ensuing purchase of car (yey – this is where I become reminiscent of Mel Gibson in Braveheart and scream "FREEEEEDOMMMM" at the top of my lungs!) Then, last but not least, came the second cat, along with his mountains of fur!

After all three of these changes my need to have outdoor space was a burning yearning which came from deep within my soul.

As I wrote last week, I've been looking at some lovely little cottages in and around Barnet in North London. To me Barnet seems to have it all, it's within 30 minutes to central London (on those rare occasions the Northern line operates smoothly). It's a lovely little town with all the usual stuff such as shops, restaurants, nail bars (necessity for me as a nail biter), coffee shops, bars, etc, etc. However, for me the most important part is this; PARKS AND WALKS! Wow, who would have thought I'd been happily declaring that as my priority. Not me, must have something to do with the fact that I am nearing 40 (shhhhh!)

And so, I am happy to report that I've found my new home, it's in a very pretty area of Barnet called Hadley Green. Hadley Green is lovely, like a picture postcard really. My new house is directly opposite a golf course (might have to learn now), a big parks and even a duck pond! It has everything I need and is only minutes walk from some very nice shops and restaurants. More importantly the habitants of this street haven't had 3 murders in the past few months (unlike my current house) a nice bonus I think!

One thing which came as a surprise when I was house hunting was how, in the end, my choice came down to pure instinctive gut feeling rather than logic. I looked at about 10 different houses and cottages before I found the chosen one. They were all nice enough, had various pros and cons but I just couldn't decide. I took my boyfriend Marcus along to see some (he thought they were all "OK" – fairly non committal there). I took my sister along to see one, which at that stage had been the favourite. The instant she walked in she curled up her nose and said is "smelled funny" then proceeded to pick fault with almost every part of the place. Hmmm, okay maybe not.

Confused I decided to draw up a little 'points system' for the top 5. I graded each out of 5 on various factors such as location, number bedrooms, number receptions, size of the garden etc, etc. I felt very pleased with myself and happily wasted an entire afternoon tallying up the points. Still something didn't feel right though. Then out of the blue an agent at Andrews Lettings said he had the perfect house for me. He took me to the Hadley Green house, I walked in and hey presto.... points list out the window. It really didn't matter how far this house was from the shops, the tube or the boyfriend's house because (big shock) this house just FELT right.

I know to some this might seem natural but for me it was actually a bit of a shock. I've always prided myself on being logical. I weigh things up, I analyse, I calculate the best option and think, think, think – possibly till I drive myself mad. Maybe that's the realisation I needed to come to, sometimes you've just got to trust your instinct and let go of the so called 'logic'.