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When it comes to purchasing a home - it might just be one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. But little did you know that there are actually other factors related to Feng Shui which requires your attention before you decide to settle that hefty deposit sum on your dream home or apartment?In this 10th edition of ‘Ancient Scribes, Modern Texts: Notes From The Book Club Desk’ we will be breaking down the five property-related facts (and Feng Shui-related, obviously) that you need to take note of prior to making that big decision.
“Separate the value of the property from the Feng Shui component.”
1. Don’t Confuse Real Estate Value with Good Feng Shui
Always remember that a property that has good Feng Shui is not always necessarily the most expensive or exclusive development. Of course, there are some apartments that are not just expensive, in terms of their real estate value, but also have good Feng Shui. It is important that you recognise that something that is in an expensive neighbourhood, or which has shown good capital appreciation in the past, may not necessarily have good Feng Shui. You will need to separate the value of the property from the Feng Shui component. Feng Shui is about improving the quality of your life, and enabling you to achieve your goals. A property that is expensive or that has commanded a good capital appreciation in the past, may not ultimately have the Feng Shui setup that helps you achieve your life goals.
“The philosophy with Feng Shui is to avoid the bad and go for the good.”
2. Get Your Attitude In Check
Finding a home with good Feng Shui requires not just effort and attentiveness, but also discipline. The discipline to say no to what looks like a dream house but has suspect Feng Shui.Now at this stage, you’ll be thinking to yourself, yeah but we can fix it right? The philosophy with Feng Shui, expressed simplistically, is to avoid the bad and go for the good. Thus, it is important to avoid the ‘fix it and cure it’ mentality.Sometimes, if the Feng Shui is bad, there’s no point trying to expend significant cost to make it marginally better. It’s simply more practical to pass up on that option and focus on looking for something better that is good in itself.
“In complex Feng Shui audits, sometimes, the solution to the problem is not the most sophisticated formula, but the simplest approach.”
3, Know Your Forms & Stars
In Feng Shui, Forms (sometimes known as Landforms or Luan Tou) refers to Mountain and Water features present in the macro and micro environment. Using simple Forms-based Feng Shui is suitable for laypersons or people with no background in Feng Shui because it requires observation skills. When there is a picture or illustration to give you an idea of what you are looking for, it’s not hard to decide if a place has a favourable or unfavourable Main Door for example.And when it comes to apartments and condominiums, you will need to be able to make use of some simple Flying Stars Feng Shui, in addition to observing the Forms. The Flying Stars system is the pre-dominant Classical Feng Shui system used to evaluate apartments and condominiums in Hong Kong and Taiwan. There are other systems that can be used like Xuan Kong 64 Hexagrams (Xuan Kong Da Gua) or Eight Mansions (Ba Zhai) but the Flying Stars system is chosen because it’s suitable for use in a small confined living space.
“Internal and External Forms are important before and after a property project.”
4. Timing Your Purchase
When evaluating Feng Shui for a property, it is generally not possible to do this whilst the property is being built or before it is built - if this is a development taking place in a new area, then you will have a problem determining the External Forms.If the property is being built in a matured or developed neighbourhood, the External Forms are not an issue, but the Internal Forms (Forms within the apartment building and apartment unit) are often not visible from the schematics or plans.You cannot for example, see if the kitchen will have any beams that suppress the place where the stove is to be located. You will also not be able to get a good idea of the dimensions of the corridors. So, unless you are very experienced in looking at plans or schematics, generally do not evaluate the Feng Shui of a property before it has been built.
“Make use of Feng Shui to live better and achieve your goals in life.”
5. Be Familiar With Directions & Luo Pans
The Luo Pan has been around for over two millennium and since its discovery, it has become a fundamental tool used by traditional or Classical Feng Shui schools. The word Luo translates to everything and Pan translate to a plate or device or tool.The device combines a ton of Feng Shui information collected over time for reference and assessment and it is a useful tool for those who want to get knee-deep into the advanced knowledge of Feng Shui. You should be familiar with the kinds of Luo Pans that are available out there:- San He Luo Pan – this looks at an environment based on its Form (e.g. surrounding Mountains) and analyses the Yin and Yang based on Elements, Ba Gua Trigrams and other Feng Shui details.- San Yan Luo Pan – this is more complex than San He, the San Yan Luo Pan includes references from Flying Stars, which denotes that time is also factored into assessing the Feng Shui of environment.- Zong He Luo Pan – this type of Luo Pan is a combination of San He Luo Pan and San Yan Luo Pan.By combining these approaches - Forms & Flying Stars and remembering all the tips above, you will be making use of the best of both worlds to find yourself an apartment or condominium that is conducive to home living. You will also be taking important measures to make use of Feng Shui to (hopefully) help you live better and achieve your goals in life.