House hunting can be an exhausting, stressful, and time consuming process, especially in a hot market like Los Angeles or San Francisco. With so much anxiety and competition among homebuyers, it’s important to remember that buying a property is a major investment and a lifetime commitment for most people, and should not be driven by fear or market pressures. Instead of rushing to submit an offer, take your time and let Feng Shui be your guide.
Whereas savvy homebuyers would consult a Feng Shui master before making an offer on a home in Asian countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Malaysia, where Feng Shui is part of daily life, many people in western countries who are not as familiar with Feng Shui see it as something to be done after the home buying process, and usually when something feels off or goes wrong. This mindset doesn’t give the most positive outcome as Feng Shui is most effective when you consider it as part of your investment in the home buying process.
Ideally, you’d want to have a Feng Shui assessment on a home prior to owning or renovating it, as “fixing” a home with negative Feng Shui forms is not as simple as it sounds. A home with positive energies does not require much Feng Shui remedy, whereas a home with negative Feng Shui formations can consume your time and resources, as you may have to constantly address recurring issues throughout your homeownership.
Certain negative forms are just not curable and better avoided, especially when they are external and out of your control to change. As it can get expensive to bring in a Feng Shui consultant each time you find a potential home, here is a basic guideline of external Feng Shui issues to look out for when house-hunting, before you even enter the property:
- Location, location, location
A home’s external environment always takes precedence over its internal Feng Shui forms. You can live in a house with the perfect Feng Shui, but if the external environment is unsupportive to the home, it will affect the residents negatively.
Positive energy (“Qi”) originates from the mountains (which are called “Dragons” in Feng Shui), while water is the boundary where Qi stops. Hence the best location is the area between the mountains (or higher ground) and water. A site with mountains visible in the distance and preferably with a clean, gently flowing body of water and a park or garden nearby, where beneficial Qi can circulate, will likely have auspicious energy.
Notice how the most thriving cities of the world are blessed with the presence of rivers, seas, or oceans, surrounded by mountains and hills in the distance? Qi flows freely in these areas, bringing growth and prosperity to the residents. Qi suffers in areas where the environment has been disturbed (for examples, by oil drilling, oil refineries, or dams), which in turn affects the residents’ physical and economic wellbeing.
- Do your research
Once you’ve zeroed in on a particular location, do a background research on potential natural hazards in the area that may not only affect the community but also negatively influence the property’s Feng Shui. Red flags include high winds, fire danger, and properties built over high-pressure gas storage wells, an earthquake fault, or a burial ground. All of these carry harmful Qi that cannot be fixed.
- Immediate surroundings
Take note of the streets, trees, and other buildings that you pass as you approach the property. Are there sharp-looking objects such as electricity pylons / high voltage transmission towers and buildings with sharp corners facing the property nearby? Is there a pole or a tree obstructing the view to the entry door? A home directly facing a T-junction or situated next to a busy freeway will be exposed to unstable, rushing Qi. Seaside and waterfront properties should have a wide buffer of land between the living space and the water.
- Trust your intuition
Assessing a home requires expert eyes and plenty of practice. For those just starting their search for a home, the best advice is to always trust your intuition and what your senses tell you. For example, if the surrounding areas make you feel sad or anxious, cross that location off your list.
Animals and plants are intuitively drawn to positive energy. Can you hear birds chirping? Do the trees look healthy? A neighborhood with an eerie silence most likely has too much negative Qi invisible to the eyes.
You’d probably realize by now from the guideline above that Feng Shui is no joke and it very much involves a keen awareness of the environment and a lot of common sense. Feng Shui, after all, is a study of nature and how to live harmoniously with the environment.
We will explore how to identify internal Feng Shui issues in part 2 of this topic.
Once you find a home that satisfies the basic Feng Shui requirements, hire a Feng Shui consultant to see if the home will bring positive energy to you and your family. I provide a simple yes or no assessment for a nominal fee per unit, and the fee you pay for a recommended property can be applied as credit to the full assessment fee if you do end up buying the home. Contact me here for a quote.
Of course, the earlier the better when it comes to hiring a Feng Shui consultant to help you screen out inauspicious properties in your home buying process, especially if you find yourself already overwhelmed by this basic guideline!