Feng Shui Influences How Bay Area Houses Are Priced

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Feng Shui Influences How Bay Area Houses Are Priced

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The Long Beach Real Estate Home Blog is pleased to welcome guest author, San Mateo California Realtor, Leonore Wilkas of The Wilkas Group. 

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Living on the San Francisco Peninsula as I do, with our large Asian population, we find all kinds of Asian influences creeping into our daily lives. One of the biggest is Feng Shui, a Chinese mysticism of sorts, where it is believed that your life can improve by doing little things within your living environment through the placement of furniture, artwork, or even the front door of a house. It’s a serious business around here with many experts helping Realtors and non-Asians prepare their houses for sale so that the house will sell quickly.

Having harmony in life promotes wealth, prosperity, good health, and chi – the movement of the air around you. The Chinese are superstitious people. If they believe the Feng Shui is bad at a property, they will not look at it, or seriously consider buying it unless they think the bad Feng Shui can be over come.

Numbers play a big influence in Feng Shui

 

Certain numbers can prevent someone from even considering a property unless they can have a Feng Shui master come and correct the chi of the house. In our area, the number 8, believed to mean wealth, is often seen within the listing price of a home. Asians believe that numbers can create harmony within the house. If the price of the home reflects certain numbers such as 1, 6, or 8, it is considered to be positive so it’s very common to price homes with the number 8 somewhere in the price, for example you might see a house listed at $618,988, $888,888 or $1,886,688. The worst numbers to use are 2 and 5 and if I, as an agent, want to attract a buyer who follows Feng Shui, I will avoid them, if I can.

 

But, that’s only part of the issue with numbers. What do you do if the house number is considered bad Feng Shui? What if the numbers are really bad like 4, 13, 24, or 104? You can’t exactly change them, can you? No, not if you’re trying to sell the house, so you must use little Feng Shui tricks to provide protection to the property.

 

Have you ever noticed houses with two large lion-type animals sitting at the front entrance to a house in your neighborhood or city? These are called Foo dogs and they’re placed there to protect the house from bad chi.

 

If you’re unlucky enough to have house numbers that are considered bad chi you place a circle around your house numbers and protect the chi.

 

When you see wind chimes anywhere near the entrance of a house, it is considered good luck. Is there a birdbath or water feature somewhere in the front or back yard? They may be trying to improve the chi, or energy, of the house.

The power of Feng Shui is believed in by a whole lot of people on this planet. Many other cultures have similar beliefs. The Japanese and Indians also look at numerology in their daily lives. Japanese like odd numbers like 3, 5 and 7. The Indians believe in a Destiny number that is the total number for your birthday. If you were born on March 1^st, 1968, the numbers would be written out like this: 03.01.68 = 18, 1+8 = 9, and 9 would be your Destiny number. Numerology has been around for thousands of years and is believed by millions of people.

What are the lucky numbers for Feng Shui?

 

8, 18, 28, 38, 48, 54, 68, 80, 84, 88, 99, 168, and 108.

The number 8 is considered lucky because of how the word sounds in Cantonese. It sounds a little like the word faat (more like you saying phat) and it means prosperity and abundance. Something we all wish for, right?

What are the unlucky numbers?

4 – is considered the worst number because when it’s spoken in Cantonese it sounds like the word for death.

13 – if you add 1+3 it equals 4.

24 and 104 are also considered unlucky.

7 is considered unlucky, too!

Next month, on August 8^th, or 08.08.08, the Chinese people will be trying to either get married on that date or hope to deliver their babies on that date, because of these auspicious numbers. This might be the reason that the Olympics will start on this date.

 

I have had clients bring in a Feng Shui master to make simple corrections to houses with bad numbers. I have also seen people request a number change from the city and post office. Sometimes this is the easiest thing to do.

Does the number 8 help sell a house faster? Who knows? I try to put at least one 8 in every listing price I have. I do notice that we see a lot of Asian’s coming through our open houses, so maybe it is helpful. Realtors are superstitious, too, so anything that we can do to help our clients sell their homes we’re probably going to try. As long as it’s legal, that is!

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Contributed by: San Mateo Realtor, Lenore Wilkas; author of the San Mateo Real Estate News Blog

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Feng Shui Influences How Bay Area Houses Are Priced

Selling Your Long Beach Homes-Long Beach Real Estate

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Yay!  The Down Market is OVER!

 

No it’s not, but now that I have your attention, the market has changed a bit and there are a few things you really need to know if you are thinking about selling your Long Beach homes. 

Back in the hot sellers market one of the sales strategies used was to price a home a little low, take multiple offers, and play them off of each other to drive the price up.  It worked!  That strategy, applied to today’s Long Beach real estate market is working as well. 

Pricing your home low will inspire the interest of buyers and agents and create a quick, steady flow of traffic and multiple offers to your home. 

For instance, if your home, in great condition, comps out at $500,000 and you listed it at $299,000 you would have the attention of the entire real estate market.  You would have to prepare yourself for a major onslaught of showings, perhaps as many as 30 to 50 a day.  The offers would pour in and bid up.  At $500,000, you would sit on the market for months, probably price reduce a couple of times to about $450k and likely sell around $440k, if at all.  If you choose this road, you will probably sell at around the same price, without the time delay.  It’s clean and fast. 

An added benefit to creating multiple offers is that you have a choice.  You will not be forced to accept an offer with weak financing because it is the only offer you have.  There will be an assortment of offers for you to choose from thereby placing you in a stronger position to close escrow successfully. 

 

Many sellers in Long Beach are afraid to pursue this road fearing they will have to accept an offer that is lower than they are willing to accept.  Sellers do not have to accept any offer, they are free to accept or decline any offer made on their homes. 

It is just a really smart business decision to choose to sell your home in this fashion, during this market. 

 

Read Also:

The 7 Dangers of Overpricing Your Long Beach Homes and Condos

Chasing the Market Down – Are You Guilty?

 

If you are thinking about selling your Long Beach home and are interested in more details, call Laurie for more information.

 

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Selling Your Long Beach Homes-Long Beach Real Estate

Long Beach Own Your Owns-OYO-OYOs-Condo Conversions-Income Properties in Long Beach

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Long Beach Own Your Owns – OYOs

What the Heck is an OYO?

Why would I want to own one?

Long Beach has been home to many Own Your Owns over the years. They can be found throughout Downtown Long Beach, Alamitos Beach, Bluff Park and into Belmont Heights; older, usually 2 or 3 story buildings tucked between newer and sometimes taller buildings.   Recent Condo Conversions have trimmed the numbers of available OYOs considerably. OYOs used to be a really good investment, selling for considerably less than Long Beach Condos, they proved to be a very desirable purchase. When they successfully converted to condominiums owners realized large profits.  Often condo conversion was the motivation for purchasing an Own Your Own.

Many buyers ask about OYOs.  They want to know if they are the same as a condo, or more like a stock cooperative.

OYOs are similar in ownership to condos in that they are both fee simple ownership with individual tax bills and deeds. OYOs are a pre-condominium form of ownership, mostly built in the 50s. They generally sell for less than condos and are occasionally candidates for condo conversion, if they qualify, at which time they increase in value dramatically. Often OYOs will not have sufficient parking to qualify for condo conversion.

OYO Financing

At this time there is very limited financing available for the purchase of OYOs. Few are selling, those that do sell are often all cash purchases, or seller financing. Traditionally FNMA and FHA have not supported home loans for OYOs.  OYOs are difficult to sell which is a major drawback to purchase.

UPDATE:  There is limited financing available for owner occupied OYOs, with strict guidelines:

• Buyer must purchase as their primary residence, no non-owner occupieds will be considered.
  
• Minimum 20% Down Payment is required – no exceptions.
• Mimimum FICO score is 640.
• Owner Occupancy rate in building must be 55% or higher.  (If this standard is not met down payment requirement will be increased to 40% or more.)
• No stated income loans are available.

Condo Conversions

Many existing buildings, which have already been approved for condo conversion, have opted not to convert at this time.  Current market conditions of Long Beach Real Estate and the high cost of conversion have made condo conversion cost prohibitive, at this time.  This bodes well for our city as the number of conversions in recent years has bitten deeply into the cushion we have in our apartment vacancy rate.  The conversions of recent years have removed many rental units from the market here in Long Beach.  With the high number of foreclosures many families are in need of affordable rental housing, which is becoming increasingly difficult to find.

Income Properties

The silver lining in all of this is that landlords will profit; income property sales, which have been stagnant will begin to revive, rents will increase and vacancies will not be an issue.  Hey, somebody always wins

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Long Beach Own Your Owns-OYO-OYOs-Condo Conversions-Income Properties in Long Beach

Long Beach Income Property Market Report-January-December 2007-Including Signal Hill

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Long Beach Real Estate

Long Beach & Signal Hill Income Property Report

January – December 2007

 

 

 

Duplexes 

Closed Sale – 187 Long Beach & Signal Hill Duplex Properties
	Units	Bldg SqFt	GSI	List Price	LP/SqFt	SP/SqFt	SP/LP	SP/OLP	DOM
Min	2	776	$ 0	$ 25,000	$ 0	$ 0	60%	60%	0
Avg	2	1,744	$ 15,349	$ 686,997	$ 375	$ 347	98%	95%	74
Max	2	3,728	$ 435,000	$ 2,750,000	$ 718	$ 718	126%	141%	360

 

 

Triplexes 

Closed Sale – 41 Long Beach & Signal Hill Triplex Properties
	Units	Bldg SqFt	GSI	List Price	LP/SqFt	SP/SqFt	SP/LP	SP/OLP	DOM
Min	3	1,176	$ 0	$ 444,000	$ 122	$ 0	88%	75%	7
Avg	3	2,306	$ 25,933	$ 733,839	$ 317	$ 271	98%	96%	117
Max	3	3,228	$ 75,000	$ 1,795,000	$ 791	$ 420	104%	251%	375

 

 

4-Plexes

 

Closed Sale – 84 Long Beach & Signal Hill Triplex Properties
	Units	Bldg SqFt	GSI	List Price	LP/SqFt	SP/SqFt	SP/LP	SP/OLP	DOM
Min	4	1,668	$ 0	$ 510,000	$ 129	$ 0	79%	69%	0
Avg	4	3,297	$ 46,948	$ 860,372	$ 272	$ 268	98%	95%	93
Max	4	5,273	$ 99,780	$ 1,850,000	$ 571	$ 571	105%	105%	360

 

 

5 + Units

 

Closed Sale – 87 Long Beach & Signal Hill Properties
	Units	Bldg SqFt	GSI	List Price	LP/SqFt	SP/SqFt	SP/LP	SP/OLP	DOM
Min	5	2,628	$ 0	$ 588,800	$ 118	$ 0	76%	65%	1
Avg	10	7,097	$ 109,558	$ 1,430,670	$ 205	$ 168	95%	93%	106
Max	38	35,668	$ 600,720	$ 7,500,000	$ 493	$ 462	108%	121%	331

 

 

 1031 Exchange information available on request. 

 

 

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Long Beach Income Property Market Report-January-December 2007-Including Signal Hill