The chi of real estate

By Sue Doerfler
Arizona Republic

(click on image for details) Kee Rash • Arizona Republic Feng-shui primer Feng shui is pronounced "fung schway" and means "wind" (feng), "water" (shui). This ancient Chinese art of placement revolves around chi (pronounced chee), an invisible life force that flows everywhere. Its goal is to put you in harmony with your surroundings, thereby increasing well-being, happiness and success. There is an energy wheel, called a bagua (BA-gwa), which is divided into different energy fields: wealth, spirituality, career, friendly relations, health, creativity, fame and partnership. To sell your home, you want to enhance positive chi and get rid of negative chi in each of these fields.

Perhaps. Yet consider this:

Before setting foot indoors to see that fresh coat of paint or catch a sniff of baking bread — your not-so-subtle attempt to exude hominess — potential home buyers may be reacting to the energy of your property. Question is, what type of energy — good or bad?

Or, as described by practitioners of feng shui — good chi or bad chi?

Feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of directing energy to create harmony and prosperity through placement of furniture, rooms and landscape, can make a property more appealing visually and emotionally to buyers, says Suzee Miller, a California real-estate broker and feng shui consultant.

This was Miller's message in November during a seminar at the National Association of Realtors convention in San Francisco. And this practical application of feng shui is catching on in the United States, she says.

Feng shui consultant Margaret Selby says she has been hired to use the principles on everything from homes to cars to strip clubs.

"It really is a true picture of how you live your life," Selby says.

Get past the confusion caused by the different ways to practice feng shui — among them use of a compass or the Chinese horoscope, or determining placement of furnishings and rooms using an octagonal chart called the bagua.

Feng shui, when applied to selling your home, is common sense:

Get rid of clutter, remove dead plants, repair broken faucets. Fix up your house and you'll reap the benefits, says Selby, whose company is Feng Shui Concepts of Scottsdale, Ariz.

"Like gravity, you don't have to believe in feng shui for it to work," says Miller.

For good chi outside:

• The front door is the most important place. Repair peeling paint and remove clutter by the front door. Place a charcoal or black doormat there to underscore the water aspect of feng shui. Spiff up the door. Replace the hardware if needed. Plant red flowers near the door: Red equates to high energy. "You want people to feel that high energy before they get out of the car," says Selby.
• Plant an orange tree in the farthest left corner of your lot as viewed from the curb. This is the wealth corner. An orange tree is the tree of luck, Selby says.
• In the middle-front sector, a meandering path to the front door is better than a straight walkway, says interior designer Gabrielle Roeckelein. Break up a straight path by planting bushes or flowers alongside it. But don't plant them in a straight line. This middle-front area is the career sector.
• Create a Zen area, with a birdbath and a few flowers, in the front left of your lot, says Miller. This is the spirituality sector.
• Clean debris and dead plants from your lot.
• Plant lots of flowers in a rainbow of colors on the right side of your front yard, the friendly-relations sector. You also may want to set up three ceramic rabbits as accents in this flowerbed; because rabbits multiply quickly, they signify receiving numerous calls from potential buyers, she says.
• Plant something green in the health sector, the middle part of the left side of your yard.
• Sunflowers and tiki torches work well in the middle of your back yard, which is the fame sector.
• A pair of white or pink flowering plants belongs in the partnership sector, the right side of your back yard.
• The middle of the right side of your yard is the creativity sector. It requires little vegetation. There, less means more, Miller says.

For good chi inside:

• Get rid of clutter, which is considered sha chi, or negative energy. For example, piles of magazines in a corner mean stagnant energy, says Roeckelein. Cluttered rooms also give potential buyers the impression that a house is too small, says Selby. Broken items or things in disrepair give the feeling that a home is dirty. And clutter is unsightly. Less means more, says Miller. She recommends putting many items, such as seasonal clothing, in storage.
• Open blinds. Natural sunlight gives off positive chi, or energy, Roeckelein says.
• Remove mirrors that are on the walls opposite front doors. Mirrors deflect energy back out the door.
• Dust equates to low energy. Particles of dust are particles of you, Selby says, and, therefore, it's your energy that is lying stagnant on furniture.
• Remove dried flowers, which signify low energy. Replace them with fresh flowers or plants.
• Clean the bathrooms. Potential buyers don't want to see your toothbrushes. Clutter in a bathroom equates to being late, Selby says.
• Pay particular attention to tubs. A ring around the tub gives potential buyers the impression they will be choked by the house, Selby says.
• Add color to your walls. Energy bounces off white walls, which also look too pristine.
• If your front door faces the back door, put some sort of blocker, such as a plant or statue, between the two doors, Roeckelein says. This helps reduce energy entering in one door from exiting through the other.