Granted, many clients have this burning question, but you can't call a consultant for every single house you fancy! I think by now most of you know the basic Feng Shui drill. For example:

• No water in the NE. SW water is the best, or maybe SE, East or North.
• A mountain in the NE, NW, West or South is ideal.
• Avoid negative features like sharp roof corners, pylons and dead trees.
• Bright Hall - this one never fails but facing a wide busy road is NOT a Bright Hall as overly Yang disperses Qi!

Feng Shui-friendly houses do not just wait around for buyers to flock to. The question is WHEN? Have a look at your personal BaZi chart. Are you currently going through a favorable 10-year Luck Pillar? Is the current year good for you? If it is, the opportunity to 'discover' a good house is very high. If it isn't, even if you managed to find a Feng Shui-potent house you might not be given the opportunity to purchase it! This is something I always tell people I meet : "The house chooses the buyer, and not the other way round." It all boils down to affinity. But Client X would normally retort by saying, "I have money, I can buy any house I want."

'Any house' would normally be Client X and his consultant braving the next 10 consecutive houses with extremely mediocre Feng Shui. Or, one with NE sloping away, or Life Palace being pierced, or fulfilling the 8 Killings formation. One time, we found a Feng Shui-friendly house, finally. But at the last moment the seller decided not to sell... because her dog died. Being too distraught, the seller decided to wait another year before selling. Kid you not.

Let's say your BaZi is fine with you purchasing a house this year. It also tells you WHERE to look. For example, your favorable element is Metal. You can look for an area with a Military Arts mountain (half watermelon), or a NW-sitting house with higher ground (without higher ground support, a NW-sitting house is just like any other NW-sitting house). Metal element is also indicated as financial hubs, so seeking houses near here would increase opportunity for optimum Feng Shui.

At the risk of promoting paranoia, I'm going to throw in some divination tips as well. At the point of entering a prospective property, it starts to rain heavily. The Kan trigram has revealed itself: this house will cause you quite a bit of problems - hidden problems, mind you. Many a time, there will also be sewage and foundation problems.

If you are greeted by a bad stench upon arrival at the door, then it is a Kun Gua issue - ill health for the lady of the house or unstable finances. Or, you find that upon walking into the house, the door cracks. That is Dui Gua, hinting at constant injury and possible surgery.

If the weather is just nice and the sun is shining brightly, then it is a Li Gua trigram of happiness. Or, if it drizzles slightly with sunny skies - it is the Accomplished hexagram. But like I said, divination always risks paranoia, so if you see or hear NOTHING particularly out of the ordinary when you enter a new property, all is well and good. It doesn't matter what happens BEFORE you see the house, or AFTER you see the house, or someone can't go to the toilet after house-viewing, etc.

Some years back I was assessing a house for this client. The weather on that day was all right, but what caught my attention were the many dragonflies in the compound (Xun Gua). It was a South-sitting house (Li Gua). Hey, that's a 9-4 HeTu combination - favorable for relationships and networking. And because the NW land was higher, this became an even more powerful combination. True enough, this client built and expanded his company (and finances) by meeting just the right important people.

Sherwin Ng
MA Instructor