WHEN IT COMES TO REAL ESTATE, WE ARE CURRENTLY IN A SELLER’S MARKET. Home prices are going up and in some areas buyers are even outbidding each other. Are you interested in taking advantage of this boom and selling your home? Do you want to sell it faster and get the best price possible? Feng Shui can help!

In his seminar, “Blow Home Sales Through the Roof,” Feng Shui practitioner and professional home stager James Jay demonstrated that a properly staged home using Feng Shui principles sat on the market for only 42 days, while one without the help of Feng Shui staging lingered on for 153 days. Some go even longer.

Staging is all about “setting the stage” for a buyer, so that when people enter your home they immediately feel a sense of safety, comfort and well-being. Feng Shui is about creating balance and flow in your home by creating open spaces. Since buying decisions are made mostly on feelings within three to six minutes of initially seeing the home, everything you can do to make the home more appealing works in your favor.

Feng Shui staging does not have to be expensive. James Jay outlined six core action steps that will lead to quicker, more successful sales. He calls them the SECRET, with each letter indicating an action step.

Feng Shui core SECRET action steps for home staging

• Street — This is called “curb appeal.” Seventy percent of home buyers do a drive-by first, and this is when the three- to six-minute decision comes into play. Is the first thing they see clutter, disrepair and weeds? This will make them move on. It is recommended to somehow create a “gateway” for people to enter, using an inexpensive arbor and colorful flowers. This can also be a gated area or just a border of healthy flowers. It gives people the illusion that they are entering into a special place. Another suggestion is to put something that moves in front of your house: a flag, windsock, whirligig and/or fountain. Movement attracts attention and draws people in. Also place your “For Sale” sign perpendicular to the street so it can be seen from farther away. Look at your home from various angles to ensure that the first thing your buyers see is uncluttered, engaging and beautiful.

• Entrance — This is called “The Mouth of Chi” because this is where the energy enters your home. Make sure there is nothing blocking the entrance. Consider painting your door any shade of red, which signifies protection and prosperity (and is easy to see), or black which signifies water and the flowing in of Chi, the life force energy. Keep your entrance clean, uncluttered and adorned with beautiful flowering plants. Remember that if you don’t use your front entrance you are not activating the Chi, so even if you are used to entering from the garage, you still need to walk in from your front door at least three to five times a week.

• Create Flow — Now that you have enticed buyers into your home with your curb appeal and inviting entrance, the first things they see when they enter are vitally important. The rule of thumb is to clear the clutter and depersonalize. “People buy space, not stuff.” They need to see themselves in the home, so the less of your personal belongings, the better. Most buyers are usually younger than the sellers so it is also important to update (no avocado green or harvest gold crock pots on the counters). And countertops need to be cleared as much as possible.

• Room of First Sight — Slowly open the front door and look at what you see first. Is it appealing or not? The key is to increase the positive and to diminish the negative. If it’s not appealing — for example if the first thing you see is a bathroom or an older, outdated kitchen — consider placing a plant or screen to draw the eyes away. You can also triangulate accent colors to lead the eye away; for example, place a red candle near what you don’t want the buyer to see first, then farther away place a red bowl, then slightly farther from the bowl place a painting with red accents that directionally point away from the area. This creates an illusion leading the eyes away from the unappealing area.

• Engage the 5 Senses — This is what I feel is the fun part of Feng Shui staging:

Visual: Color/paint is the cheapest way to transform space; muted is best for sales.

Sound: Consider pleasant-sounding water fountains, soft music or wind chimes.

Touch: Bring in interesting textures with pillows or throws.

Taste: Offer treats to your prospective buyers; a bowl of candy, cookies, etc.

Smell: Baking cookies or bread or boiling spices on the stove makes the house smell homey. Avoid incense or purchased sprays, as people may be allergic.

• Transcendental — This is “The Law of Attraction” and in Feng Shui it’s called intent, visualization and affirmations. Think, state and write your affirmations and visualize yourself signing the contract and moving on.
So this is the SECRET to Feng Shui staging. But there are other principles to consider as well when staging a home to sell or rent.

Decluttering vs. bare space

It may be easy when you think of decluttering to remove all items from a specific area. It is important to remember that in Feng Shui, clutter is referred to as “visual noise,” but an empty space is “visual silence.” Therefore, once you have cleared the space you may think of adding a “prop” such as a bottle of wine and two glasses, or a fancy coffee machine and two cups — something that makes the buyer picture themselves relaxing in the home.

For successful staging remember the three R’s: Remove, Reorganize, Replace.

The most important rooms for staging

Even though we talked about the Entrance and the Room of First Sight, there are specific rooms that have been established as the rooms most important for staging: the kitchen, the living room and master bedroom, and the bathroom. After your curb appeal and Entrance, focus on these areas next to get the most bang out of your staging efforts.

Using the Feng Shui Bagua

It is also important to use the Feng Shui Bagua to correct and enhance the following areas in your home, no matter what rooms are in these areas.

In the Feng Shui Bagua (Ba-gua) Map, represented as a grid of nine sectors, the Wealth and Fame areas are in the back left corner and middle, respectively, while the Helpful People and Travel area is located in the front right corner of your home. The Bagua comes from the Chinese philosophy, “The I Ching,” and literally means “eight trigrams,” with the center area for grounding. Activating these areas will increase your wealth in the way of a sale, improve your reputation with buyers and surround you with agents, brokers and buyers who will be helpful in making the sale. The Travel area will enable you to travel to your new home.

Enhancements for WEALTH (Back Left Corner) — Items that “call the Chi” such as flags, windchimes, whirligigs, healthy plants with rounded leaves, water features (fountains, waterfalls or aquariums), art depicting wealth or your desired possessions, images and symbols of wealth, items in deep purple, red or blue.

Enhancements for FAME (Back Center) — Display diplomas, awards and acknowledgements, art depicting animals , people fire and the sun, personal images and symbols of fame, items in the color red, bright up lighting,

Enhancements for HELPFUL PEOPLE/TRAVEL (Right Front Corner) — Pictures of the place you would like to live after your home is sold, art depicting spiritual guides, pictures of mentors in your life (business cards of real estate agents), items in black, white or gray and items made of metal.

Feng Shui staging is not only for selling a home quickly; it is all about changing the energy in a space so it can be very useful for creating a positive ambiance for events in your home, such as parties or weddings, or for just giving your own energy a lift. When you stage a home, you are doing “Feng Shui for the public.” Enjoy your newfound energy, and congratulations on selling your home.

Feng Shui at work

A client had a second home that would not sell. After the renters moved out, it sat vacant for a number of months, causing her financial hardship. A consultation let us create a welcoming atmosphere through Feng Shui staging. The house had gray cement steps and black railings that were dirty and peeling. The first thing I advised was scrubbing the steps and repainting the railings. She painted the door red, added a colorful welcome mat, displayed a flag with beautiful sunflowers in the front of the house, hung a windchime by the door and added a red silk orchid to a stand by the door. Inside, I also advised hanging a small mirror to stop the flow of energy down the stairs and hanging a small windchime above the stairs. A drive-by gave us a very welcoming feeling. The house sold soon after — and for more than the asking price since a few buyers bid against each other.

Affirmations

Remember that in Feng Shui, intent plays a significant role in enhancing any area of your home or business. That’s why all enhancements need to be made with intentionality; written or stated affirmations are very important. It is also important for them to be expressed as if they are already happening. Examples or affirmations for selling a home: “Our house sold quickly and for a very good price”; “The buyers were able to streamline the purchasing procedure”; “The house passed the termite inspection with flying colors.”

Feng Shui on a shoestring

Feng Shui enhancements do not have to cost a great deal. Walk your property with buyer’s eyes and see what they may see at first glance. Decluttering your front entrance, adding some colorful plants, hanging a flag and writing some affirmations are very inexpensive ways to, as James Jay would say, “blow your home sale through the roof.”

For questions or home consultations, email me at mtmccull@aol.com and put “Feng Shui” on the subject line, or visit my website at fengshuibymaria.com, where you can read past columns, or Facebook “Feng Shui by Maria,” where I post pictures as examples to enhancements.

And check out my blog! Just go to the website and click on “Blog” and you can view many pictures, and I will respond to your questions quickly.

Come to my next class and receive $40 off a home consultation! My next class will be a series of three two-hour classes with practical instruction on Feng Shui principles, enhancing the Bagua in your home and balancing the elements.

The class will be three Tuesdays, Oct. 7, 14 and 21, from 1-3 p.m.

The Parks and Recreation Guide will be available in late July and registration begins Aug. 4. Mark your calendars and invite friends.

Until then … Blessings!

Benicia resident Maria McCullough is the owner and founder of Feng Shui by Maria (www.fengshuibymaria.com). She is a speaker and educator with more than 15 years’ experience specializing in residential, landscape and business consultations.