What has Feng Shui got to do with property developing? You might be tempted to dismiss Feng Shui principles as a pseudo-science - nothing but silly superstition. But if you talk to real estate agents in locations popular with Asian buyers, you’ll discover that Feng Shui can be instrumental in improving your property development profit margin.
As property developers, we're clearly interested in making our homes as attractive as possible to our target demographic.
I invited Feng Shui master Jane Langof to one of our Sunday Sessions and in today’s Property Pulse I’m going to recount some of the key concepts she presented so you can keep them top of mind through your property development journey.
Jane’s been studying Feng Shui for more than 15 years and is accredited through the International Feng Shui Association based in Singapore. She told us that Asian cultures in general are very sensitive to the functional elements in a home and will be very quick to judge a property based on whether they believe the property will be one that brings them good fortune, or one that is a bit of a disaster.
Jane says Feng Shui is about your relationship with your environment and your surroundings and how that affects your mood, psychology and luck. It focuses on the flow of energy in our surroundings, how this energy impacts us, and, most importantly, how to harness and maximise this energy to create abundance.
Originating in China thousands of years ago, it's the result of ancient Chinese masters discovering that certain patterns of energy affected people depending on which sort of arrangements they were in. Jane says that the Chinese discovered that when people were in areas that had good energy, they experienced periods of good luck. Conversely, when they spent time in surrounds with bad energy, they sometimes experienced bad luck.
Jane agrees there can be quite a few misconceptions around Feng Shui, particularly given the tendency of Westerners to dumb it down to make it a little bit more marketable, a little bit more palatable to those less informed.
So we’re tapping into her expertise for a more authentic exploration of Feng Shui and how it applies in a modern-day context.
Good design
Jane explains that a home with truly good Feng Shui is well-designed and aligned with the surrounding environment. It’s a place that inspires positivity, vitality and the success of the occupants.
There are certain rules of formula and arrangement that Feng Shui-savvy people will judge a property by. A poor design is immediately obvious on a floorplan, and getting this wrong will alienate buyers and have real consequences for the appeal and value of the property. And poorly designed properties with major Feng Shui problems are expensive to rectify.
Most of you would know that a home’s aspect is important, but a Feng Shui consultant will go a step further, determining the exact orientation of the home, then running formulas based on that and on the age and layout of the building to produce what Jane calls an energy map.
The consultant then analyses how the arrangement of the property affects those energies and what can be done to improve the appeal of an existing home.
Jane says Feng Shui is about harmony between yin and yang, so you want to aim for a balanced combination of light and shade, nature and buildings, and openness and enclosure.
Here are some of Feng Shui master Jane’s top tips:
Of course the best time to implement Feng Shui principles is at the concept stage of design, so as developers we have a unique opportunity to get this right from the get-go.
Here are Jane’s tips for identifying a good development site or renovator’s delight using Feng Shui principles:
If your development site has unfavourable aspects, a professional Feng Shui practitioner might be able to offset these with favourable elements so it’s well worth having a chat to someone like Jane who has worked across many areas of residential and commercial design.
Jane believes energy-conscious property owners truly deserve abundance by design, and abundance is one of our key goals!
While you might not subscribe to the notion that your finances will suffer if the front and back door are aligned, your target buyers could dismiss your property on first inspection if you haven’t given any thought to good Feng Shui.
Ultimately, Feng Shui is about a really good, smart design with functional principles front of mind.
As property developers, we're clearly interested in making our homes as attractive as possible to our target demographic.
I invited Feng Shui master Jane Langof to one of our Sunday Sessions and in today’s Property Pulse I’m going to recount some of the key concepts she presented so you can keep them top of mind through your property development journey.
Jane’s been studying Feng Shui for more than 15 years and is accredited through the International Feng Shui Association based in Singapore. She told us that Asian cultures in general are very sensitive to the functional elements in a home and will be very quick to judge a property based on whether they believe the property will be one that brings them good fortune, or one that is a bit of a disaster.
Jane says Feng Shui is about your relationship with your environment and your surroundings and how that affects your mood, psychology and luck. It focuses on the flow of energy in our surroundings, how this energy impacts us, and, most importantly, how to harness and maximise this energy to create abundance.
Originating in China thousands of years ago, it's the result of ancient Chinese masters discovering that certain patterns of energy affected people depending on which sort of arrangements they were in. Jane says that the Chinese discovered that when people were in areas that had good energy, they experienced periods of good luck. Conversely, when they spent time in surrounds with bad energy, they sometimes experienced bad luck.
Jane agrees there can be quite a few misconceptions around Feng Shui, particularly given the tendency of Westerners to dumb it down to make it a little bit more marketable, a little bit more palatable to those less informed.
So we’re tapping into her expertise for a more authentic exploration of Feng Shui and how it applies in a modern-day context.
Good design
Jane explains that a home with truly good Feng Shui is well-designed and aligned with the surrounding environment. It’s a place that inspires positivity, vitality and the success of the occupants.
There are certain rules of formula and arrangement that Feng Shui-savvy people will judge a property by. A poor design is immediately obvious on a floorplan, and getting this wrong will alienate buyers and have real consequences for the appeal and value of the property. And poorly designed properties with major Feng Shui problems are expensive to rectify.
Most of you would know that a home’s aspect is important, but a Feng Shui consultant will go a step further, determining the exact orientation of the home, then running formulas based on that and on the age and layout of the building to produce what Jane calls an energy map.
The consultant then analyses how the arrangement of the property affects those energies and what can be done to improve the appeal of an existing home.
Jane says Feng Shui is about harmony between yin and yang, so you want to aim for a balanced combination of light and shade, nature and buildings, and openness and enclosure.
Here are some of Feng Shui master Jane’s top tips:
- The energy at the front entrance is an indicator of wealth, so you need to consider what the front door will be facing. If it’s aligned with a staircase, the back door or a window, this indicates difficulties in holding onto wealth. Ideally you’ll want a foyer that leads to the public areas of the home.
- Rooms containing pointy angles, low, sloped ceilings and irregular shapes are generally undesirable from a Feng Shui perspective.
- Bedroom design is very important for health and relationships, and beds are ideally located on a solid wall, diagonally opposite the door and not facing the bathroom or a mirror. Bedhead walls should not contain heavy cabling or meter boxes as this can indicate health problems and sleep difficulties.
- Water features and swimming pools can be used to enhance the wealth sector, and this differs for each property. But take care with the placement of water as it can amplify negative energy.
- Bring the outdoors inside with some indoor plants.
- Aim to capture the right balance of natural light and protection from hot sun and glare.
Of course the best time to implement Feng Shui principles is at the concept stage of design, so as developers we have a unique opportunity to get this right from the get-go.
Here are Jane’s tips for identifying a good development site or renovator’s delight using Feng Shui principles:
- It's ideal to have a block with a “regular” shape. Think rectangles or squares rather than a lot that comes to a sharp point like a triangle, because it indicates an uneven distribution of energy.
- Avoid properties at the end of a t-junction and on busy roads with fast-moving traffic due to the intense flow of energy.
- Land that slopes gently up towards the rear (for example on the high side of the street) is ideal, with trees and taller structures behind a property providing an energetic level of support. On the flip-side, a property with land sloping down at the back indicates difficulty to hold onto wealth.
- Avoid properties on clifftops or beachfront sites because they’re too exposed. Aim for a calmer, more contained site.
- Beware of negative features around a property such as electrical substations, mobile phone towers, stagnant water courses, rubbish dumps and polluted areas.
- Clean water courses, parkland, thriving wildlife and fertile soil are indicators of positive energy.
- Long, narrow buildings aren’t ideal as their shape does not contain an even distribution of energy.
- A home with a floorplan that opens up a little at the back is an auspicious shape because it’s similar to a money bag, allowing wealth to go in and be contained.
If your development site has unfavourable aspects, a professional Feng Shui practitioner might be able to offset these with favourable elements so it’s well worth having a chat to someone like Jane who has worked across many areas of residential and commercial design.
Jane believes energy-conscious property owners truly deserve abundance by design, and abundance is one of our key goals!
While you might not subscribe to the notion that your finances will suffer if the front and back door are aligned, your target buyers could dismiss your property on first inspection if you haven’t given any thought to good Feng Shui.
Ultimately, Feng Shui is about a really good, smart design with functional principles front of mind.
