Good Vibes Only in These Homes

Feng shui has been used in homes across the globe for roughly 3,000 years to keep positive energy flowing, and remains potent today.

A growing number of homebuyers are consulting feng shui masters in their home searches and after closing to keep the home's energy balanced and harmonic, and to unleash "a residence's true potential for fortune, health, and happiness," Realtor.com reports. Master Pun-Yin explains, “We help to make a livable and healthier situation," often trying to "elevate the home's energy," by improving sunlight or moving décor.

Feng shui can make or break a real estate deal, says Bill Seto, president of Fultonex Realty in Flushing, Queens, N.Y., “I’ve seen many deals fail where the home inspection went well, the price was acceptable, the feng shui master comes in, and the buyer walks away." According to a survey of Chinese-Americans, 86 percent of buyers take a home's feng shui into consideration before purchasing, and 79 percent said they would pay more for a home with good feng shui.

Chinese buyers, who are the largest group of foreign buyers, purchased $30.4 billion in U.S. residential real estate from April 2017 through March 2018, according to the National Association of Realtors®. That's about 1.9 percent of all U.S. existing-home sales (which excludes new properties) during that time. The median price of homes bought by Chinese nationals in that time was $439,100. (Chinese investment in the U.S. has dropped recently amid a government crackdown on money leaving the country, but the long-term effects on U.S. real estate are still unknown.)

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