How to Buy a Home with Good Feng Shui

Buying a home is usually a stressful experience. So much rides on a new home because this is where you relax, have fun, sleep, eat; in short, it's the place central to your life. Not only that, but homes usually cost a whole lot of money and represent our single largest investment. Most homebuyers can usually find the objective requirements of house hunting, such as location, size, and price. But, there are also intangible factors when searching for a new home, but most people don't know what to look for.

Helping you find the flaws
This is where feng shui comes in. Using feng shui, you'll be able to spot the problems ?or the potential -- in a house that exist outside of the objective requirements of number of bedrooms, amount of storage, etc. These are features that you might not notice, and a realtor will seldom, if ever, point out to you. But, with this checklist, you can at least feel more confident about your decision to go with a particular property.

Look at the space with "feng shui eyes"
When you are looking at a house ? or any space for that matter ? and considering whether to buy it, it helps to look at it with "feng shui eyes." You will want to do this once you have considered all the other objective aspects of the house, such as square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, living areas, location, price, etc.

The next step is to run down a checklist of the subjective feng shui considerations that will help you make a feng shui assessment. Even if you aren't house hunting, this list can give you some important information that might be very revealing about the house you are already in!

The list below provides some of the more serious feng shui problems.

Exterior
Street: Is house at the end of a cul-de-sac, dead end or T-junction?
Topography. Is the lot sloped away at the back? Avoid yards that slope down toward the rear. Select home with a rise at the rear. Is house below street grade? This will make for a constant "uphill" struggle while you live here.
Landscape. Is there a tree or pole directly in front of the front door? Dead trees or shrubs? Dead lawn?
Garage. Is it ahead of the house or front door?
Neighbors. Is this house smaller than houses on either side? Do neighbors' houses have sharp angles pointing at this house or appear to overpower or dominate the house?
Views & proximity. Can you see or is it close to church, temple or other house of worship? Can you see or is it close to funeral home, cemetery, hospital, police station, sewage treatment, abandoned building or run-down house?
Water. Is water, lake, river, ocean at the back of house or too close to front?
Lot. Regular or irregular-shaped? House sits too close to the front of lot? Does backyard fall away from the rear of the house?
Paths. Driveway ends at house instead of garage? Walkways end straight at door?

Interior
House style. Split, bi-level, or center hall colonial?
Front. Front door lines up with back door? Does front door face stairway?
Structure. Overhead or exposed beams? Ceilings too high or are they low and slanted? Skylights over sleeping areas or kitchen? Foundation cracks or problems? Serious plumbing or electrical problems?
Entrance. Do you see toilet/bathroom door from the entrance? See the kitchen/stove from the front door? See the dining room from the front door? See the bedroom from front door?
Toilets. Located in NW, SW, center, or corners of the house? Bedroom, dining area or kitchen located under or over toilet?
Staircases. Spiral staircase? Staircase stops at front door? Split or scissor-style staircase?
Hallways. Too long? Divide the house into two sections? Too dark?
Bedrooms. Over garage? Over bathroom or laundry? Have empty space below, i.e., patio area? Is master bedroom too close to the front door?
Fireplace. In the NW portion of the house? Is it in the Southeast (wealth) sector?
Major locations. Problems with or missing sections in Northwest (man), Southwest (woman), North (career), or Southeast (wealth)? Bathroom, laundry, kitchen in center of house?
Odor. Smells musty, smoky, putrid?

Enlist a professional
Still not perfectly confident? Well, a home is a major purchase and we must always consider that important point. Most people take a used car to their mechanic before buying it - and its purchase isn't as important as a house. So, if you're still confused or just want to proceed with the sale in confidence, why not talk to a feng shui specialist about looking about the prospective house?

A professional feng shui consultant should be able to tell you what you can expect from this location, such as good financial or business opportunities. Or, maybe you'll find out that buying this house means your health will suffer, you'll discover an afflicted portion of the house, such as a toilet in the SW sector that can hurt your marriage. Give serious consideration to hiring a professional.

Fortunately, most problems have a feng shui fix
It's important to know that every house has "feng shui flaws" and that no house is perfect. However, you should be aware of what you are buying so that you are knowledgeable about what kinds of problems might be associated with the house. The good news? Most feng shui flaws can be corrected.

Kathryn Weber is a certified master practitioner in classical feng shui and the publisher of The Red Lotus Letter a weekly feng shui E-Zine. She has been featured and quoted by publications and websites, including Seventeen Magazine, First for Women, Martial Arts Professional, the Indy Star Newspaper, Self-growth.com, and Transformations.com. Log on to www.redlotusletter.com to subscribe or to contact her about a personal consultation, speaking engagement, or workshop.

In The News:

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In this Oct. 15, 2008 file photo, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, right, listens to Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, before speaking at the Economic Club of New York. President-elect Barack Obama is likely to name Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary in a time of intense economic turmoil as he rounds out the upper echelon of his Cabinet, a senior Democratic official familiar with the deliberations said Friday. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)AP - President-elect Barack Obama intends to name Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his treasury secretary to confront the nation's intense economic turmoil, senior Democratic officials said Friday.



President-elect Barack Obama, with money in hand, looks to pay for his order during a visit to Manny's Deli in Chicago, Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - While President-elect Barack Obama publicly sidelined himself during congressional debate over an auto industry bailout this week, he and his top aides quietly prodded congressional leaders to find a solution to rescue struggling automakers.



Nebraska lawmakers Tom Carlson, left, of Holdrege, Lowen Kruse of Omaha, John Wightman of Lexington, and Norm Wallman of Cortland visit briefly Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, on the floor of the legislature just before the final vote of LB1, which puts a 30-day age limit on children who can be dropped off at Nebraska hospitals under the safe haven law. The bill easily passed 43-5. (AP Photo/Bill Wolf)AP - Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law Friday a bill adding a 30-day age limit to a safe-haven law that allowed 35 children — including teenagers as old as 17 — to be abandoned at state hospitals. The law, approved hours earlier by the Legislature in a 45-3 vote, goes into effect Saturday, and makes Nebraska the 14th state with a 30-day age cap. It had been the only state with a safe-haven law without an age limit.



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Canadian Minister of National Defense Peter MacKay, center, shakes hands with his Australian counterpart Joel Fitzgibbon, as U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates walks past at the conclusion of a news conference on Friday Nov. 21, 2008, in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, Canada. The three are taking part in discussions of International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) Regional Command South, which is comprised of forces from Canada, Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Netherlands, Romania, United Kingdom, and the United States. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Mike Dembeck)AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he would like to add significant U.S. forces to the war in Afghanistan before national elections scheduled for next year, and that grim depictions of backsliding in the seven-year-old war are "far too pessimistic."



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(From left) Senator Hillary Clinton, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and Timothy F. Geithner, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, are seen in a combination file photo. (From left Craig Mitchelldyer, Andrea Comas, Keith Bedford/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama on Friday moved toward nominating Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary and charging the respected head of the New York Federal Reserve with helping pull the United States out of an economic nosedive.



Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers (L) and Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in a composite image. (Files/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama may consider Lawrence Summers as a successor to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, whose term expires in January 2010, a Democratic source told Reuters on Friday.



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Leaders of the U.S. automotive industry testify at a hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington November 19, 2008. From left are General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner, Chrysler Chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli and Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)Reuters - Detroit automakers began work on turnaround plans demanded by Congress in return for $25 billion in aid as General Motors Corp said it would cut production more and give up two of its controversial corporate jets.



Traders work in close quarters on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange early in the trading session in New York City, November 21, 2008. (Mike Segar/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. stocks stormed higher in a late rally on Friday to cap another volatile week as investors welcomed reports that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his point person to combat the U.S. economic crisis, instilling confidence about the administration's ability to take action.



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President Bush walks across the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House, November 21, 2008. (Jim Young/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush held talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program with Chinese leader Hu Jintao on Friday, the first in a series of meetings U.S. officials hope will lead to a renewal of six-party talks by early December.



A cleric walks past the national flag and a nuclear logo while visiting the International Koran exhibition at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran September 3, 2008. (Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters)Reuters - Iran rejected Friday U.S. reports it had enriched enough uranium to make an atom bomb, saying this would require steps it had ruled out like ejecting U.N. inspectors and leaving the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).



Peruvian President Alan Garcia delivers a speech during the opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Lima. Leaders of the 21-member APEC group are to seek ways of turning back the world economic crisis as they gather in Lima amid unrelenting bad news from the Asia-Pacific region.(AFP/Presidencia)AFP - US President George W. Bush began Friday his last scheduled foreign trip, meeting the leader of increasingly important China ahead of a summit aimed at containing a spiraling financial crisis.



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