Do you believe in house fengshui? I am a big fan of it.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not being superstitious. Fengshui is very scientific. There is nothing speculative or supernatural about it.
Property fengshui believes in maintaining the harmony between man and nature for the sake of good health and good fortune.
Good fengshui depends very much on the external environment, especially the four basic elements of wind, sunlight, mountain and river. It talks about how to judge the fengshui of a place according to its location, direction, ventilation, sunlight, etc. Fengshui is all about harnessing Sheng Qi (生气) and avoiding Sha Qi (煞气).
Buy first or let a fengshui master see it first?
Many people hire fengshui masters to see their new home after they bought the place, when they should have done it the other way round. There are two reasons behind this.
First of all, since you have already made your purchase, it is too late to tell you even though the fengshui of the place is bad. And because you are a customer of the fengshui master, to be courteous, problem areas are only mentioned subtly in order not to make you lose face or upset you too much. Afterall, there is not much you can do now.
Furthermore, most fengshui masters like to advise their clients on renovations and decorations. But in reality, the outside environment is much more important than the interior decoration. If external fengshui is bad, there is only so much that interior fengshui can do. And you can’t make good use of the Qi if it doesn’t exist in the first place. There is an interesting analogy from a famous fengshui master: You can’t do hairstyling if you don’t have any hair in the first place.
Consequence of buying a good or bad fengshui property
Why am I so particular about buying a good unit?
Because I care about the well-being of my family and I have to ensure that there are no bad elements of our home.
Because I have my pride and I know people visiting my place will be full of praise.
Because I can get a good tenant in a soft rental market when competing with other landlords.
Because I can market it at a premium price next time when I sell my unit.
Because I know how things can turn out the other way if I buy the wrong unit out of ignorance.
For I have personally stepped into hundreds of resale units during flat viewing. You can’t imagine what kind of bad units that people can buy. The location, direction, facing, floor and layout are all wrong.
There are so many silly mistakes that the owners could have avoided if they bothered to do their homework and think twice before they buy.
The sad thing is: These owners have spent so much money buying the unit. But their family have to endure the nuisance or undesirable consequence. Next time when the unit is for rent or for sale, potential tenants and prospective give a frowny face before criticizing the place.
Some common examples of bad fengshui
The definitions and criteria of a good unit may be subjective. However, people tend to agree what defines a bad one – an obstructed view, a bad facing, lack of privacy, too much void area, noisy or dusty, bad or odd layout, etc.
Last month I went to view a condominium project that just obtained its TOP. Half of the units have fantastic unblocked seaview. The units facing the sea are asking for a premium price.
However, when you open the double glazed windows in the balcony, you are immediately turned off by the noise coming from the heavy traffic of the highway. Unless the windows are closed all the time, I can imagine how the residents are disturbed by the Noise Sha (声煞), causing troubles like restless days, hot tempers, sleepless nights and poor health.
I used to own a unit in a condominium with building blocks much higher in height than the surrounding projects. It has unblocked view. I thought it is bright and windy with very good fengshui.
But the problem is that it faces strong winds from all directions. Very often the wind is so strong that the doors keep slamming if they are not closed properly. If the wind is too strong, all Qi will be dispersed and good fortune cannot be kept. The situation is similar to the only house built on top of a hill. The problem in fengshui is called Wind Sha (风煞).
There are also other Sha Qi that should best be avoided. For instance, the Heaven’s Kill Sha (天斩煞), Scissors Sha (剪刀煞), Wall Blade Sha (壁刀煞), Flame Sha (火形煞), Reflection Sha (反光煞) and Roof Ridge Sha (屋脊煞).
All these Sha Qi can easily be identified if home buyers have the knowledge and keep practicing it by observations.
Afterall, many principles of fengshui are just common sense. However, to many people, common sense is not common.
–PROPERTYSOUL
