The essential Feng Shui checklist for buying a house

* Number of bedrooms
* Transport links
* Close to the school
* Close to work
* Has a garage
* Good sized garden
* Etc.

The majority of us have a checklist when we are looking for the right property and it often determines whether we even bother to get the details or go to view it. However, many people often discard the same checklist if the house ‘feels right'. I believe in estate agent speak it's called ‘compromise'.

Of course the practical checklist is important but life, and being happy and healthy in your environment, is about much more than being practical. In fact, to ensure that any house is capable of being the right home to support you and your family, you need to go beyond the practical and venture into the impractical.

Feng Shui practitioners may not like to be considered impractical but they can help you see the world in a very different way. Their services can be used for many things including finding the right home (whether it's a purchase or rental), deciding between two properties or even the right business or retail premises.

If you want to bring Feng Shui into your home buying process there are four additions you need to add to your practical checklist:

1. Predecessor Chi
2. Form school
3. Compass school
4. Geopathic stress

Predecessor Chi is the energy that the building or land has accumulated or inherited throughout its existence. This could come from the inhabitants that have lived there, the people who built it, its use before it was a dwelling or the use of the land before the house was built.

Healthy Chi is fluid and vibrant but, in the same way it can have an effect on living beings so living beings can have an effect on Chi. Any negative emotions such as fear, hate or anger can, if repeatedly experienced, clog the Chi causing it to become stagnant and heavy. The walls of any building can literally soak this up and hold it there.

Think of walking into a church and sitting down. In most cases it's a calming experience. It's quiet and meditative. It's you soaking up some of the church's collective Chi.

Think of walking into a room where two people have been arguing. You become tense and sense the atmosphere. Again you're soaking up the Chi of the room.

It's important to consider Predecessor Chi because it will have an effect on you, whether you consciously sense it or not.

Form school is all about how the building fits into the environment and whether the environment supports it or not. An ideal building would have an open Phoenix which brings beneficial Chi to it for nourishment. At the back it would have a strong Mountain for support and to stop the Chi from the Phoenix escaping. It would also have a beneficial Dragon and Tiger on either side sweeping round to the Mountain to balance the male and female aspects of the Chi.

Although Form School originated in the natural landscape, using real mountains and rivers and wide open plains, in this modern world a Feng Shui practitioner will understand the urban environment and adapt it to Form School principles.

Compass School considers both the orientation and layout of the building. The main door of the building is considered a mouth that receives Chi and the nature of that Chi differs depending on its direction.

In addition Compass School attributes different types of Chi to different areas of the building so missing sectors (where the building blueprint is not square or rectangular) will mean that the building will be missing certain elements. This doesn't always translate into a problem because, as people we are all different and have different requirements. However, circumstances change with time and any missing sectors should be considered.

Compass School also shows us the placement of auspicious areas enabling us to choose the best place for cooking, socialising and sleeping and it can guide us on colour and furnishings that will enhance good Chi and calm down not so good Chi.

Geopathic Stress is activity taking place underground that causes areas on the surface to vibrate at a level that is not beneficial to humans and a lot of animals and plants. If you spend too long in an area of Geopathic Stress, such as sleeping or working, it will have a detrimental effect on your immune system which could lead to chronic health problems.

Feng Shui practitioners are often dowsers and will use these skills to pinpoint where Geopathic Stress may be having a detrimental effect.

These four areas are very worthy of consideration and, if you get it right, can make the difference between buying a house and buying a home. If all four boxes can't be ticked, and it's a very rare property that could, there are lots of ways to improve, cure or negate the effects. So, what may put off potential buyers because they don't ‘feel comfortable there' leaves the market open for you if the building ticks everything else on your checklist.

My twelve page Feng Shui House Buyer's Guide goes into this in a lot more detail: how to recognise good Chi and not so good Chi; what's important and not so important, remedies and cures. Study it careful and you will pick up a lot of tips and information that you can use in every aspect of your life.