How To Buy a Happy Home – The Secret To Avoid Trouble

The Secret to Buying a Happy Home

-or- How to avoid a divorce, illness, job loss, or worse..

 

When you buy a home, what you are buying is the next phase of your life.  By the end of this article, you’ll know some major things to look for.

Why would you want to imagine what it’s like to live in their shoes?

If you buy their home, you will begin to live the same life.  If it’s a wonderful life, buy now.   But unless you use “Feng Shui eyes” you could be in for an unexpected turn of events.  In my experience, homes don’t lie.  Rarely is a home so toxic it can’t be solved, but it does happen.  Most often, the energy can be adjusted but if you don’t know the difference–you’ll be in for trouble.

Things that matter when buying a home:

• The Outside: Neighborhood, Land, Style & Layout
• The Inside: Style, Layout, Colors, Shapes & Items
• The History

Feng Shui wisdom can save you a trip to the divorce attorney or worse.  If you find a home that you love and that home has some challenging Feng Shui issues, you can usually reverse the negatives by making some changes that won’t cost a fortune:  that’s the beauty of the science of Feng Shui. 

The Outside – The Neighborhood
     determines your ability to be effective in the world

 

1.    A healthy and vibrant neighborhood:  good life force means you won’t be drained or asked to devote YOUR energy to keep it vital.  It will support you rather than drain you.

2.    A healthy business district, health trees, well-maintained homes, gardens and streets.

3.    Not directly near a cemetery, hospital or church –while these are important aspects of a community, living too near these can deplete your own health.  Avoid living near a prison or municipal buildings such as Fire Station, Police Station or water treatment plant.

Sell Your Home Quickly with Feng Shui

Let your home do the talking for you by using simple, practical feng shui to selling your home faster (decrease market time) and for more (increase profit)!

Outside: First impressions are critical.

It takes only three seconds for buyers to make a judgment about a home.  After that it’s a sales job. 

• Your front entrance is the “Mouth of Ch’i: be sure it’s welcoming, well-lighted and clear, night and day. 
• Address: Make sure that your house numbers are highly visible (on your home and your mailbox and either displayed in a horizontal or upward diagonal.  (House numbers in a descending diagonal indicate diminishing energy.)
• Make all entrances to your home inviting, organized and beautiful.
• Make sure doors, hardware and stoops are clean and freshly painted.
• Bright, eye-catching, well-maintained flowers at your front door set the tone for freshness on the inside. 
• Every door must open onto a beautiful view.  This will welcome the new owners and new opportunities into your life as well.
• Place something yellow or red near your front door, and make it fresh and healthy.  Remove all kitchy/personal items.
• Notice everything:  is the door handle working perfectly, the door bell obvious and beautiful, the new door mat?   Even sweeping the front entrance with a new broom will remove the past and make way for the future.

Inside and Outside

• Give it a thorough cleaning.  This is another way to remove your energy from the address.  
• Go “Martha Stewart”on your spaces:
  •  Make it fresh and look “magazine”-like. 
  • When in doubt: take it out.  Less is definitely more in this case.
  • Clear out all but the minimal amount of clothing, coats, shoes, pantry items that you need.  Rule of thumb:  leave 1/2 to 1/3 of each closet, drawer or cabinet empty and clean.
• Neutralize negative influences.
  • Remove all clutter, and ‘personal’ items,.
  • Repair and renew everything.  Make it fresh.
  • Remove all clutter and pack and store personal items in a self-storage unit or at best, out of sight.  Your Buyer wants be able to imagine themselves and their ‘stuff’ in this home.
  • Smells can turn off a potential sale or indicate problems to be dealt with: make sure all negative smells (mold, mildew, moth balls, pet and other offensive odors) are eliminated and replaced with fresh scents.  Use: Vanilla, citrus, fresh coffee or chocolate aromas are pretty universally warm and friendly.
  • Sounds: Play some restful music to set the tone or something that will attract the kind of buyer you want to attract, but play it as background and turn down the volume if you leave any large-screen TV’s on to give the space some life.
  • Plumbing signifies money flow: make sure everything works excellently.  Look even for evidence of water damage and repair it all.
  • Where your eye goes, energy goes: Keep your toilet lids down and help your buyer focus on something beautiful.
  • Make plans to be away during all showings; your buyer needs to feel the comfort and freedom to place themselves in this home.

Important Feng Shui Tip:  Notice what is in the furthest right-hand corner of the property and the home.  If it is something heavy and large, remove it if you can.  If it is a rock garden, place upward moving energy there:  a hollow metal wind chime, plants that extend upward, light that shines upward.  This will help to uproot the energy of your family.  If it is something small that you love, place it in storage for a while to give the home time to adjust to not having you there.

Feng Shui is practical and as well encompasses everything our thoughts and feelings can touch.  When we pay attention to things that normally escape our focus, we ourselves a special advantage. 

Before the sale even begins to take too long:  read more about the #1 Reason Most Homes don’t sell:  you’ll be glad you did.

Home “Selling” Colors

Selling a home? The idea is to make it feel fresh and it’s also important that the home you are selling no longer looks like it belongs to you.   It needs to look like a place where the new buyers can imagine seeing themselves and their favorite furnishings.  Think neutral, think beige.  You may be saying beige-smeige and yes it may be boring, but keep in mind your end goal is a sale.

A fresh coat of ‘real estate beige’ will actually help to create a clean slate of energy, allowing the new owner feel as though it’s fresh and new, just waiting for the new experiences to begin.

This soft subtle palette is perfect for selling a home. Notice how all the pieces work together to create a clean and generic feel.

There are many factors involved with making a sale, and Home Stagers know, you can add thousands, if not tens of thousands to your bottom line with a little effort and the right colors.

Colors are tied to dollars, demographics and education level.  Folks who are used to living with higher priced items and homes are used to deeper, more “complex” colors.  Use a bit darker colors to give the home a higher-priced feel.

Soft, muted tones rather than those that are termed “clean” (mixed with white) will appeal to the broadest audience regardless of the depth of the color and won’t make your existing furnishings look dirty (by contrast against the brighter white-based colors).

Beige:  For higher priced homes, you can deeper colors like PPG Pittsburgh & Porter’s Atmospheric Colloection’s ATC-49 Foggy Beach, or Pony Tail 315-4 or Golden Ecru 316-4, or Applesauce Cake 316-5 and be sure to paint your ceilings and trim at least 1/3 of the tint color of the wall color for an upgraded, decorated feel.  For homes in a lower price range, going lighter on the beige is a good idea, something like Morocco Sand or even 314-2 Heavy Cream.

Avoid grey. Try to stay away from grey tones when you are selling a home, unless they work well with your lighting (lots of sunshine and limited Northern exposure) and if they work well with what you won’t be changing out: carpeting, tiles, counters, etc.  Those greys can sometimes be interpreted as dirty and that would be a no go for a buyer.

The goal is to erase your presence, so it looks like a canvas that the new buyer can paint their new life into.  For more tips on selling your home, stay posted here.

The Bagua: Your Treasure Map to the Energy of Your Spaces

Basic Feng Shui Tool:    The Bagua Map

 

             When we look at your surroundings through ‘Feng Shui’ eyes, we can often see what it is in your life that is challenged or challenging you or what you may be missing.  A basic Feng Shui tool is the Bagua Energy Grid, which shows you which areas of your home or office is affecting your Relationships, Career, Health, Wealth and other aspects of your life.   

             The Bagua energy map represents a universal energy grid and represents all aspects of a life in balance.  In Feng Shui, everything is alive, always changing and interconnected.  This energy map, the Bagua, helps you know how and what to change; by adjusting the energy according to the Bagua, people’s lives have improved

The Real Reason Most Homes Don’t Sell

The Reason Most Homes Don’t Sell 

 The unseen isn’t unfelt, the unfelt isn’t unreal.

  

 

 

 

 

 

The #1 reason your home won’t sell is energy.  Even after increasing the curb appeal and following the practical “sell your home faster” tips your home may be on the market for a very long time because of energy.  Of the three types of energy that will prevent your home from selling, energy of emotional attachment is the most common.   I have experienced this and seen it many times.  What is it and what do you do?

Here’s an idea of what you could be dealing with.  These are real stories about real people:·        

·         Your own (un-admitted?) attachment:

o    Kathy and Jim and their three children lived in suburbs of Pittsburgh:  Jim’s job was downsized and he was sent to New England.  5 hour commute between Pittsburgh and New England each week was hard on all of them.     After a year of seeking work closer to ‘home’ the situation was draining their finances and their family energy.  Sadly but willingly, the house was on the market and the family prepared to move.

When we met, I asked:  “who doesn’t want you to move?”  The tearful answer came from Kathy:  “none of the neighbors want us to leave.”  Her words said one thing, her tears told me it wasn’t just the neighbors but she didn’t want to move. 

My next question, “What would you love to have happen?”  She answered, “If my husband could find a job here, we…but there’s nothing and the economy’s…” off she trailed with the “why it couldn’t work” mantra.  

We got to work.  We made a few changes to the outside and inside so that it would have better energy to show for selling.  I also recommended that she make changes to the house to bolster the career area so that her husband could find a better job regardless of where they lived.   (That’s another post.)  Six weeks later they received news of a job opening in Pittsburgh, he took it and to this day they are still in Pittsburgh and happy in their lives.   The emotional attachment to the home was strong enough to draw in the perfect solution.

Had she not gotten really clear about their emotional attachment and needs, they could have drained themselves the rest of their lives because they were not following their hearts.  In this case, making a few simple feng shui changes, turned the situation around to a very happy ending. Case closed.

·         Other people’s emotional attachment:

o    Farm in Western Pennsylvania: on the market for 6 years, family needed to move closer to the city for school and business.  Over the 6 years, the price was lowered to almost bargain basement.   Then something sad but inevitable happened.  The owner’s mother, who had been ill for a long time, died.   Less than two days after she passed on, the couple received two serious offers and a bidding war ensued.  The price actually went UP and the home sold.  What happened?   In younger days, the owner’s mother lived there with the family and helped to raise the children.  She often recalled those times as “the happiest days of my life.”  Although she no longer lived in the home and she was not an owner, her emotional attachment to the house and land was strong enough to prevent it from being transferred to another.   Her attachment prevented the sale and not until her death did she release her hold on it.  With some gentle Feng Shui, her emotional attachment could have been removed and allowed the home to sell sooner.  Who knew?  Now you do.

 

 

 

·        ”Other worldly” attachment:

 

 

 

 

o    Real Case Study: A rental property didn’t sell for two years (and hadn’t rented for 1). I was called in to offer Feng Shui solutions.   We enhanced the wealth area, changed some furniture placement, used a mirror to reverse the negative effect of a ‘condemned’ building next door, and a few other Feng Shui adjustments to handle sloping land, an imposing wall outside the front door and finally, did a space clearing.  The Space Clearing, I encountered the energetic imprint of deep fear, hatred and child abuse.  After this ‘emotional’ attachment (the attachment of this emotion to this space) was cleared the home sold in 6 weeks. 

What is the secret to changing this energy?

·         You get clear

·         Take action: clear your spaces.

Get clear

This only takes a few moments.  Just ask yourself, “who doesn’t want to leave this house.”   Or “is there anyone or anything that is preventing this house from selling?”  Sit quietly and listen for the answer to come from your heart. 

Realize that you may get a strong answer, but sometimes it takes another person to help you because sometimes you aren’t ready to face the answers.  Then you can take action with Feng Shui help to unlock those emotional attachments. For instance:

·         Look to see if anything large is in the far right corner of your property or your home.  This could be a large piece of furniture, an item that you are attached to, or a large piece of outdoor furniture in your yard.  If so, remove it immediately and you’ll unblock the energy.

·         Stop calling it “our house” and start referring to it by its address.

·         Talk to your home as though it’s a beloved part of your life.  I have seen that homes have energetic attachments to families and that energetic tie can prevent a sale as well.  Tell the home that you need to leave, that there will be another wonderful family who will come and care for it and needs it’s protection and love. 

When I have had clients use these and other tips (following them completely) their homes have sold quickly and for more than they anticipated.  Other tips:  I’m working on that post right now.  Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take Action:  Clear your space

When I was a young child, I remember our priest coming to bless our new homes; I remember hating that we had to leave, the curious little girl in me wanted to know what he was doing to our house.

It was common practice for a home to be blessed by clergy when we moved.  In every indigenous culture, house blessings and space clearings are common and in Bali, a daily practice.    Blessing your home before you move in, each day you live there and blessing it as you prepare to leave helps you in deeply important, yet unseen ways. 

You can do it yourself but I always recommend engaging a professional (your clergy or a professional Feng Shui consultant trained in space clearing).  

This Piece is Very Important:

 If you do a Space Clearing yourself take note of all small changes.  This is an area where ‘what you don’t know, can hurt you.’  If you try this and find you get sick, have weird thoughts (more than normal J), have more fights, etc., it’s time to call professional help.  There is a “Do It Yourself Space Clearing” book and CD that is very helpful by Christan Hummel.  Also, Denise Linn, one of the world’s greatest teachers and my mentor, writes beautifully and details the steps for a space clearing in her book Sacred Space.    It takes your time and your devotion but you can do this yourself.   (I am also a resource for you as well  www.designandfengshui.com, I can teach you or do it for you onsite or remotely.)

Address the energy of your home, how it “feels.”  If you identify and clear the influences that lie beyond our five senses,  you be amazed at how quickly your home or business will sell, and nearly every time often for more money that you thought. 

Selling your house? Do you know how to determine if this is really right for you?  Even ambivalence will delay or halt the process. 

Are you ambivalent about leaving?  About the future?  Are there spaces with creepy feelings in your house?  Have you ever done a space clearing?  Do you want to know how?