Feng Shui Tips For Renting or Buying a Home

We often think of Feng Shui as something that applies after we move in: moving the sofa, painting a wall, or placing a plant. However, Root Feng Shui begins at the time of the search. Choosing a property with a healthy energy structure can save us years of personal and professional blockages.

The first essential tip is to observe your feeling when you cross the threshold of the door, or the gate, if it is a house on an estate.

1. The Environment: The energy surrounding your future home

In Feng Shui, the exterior represents 70% of the energy your house will receive. No matter how well decorated it is inside, if the environment is hostile, the energy will be difficult to balance.

• Avoid "Poison Arrows": Observe the appearance of neighboring buildings, high-voltage poles, or streets that end in a "T" shape in front of the facade, avoid these buildings as much as possible, abandoned premises nearby, or highways or main city accesses that are high, which can visually cut off the buildings on either side. Their energy is too violent and fast.

• The Backing (The Black Turtle): Ideally, the building or house should have something solid behind it (other buildings, a hill, or tall trees) to provide protection. A "naked" house from behind can generate insecurity and financial instability, and if there is any kind of ravine, without other constructions protecting you, avoid them. To experience that protection in life, it is very important to have tall buildings behind.

• The Curve of Prosperity: If the house is near a river or a busy road, make sure it is on the inner part of the curve (where the flow "embraces" you) and not on the outer part (where the energy shoots outwards).

• The Neighborhood: Observe the street where the building is located. Do you see garbage containers next to the entrance of that building? This can translate into a feeling that projects are not progressing or that good news is slow to arrive, as garbage containers generate "Sha Chi," or harmful energy. As a remedy, you can place plants on the balconies of your apartment, or in the windows facing that sector, and if you can place two plants on either side of your building's door, it's perfect, it will generate "Sheng Chi" or prosperous, ascending, growth energy. Another remedy is to place wind chimes inside your apartment in the orientation of your facade; you can put them at the entrance to your house, outside (if you have an estate). If there are strong odors outside, try to avoid this apartment/house, or if you have no choice, put aromas at the entrance, or near the windows and balconies.
• A fountain that is turned off, has green water, or is dirty, becomes "Dead Water". Instead of attracting prosperity, it will attract stagnation, health problems, and economic difficulties. In that case, the fountain goes from being a blessing to a Feng Shui problem.

2. Observe how Chi (energy) reaches the house

• Orientation and light: A good orientation "in general" is with the facade facing South, as you receive light throughout the day. If it is an apartment, the apartment should be oriented towards its facade. (then each specific case would have to be analyzed to be sure if it benefits you or not). This year, for example, it is not good to do construction in or disturb the South sector.
• Still Life or Stagnant Energy: Planters with dry plants, accumulation of old advertising flyers, worn and dirty doormats, all of them stagnate energy, and not only that, but they also attract negative energy, such as conflicts, arguments, friction in relationships, poor health, or relationship breakdowns in some cases, if there is a lot of dead or sick nature outside.
• Obstacles: Observe if there is any tree too close to your entrance door, or that blocks the visibility of the windows, many times it is planted too close to the entrance door. In the city, this happens with poles or with some traffic lights. In both cases, the real problem is that when looking from the center of your door, you cannot see the horizon straight ahead. That's when the Chi is physically divided. As much as possible, look for houses that have a clear front, or even with views of a garden or a park (this is called having a good Phoenix, which represents prosperous energy and the future).

3. Don't be fooled by a beautiful renovation

When looking for a house or apartment, pay special attention to:

• That the kitchen is not in the center of the home. The center is the heart of the house; too much fire there can disrupt overall stability.
• That the stove is not without backing, on an island, or exposed from behind. If there is no support, the fire energy is vulnerable.
• That the wall of the oven or the ceramic hob/stovetop does not face a bathroom. The kitchen is the main source of prosperity in the house, so we must avoid this proximity.
• Ask who was there before you: It is essential to know if the person who was there before you or the family left because their economic situation improved and they moved to evolve, or if they left because they could no longer afford the price of the home, for example.
  
• Pay close attention to dampness: Often, dampness is not visible at first glance; it can be hidden behind furniture (if you rent a furnished apartment), or kitchen appliances, for example, or on the ceiling of apartments near the roof. It always represents poor ventilation, little light, cold, leaks, and neglect. In Feng Shui, dampness is always the most urgent thing to repair or to avoid houses and apartments that concentrate it, even on their facade.
• Avoid beams in resting areas: In rustic houses, it is very common to find wooden beams on the ceiling that are directly above where one rests their head to sleep. Especially if they coincide with your body, we must try to reduce the aggressiveness of the cut in several ways:
  • install a false ceiling to cover them (this is the most effective), but sometimes they are kept for aesthetic reasons.
  • They can be painted the color of the ceiling, or the corners can be rounded with moldings.
  • You can install LEDs that project upwards.
• These are just "energy patches." Another very interesting solution is to place a glass ceiling directly below the beams to protect the bed or the space where their harmful energy falls.

In the photo, it is evident how the beams fall over sections of the body, which can later cause physical pain if one sleeps for extended periods.

4. External Signs that Benefit

In Form Feng Shui, we don't look for a house isolated from the world, but rather a house that receives healthy Qi: not too fast, not too dead, not too noisy, and not too dark. That is, places without jarring elements.

Try to look for places that have the following:

A well-maintained park, or where children play. It is a very good injection of "Sheng Chi" or healthy growth and movement energy. If you have one in front of your house, it attracts prosperity and good health.

A quiet square with a fountain. Moving water produces negative ions that cleanse the air of physical and electromagnetic pollution. Energetically, the fountain acts as a transmuter: it receives the agitated energy from the street and, through constant movement and sound, softens and "freshens" it before it crosses your door.

Clean streets with moderate traffic, as this brings energy to your door and prevents opportunities from being blocked, also with shops or businesses that are maintained.

Healthy trees, not invasive, and if possible with birds, flowers, planters with plants.

A clear, bright front with good visibility. Especially that there is enough distance between one building and another.

5. So, which house is suitable to live in?

After observing the exterior forms, it might seem that almost everything has some flaw. A street that points, a building that's too tall, a closed shop, a hospital nearby, a poorly located dumpster, an invasive tree, a neglected facade... But Feng Shui is not about being scared. It's about learning to distinguish between a difficult house and a workable house.

Some homes are born with good support. Others need adjustments. And others simply do not deserve for you to invest your life, your rest, and your money trying to correct what is too damaged from the outside.

The right house is not always the biggest, the newest, or the most photogenic. It is the one that allows you to enter without tension, sleep with support, cook with stability, look ahead without feeling threatened, and project a future without the environment dragging you back.

When looking for a home, don't just look at what you're going to buy. Also look at what you'll receive every day: the street, the neighbors, the shapes, the sounds, the light, the history of the place, and how the Chi enters through your doors and windows.

A good house doesn't have to be perfect. But it must have something essential:
that life can flourish within it without constantly having to defend itself.