Do you consider Feng Shui when purchasing properties?

Question

So, i found an investment property (town house) here in Vegas that meets my criteria.

The deal hasn't closed yet, so, I went to inspect the place after the owners left before I hire my home inspector.  My Asian girlfriend happen to be with me and said that this place isn't Feng Shui, so a lot of her friends and family members would not want to ever buy this place.

Main problem was that the stairs going to the 2nd floor is in the same path as the front entrance door, so as soon as you open the front door, if you take a few steps forward, you will hit the stairs.

Pic taken from front door:

The lease / sales data looks fine from what I found on the MLS, but do I really want to limit myself to subset of a demographic by purchasing this property?

Do you guys ever consider these factor as well as non Feng Shui thing when buying a property? ie. property is near power lines, busy streets, backyard neighbor overlooks me, etc. etc.?

Thanks, :)

Marge M. · Answer

Hi Peter,

Generally speaking, good feng shui revolves around positive energy flow.  Auspicious energy always flows slowly and meanders through the home while unlucky energy or shar chi moves fast and in a straight line. The chi should enter your home slowly and never in a rush.  A “rush” occurs when you have a long straight path or hallway or walkway up to your front door. It is advised that entrances allow the chi to accumulate in a small foyer or area before moving through the house with furniture arranged in such a way that allows the chi to meander rather than move too quickly or get blocked.

Hope this helps.

Smiles,

Marge

Maurice George · Answer

Well, I found out that many non-Asian people very care about Feng Shui especially for people once lived in Asia for a while.  They do not necessary believe Feng Shui will bring them wealth, but they will certain will avoid a bad Feng Shui house.

Oscar Martins · Answer

I make sure the layout of my properties have a nice "flow" to them, They don't always have to be open concept. In your photo, half of the 1st floor room starts out with carpet and then transitions into laminate? Make it all one surface if you can, it will make the room look longer and give it flow, my eyes automatically hit the spot where the carpet ends and laminate begins.  I would also invest some money in a new hand rail and balusters. Thats the first thing buyers are going to see when they open the front door and its pretty cheap to replace.

Steve Babiak · Answer

I have two rental houses like that.  One has had exactly two months of vacancies in twelve years.  The other actually had an asian couple as the first tenant we placed there.

So it hasn't affected my luck any apparently ...

J Scott · Answer

Just like everything in business, you need to know your customer base.  If your target buyers will tend to notice FS elements and make buying decisions based on them, then yes, you should definitely take this into consideration and make appropriate business and rehab decisions based on it.

Personally, I've never had a buyer mention FS to me or my agents, so I don't believe it's an issue with my buyer demographic, but if it were, I'd definitely make sure to take it into consideration.

Ben L. · Answer

My parents have brought me into the Feng Shui world when their house was built in 2006. They would read book after book and continue to educate me about it.

I have to admit, I am a firm believer of that gut feeling you get every time you walk into a house and it pertains to Feng Shui (FS for now on..).

Certain features in a house that provide good FS are also just plain appealing to the eye, such as rounded corners in a house (who doesn't like that?), the crystal chandelier in the foyer, or the rounded sidewalks outside.

I don't particularly incorporate FS into my business model. You are targeting the needs of a very specific subset of buyers where my objective is to rehab/market a house to as many buyers as possible. However, it does not HURT to incorporate features to a house that provide good FS...As long as it does not eat your budget and is relatively inexpensive of course.

Bill Gulley · Answer

LOL! If it's a big deal, cut back the stairs and put in a landing and return 90 or 180 degrees into the livingroom, looks like ther is room and put a wall up. Makes a better entry.

Those electro magnetic fields will be off of transmission lines regardless of them being produced by hydroelectric or atomic plants, if it's a rental you may not see any difference in rents, homes close are usually harder to sell and there is some degree of external obsolesence attached for valuations,IMO.

Andy M. · Answer

I ran into this once with a buyer. He was a very successful business man from Taiwan and he was buying my personal residence. I found out from the agent that the Feng Shui was very important to him and apparently my house had it. He had the agent take lots of pictures of the house and he sent them over to his business/Feng Shui advisor in Asia and apparently he agreed that my house had it going on. Unfortunately I didn't find out how much he loved it until after we had closed and we were out to dinner. That would have been an interesting piece of info during negotiations. :)

Karen Margrave · Answer

As far as the Feng Shui issue, we happened to run into that with the house we are currently building. The mans mother brought it up. We realigned the front door, and solved the problem. The issue is they perceive wealth comes in the front door and flows through the back. However; on your pic I see no windows or back door, so it may actually be ok. If not, you could also do a minor remodel with stairs and have the bottom come into landing, then turn to right and down a few steps.

As for power poles, if they're large hydroelectric lines, I'd definitely be concerned because of the electro magnetic field.

On a subdivision we did there were potential buyers (a few different cultures) that were concerned over certain numbers in the address, 8 and 4, and others that had to have the entrance facing a specific direction.

Whenever we can, we work with people. In the case of the house we are building, the buyers wanted to place coins (for prosperity) in the foundation, and we were happy to oblige.

It keeps things interesting!