Home Builders Attract Foreign Buyers with Feng Shui

Foreign buyers acquire over six percent of all home sales in the United States.

Foreign Investors
The reasons for these purchases are varied. First, the wealthy around the world are looking for investment opportunities. Second, they want their children to attend school in the United States. Third, they are looking to immediately or eventually immigrate here. The EB-5 visa requires foreigners to invest money into commercial enterprises in the U.S. in addition to having a U.S. home.

Key Markets for Foreign Investment
Of the six percent of overall home sales, certain cities see a much higher percentage of sales to foreign buyers. According to Jed Kolko, Chief Economist for the real estate site Trulia.com, “There are some parts of the United States that see very strong foreign demand and that helps keep prices high in lots of areas. The places where we see this impact the most is in parts of Los Angeles, Miami and New York.”

Chinese Investors
A growing percentage of foreign buyers are from China, as the Chinese recently saw prosperity in their economic cycle.

More than 50% of all Chinese buyers purchase homes in California. The weather and the already high population of Chinese in parts of California are major factors to this attraction.

Feng Shui in Home Construction
As such, attracting foreign buyers may be one of the many reasons why several home builders are integrating Feng Shui into their new developments.

What Is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art and science that explains how energy, or Chi, flows throughout our surroundings. In one application, Feng Shui is then used to direct Chi in ways that are most harmonious to the occupants of homes in terms of wealth, health, relationships, etc.

While some may believe that Feng Shui is only superstition, especially many Chinese consider it essential for good luck and will only consider homes that have good Feng Shui elements.

Ms. Feng Shui
Jessie Kim, a renowned Feng Shui consultant called Ms. Feng Shui, has provided Feng Shui consulting for several home builders, including Olson Homes, City Ventures, KB Home, Warmington Residential and Beazer Homes.

Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.

Home builders are looking for Feng Shui consulting on the full range of project development from initial planning to marketing.

“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Ms. Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”

Feng Shui in Development Stages
Ms. Feng Shui consults on land acquisition, street numbering & naming, staging and sales team training. She also works closely with planners and architects to ensure the projects’ site designs, home designs and landscaping designs include beneficial elements important to those with knowledge of Feng Shui. She even provides Feng Shui seminars for prospective buyers.

Because Chinese nationals are often cash buyers and look to hold onto the properties long-term, many home builders are looking to ensure that the homes they build meet the Feng Shui needs of these important buyers.

(Jessie Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui (https://www.MsFengShui.com), Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)

Home builders: contact me right now for a free proposal because Chinese investors are looking for harmony and balance in your properties.

For individualized help, contact me to inquire about Virtual Feng Shui Consultation. 

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Olson Believes In Feng Shui Design

By Jessie Kim
Feng Shui Consultant

You might not be familiar with the principles of feng shui, or the Chinese practice of arranging the environment to create harmonious surroundings.

But, even if you aren’t, you’ll notice something different about a place designed along these principles. There’s a sense of quiet, a certain ease, a comfort that makes a house feel like a home.

That is why The Olson Company works with Jessie Kim, a renowned feng shui consultant, for many of its projects. Kim advises the company from the outset of a new project, helping orient buildings, laying out streets, and even selecting the artwork that hangs from the halls of the model homes. Once Olson became aware of her work, the company has consulted with her on a regular basis: “Olson saw the need for it and it has snowballed since,” she says.

The idea is simple: Day-to-day living involves movement and the flow of energy. Feng shui recognizes movement and the flow of energy and how it impacts the way that people live and relate to each other and their surroundings. And having recognized these principles, Kim offers advice on how to arrange the surroundings to make the flow of energy, the interpersonal interactions, the movement of day-to-day life better.

“It’s important because it creates harmony for the people who are living in a community or a home, and it brings a sense of well-being into the community,” Kim says. “When it comes to overall harmony for health, relationships, it helps make everything well.”

In her role as a consultant to The Olson Company, Kim typically is involved from the beginning. Given a particular site, she advises on the big picture – where the homes are located, where the streets flow, which way the homes are oriented.

“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”

Kim’s input is apparent to homebuyers when they first visit the model homes. Kim advises on elements like colors, furniture, landscaping and the placement of objects within the model home.

“Even little simple things like artwork can affect the energy of the home and the energy of the buyer who’s walking through the house,” Kim says.

What is less visually identifiable but no less important is the floor plan of a home.

Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.

“Generally, you want to have good positioning of the kitchen,” Kim points out. “I try to make sure that the master bedrooms and the kitchen are in a good position, and that there are no stairs or a back door lining up to the front door.  Some of it just seems like common sense and good design – and it is.”

The idea is not for people to walk in and academically analyze a home on its adherence to feng shui principles. It’s more about the experience that people have when they are in the home, Kim says. “It’s about how people feel walking through the house,” Kim explains. “It makes the families feel more at home if you have a well feng shui’d house. If the front door and back door are lined up, people don’t want to interact, but they tend to walk through and out of the house.

“In a well feng shui’d home, you feel this is a home where you want to sit down, relax and stay for a while. It makes you feel at home. If it is your home, you’ll feel more rested, and your family feels more in harmony. Things just go smoothly.”

Ultimately, while Kim’s work is on the design of a community and its buildings, the focus is on people and the way they live.

“The home is for the people living in it,” Kim says. “With feng shui, you’re trying to create a space where people are harmonized and well balanced together.”

(Hyun Jung “Jessie” Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui, Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)

Reprinted with permission from The Olson Company.  Originally printed in Vol. 5 / Issue 1 / Page 25 of In Town Living.

Home builders: Contact me right now for a free proposal on how I can add harmony and balance to your properties.

For individualized help, contact me to inquire about Virtual Feng Shui Consultation. 

Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.