Real Estate Blog - Feng Shui and Vaastu -- Guides to Placement and Layout

Home : Blogs : Lawrence Yerkes - Broker Associate, Southern New Jersey Real Estate Services : Southern New Jersey Region Overlook!

Feng Shui and Vaastu -- Guides to Placement and Layout

These two disciplines and associated philosophies have a long history and tradition of use by people whose heritage originate from the Asian and Indian geographic areas and are now living and working in the U.S. These well developed concepts of placement and layout offer many practical applications, outside of any philosophical or religious connections. Feng Shui is more widely known by the general public in the U.S. and usually involves applying the more practical concepts without fully embracing the underlying philosophies.

If you are planning on selling or renting property to anyone who subscribes to these concepts, it is to your advantage to understand the basic placement/layout concepts and how they apply to your property -- to better match the needs and desires of potential buyers and renters. If you are a buyer (or renter) wanting to maximize your investment potential, these concepts may help you spot potential problems for an optimum living/work environment, retail location and for potential difficulties with future selling or renting.

Feng Shui (meaning Wind and Water in Chinese) is the ancient art of placement to promote harmony, wealth, success and health. Feng Shui deals with the location and architecture of buildings, along with interior design and exterior landscaping. Disney, Donald Trump, Richard Branson, Texas First National Bank and Mutual of New York have all used Feng Shui in their businesses.

See also What is Feng Shui? (Click here for our previous Feng Shui blog article.)

Vaastu (or Vastu), new to the United States, is the ancient Indian system of harnessing the positive energy of the environment to benefit those living there. Vaastu uses a complex, 3-layer grid system to provide the best layout for your home, office or commercial site. An ideal house, according to Vaastu, is a perfectly square house, with a central courtyard. Major elements of Vaastu are "sunrise" and "sunset" colors, natural fabrics, wood, pottery, flowers and metals such as brass or copper. Wood is considered the best building material. Additional references:

Vaastu Sastra (or Vastu Shastra), Vaastu FAQs, Feng Shui's Indian Cousin.

Source: NAR

Visit my web site for additional resources and services: http://www.LawrenceYerkes.com

and visit BestHomes-NJ.com for the latest New Jersey Real Estate property listings (residential, commercial, multi-family, farm, land)

Copyright 2006 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted by Lawrence Yerkes - Broker Associate, Southern New Jersey Real Estate Services on 09/02/2006 02:40 PM

Comments (6)

feng shui, vaastu, staging, buying, selling, resources

Originally posted at: Southern New Jersey Overlook: Feng Shui and Vaastu -- Guides to Placement and Layout

6 Comments on Feng Shui and Vaastu -- Guides to Placement and Layout

SEP

2006

I'm a firm believer of Feng Shui. The entire feel of a home or building is a direct contribution to placement. From the side of a house you enter in from to the direction your home is facing. How will the sun rise and set on your home and affect you energy costs. I came to the assumption that I can't stand the supermarket around the corner from me because of the layout in the store. The best job of placement wouldn't have you doing zig zags back and fourth in the store looking for something...

Scott

I enjoyed your blog. Thanks for the Good Info

Reality is... most buyers are not into the energy of a space from a Feng Shui perspective.

While there are Feng Shai techniques that can be applied, I do not believe that it is the sole MARKETING strategy a realtor should take when staging is utilized.

Living in a space and staging it are 2 totally different animals.

Thank you all for your comments. I really appreciate you taking time to read and respond to my blog articles. I hope it is of use to you in some way.

However, I feel the need to make several supplemental points about this article to subsequent readers to hopefully better clarify any confusion about its purpose:

1. This purpose of this article is primarily as an introduction of Feng Shui and/or Vaastu to consumers, not to other professionals connected with real estate -- altough I hope this is useful to professionals and helps them to better understand and serve their clients.

2. Proposing Feng Shui (or Vaastu) as a SOLE MARKETING strategy was not mentioned nor I hope, even implied. The strategy should utilize everything that is appropriate to prepare and present the property and to maximize it's potential for obtaining the best price in the shortest possible time.

3. The focus of this article is not on "staging". However, it was included as a tag because Feng Shui IS used heavily by some of it's practitioners for staging. (There are even full-time service providers that specialize in this area. I can get you in contact with a Feng Shui consultant if anyone requires one in our area.)

If you do anything to improve the appearance, atmosphere, lighting, openness, ambiance, reduce clutter, arrangment, etc... you are "staging".

Having a property that is well staged AND in harmony with Feng Shui principles are not mutually exclusive conditions.

4. Living and staging are two different concepts, one involves occupying and interacting with the space, the other is more concerned with the look and feel of the space, how it initially impacts you, etc., and how to maximum the positive impact and attraction of that space. Feng Shui can address both.

5. As I tried to make clear, this article is NOT for the buyers who are "not into the energy of space from a Feng Shui perspective". This is for sellers who want to market successfully to those that do follow Feng Shui (to various degrees) or Vaastu. And it's provided for buyers as a tool to be aware of the property for it's investment potential, particularly if it is in area with a significant proportion of Feng Shui (or Vaastu) adherents.

I have personally experienced buyers refusing what most would consider perfectly staged properties because they did not meet Feng Shui requirements. A lot of people in the U.S., especially those who did not grow up within a heritage of Feng Shui, use the more practical concepts and tend to downplay its more philosophical aspects.

I hope this helps in clarifying the purpose of the article.

Copyright 2006 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

JUL

2007

Thank you for your wonderful insight into Feng Shui.

I have always used Feng Shui in my own home and I have also incorporated it in my staging business.

I truly feel that practicing Feng Shui in staging a clients home only brings positive results.

Thanks again,

Kristi Gullickson, Artistic Staging LLC

This blog does not allow anonymous comments