Amy Kite’s Real Estate Weblog

Using Feng Shui in the Sale of Your Home

Can you overcome a difficult real estate market to sell your home by encouraging positive energy to enter it? What if you want to sell that home today? Are there things you should do to energize it before putting it on the market? Are there rules to follow, principles to use as building blocks to create a good energy foundation for selling a property?

There are a number of things one can do to bring positive “buyer’s energy” into a home, and yes, there are some basic rules to follow. When your specific desire is to get that home sold, then you will need to focus your energy in the areas most important to selling a home. Feng Shui is the ancient practice of using positive energy in your surroundings to bring about desired results, which in this case is the sale of a home.

The following steps are based on basic Feng Shui principles, which will not only help create an environment that is welcoming to buyers, but will also help your client sell his/her home faster and more easily.

1. Boost the curb appeal. To prepare the house for sale, begin outside in the front of the home. The old saying “curb appeal is everything when selling a home” is the absolute truth. If the front view of the home is not appealing and inviting, a prospective buyer will pass right by.

It is important to have beautiful border plantings leading the eye of potential buyers up to the front door of the home encouraging them to enter and linger. The best colors for these plants are hot pink, yellow or red because they are energizing colors. On the front door, place a wreath with silk flowers in the same color. If there are double front doors, be sure to place a wreath on each door. If you cannot place a wreath on the door, place a cluster of three or five pots near the entry. These pots should be of varying heights with plants in the same color as the border.

Since we live in a part of the country where outdoor plants do not survive in the winter, be creative and use other things to lead the eye to the front door such as a flag, an artsy arrow pointing toward the door or a brightly painted front door that harmonizes with the home.

2. Clean up now! Upon entering any home, a potential buyer likes to see a clean, uncluttered house so they can visualize their own furniture in various rooms. Remove all excess furniture, magazines and clutter. Start with the master bedroom and bathroom, then the kitchen and living room. Follow this same process throughout the remainder of the house and garage. Collectibles, family pictures and valuables should be packed away before the house is placed on the market. To the new Generation X-ers and Y-ers, collectibles mean clutter. The younger generations like a house with lots of open space and few “dustables.” Closets, especially the one in the master bedroom, are also very important; they must look organized and feel spacious.

3. Repair, fix and replace.  Take a look at the cabinets, door fixtures and faucets. Fix all cabinet and closet doors, dripping faucets and repair all locks on exterior doors. If the majority of the common rooms (i.e. kitchen, living room, family room) are painted bold colors, repaint the walls a soft, neutral color. Remember, the goal is to please a potential buyer, not make a statement about who the seller is.

Almost 70 percent of our population prefers the energy of light, neutral colors on their walls and selectively uses the bold colors for accents only. Don’t eliminate 70 percent of potential buyers simply because of the colors on the walls.

4. Organize, organize, organize! Keep children’s rooms and guest rooms organized and odor-free. Pick up and put away toys, pack away any personal items and make sure toiletries are placed out of sight. Do the same for the areas your pets frequent. The old adage “cleanliness is next to godliness” is still a rule of thumb when selling a home.

5. Use a subtle fragrance to create a welcoming atmosphere. Place softly scented candles in areas of concern, including bathrooms, and burn them for at least half an hour before the house is to be shown to create pleasant smells throughout. Use a candle in the kitchen with the subtle fragrance of something “homey” and familiar like apple pie and cinnamon in the winter or lemon in the summer. Potential buyers not only want their new home to look clean, but smell clean as well. It is also helpful when the fragrances are reminiscent of positive family memories such as a holiday meal at grandma’s house.

6. Increase the buyer/seller relationship’s energy. In the southwest area of the family room or living room, place a beautiful bouquet of flowers in earth tones such as peach, salmon and brick red, to focus energy on creating a good relationship with the Realtor and the potential buyer. It can be a simple arrangement of three large, beautiful flowers, or it can be a whole bouquet representing many potential buyers.

7. Attract helpful people. When selling a house, it helps to get as many people involved as possible, such as family members, friends and business associates. Energize “helpful people” in the northwest area of the family or living room with something silver. A trophy, a silver vase or bowl or even a picture of a lot of friends or a team of business associates framed in silver will work. The more people that are helping out, the easier it will be to sell the home.

There aren’t many rules when using Feng Shui to sell a home, but they are critical to ensuring that the home will appeal to as many potential buyers as possible. Your listing competes with every other house on the market at or near its price range, including those wonderful, new model homes. Providing great curb appeal with cheerful colors outside encourages the potential owner to “come on in and stay awhile,” which is essential. When you add to that cleanliness, uncluttered spaciousness and great positive energy, the home will stand out from the crowd and you will have a competitive edge for selling your home.