These aren’t your average buyers who are focused on paint colors or granite counter tops. These buyers have very specific needs and must haves when it comes to choosing the home of their dreams. At the very least it made the home searching process very interesting and well, I definitely learnt something new!

Have you ever heard of Vastu Shastra? No? Neither had I!

I quickly found out that Vastu Shastra is an ancient Indian science that is largely based on the direction of your home’s front door. There are many other factors as well, but the front door direction was the main concern for my buyers. Purchasing a home that faced in the wrong direction could cause loss of money, illness, disorder and even an untimely death! On the flip side, a home facing in the right direction could create harmony, health, balance and prosperity.

Related: Should You List Your Home During The Holidays? – Tracey’s Real Estate Tip Of The Week

Funny thing is, it’s not as rare as you may think. I’ve personally assisted three clients who followed this science, and every day, we would pound the pavement not only looking for all the expected features of a home, but for the correct direction as well.

Homes facing the right direction weren’t as easy to find as you may think. We would all face the front door, our compasses in hand, focusing our attentions and holding our breath in hopes the home faced east, north or north east. If it faced say, south west, we would leave as soon as possible, for this is said to be the entrance of “the devil energy” and can bring in struggles and misfortunes.

Yes, I admit, I immediately went home and checked which direction my home faced!

Now this one I was familiar with, but I had never applied it to real estate before: Numerology.

The power of numbers and their vibrational frequency is apparently very important to some home buyers. To find out if your home has the right number, you would simply add all the numbers of your address together until you got down to a single digit.

Let’s say your address was 1562 Nottingham Way, you would add 1+5+6+2 = 14, then 1+4 = 5, and there you have it! Your house number is five, and according to numerology, it is the most gregarious of all the numbers.

Your home would be a great place for having people over and entertaining guests, but beware, five also promotes variety and change, therefore you might find it difficult to make up your mind or focus on practical matters. My clients’ desired number was nine because that’s the number of universal love and compassion.

What number is your home?

A death on the property.

I’ve actually had quite a few listings where the owner or a loved one had passed away at the home. In California, if there was a death on a property within the last three years, then you must disclose it. Interesting caveat is, if the person had passed away in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, then it technically wasn’t at the property and you wouldn’t have to disclose it.

I must confess, I am superstitious and would not purchase a home where someone had passed away. I also found out that if the homeowner had passed away because of a violent crime or drugs, it would make the home much harder to sell.

If the cause of death was because of natural causes, it didn’t seem to matter as much to home buyers. The few listings I’ve had where this had occurred, I recommended that my sellers have the house blessed by their priest. Knowing the house was blessed did help ease the apprehension of some home buyers.

I would also disclose it right up front and write it in the “Agent Remarks” section of the Multiple Listing. This way, if the buyer did have a problem with a death occurring on the property, they wouldn’t have to wait until they were in escrow to find out.

Would it be a concern for you if you were purchasing a new home?

Good old sketchy neighbors.

I don’t know anyone that would NOT be concerned by this. Your neighbors and the general neighborhood affect your properties value. Needless to say, “sketchy” neighbors who party constantly, do not look after their home, park their cars on the front lawn, argue loudly pretty much every night, etc. are not desirable neighbors! I had one couple who was in escrow on a home that decided to drive by the home at night.

They did this consistently for a few days at different times, and discovered their neighbor was playing very loud music and had multiple parked cars at their house on more than one occasion. Yes, you guessed it, we canceled escrow and found another home.

Did you know that on the “Seller Property Questionnaire” there is a section dedicated to noisy neighbors, nuisance or other problems pertaining to the neighborhood? After confirming that they hadn’t disclosed this to my buyers, they seriously considered taking the sellers to mediation. In the end, they decided not to, but it was close.

How are your neighbors?

I hope you enjoyed my unusual post this week. I thought it would be fun to do something a little different!

Tune into KHTS AM-1220 every Friday at 8:40 a.m. to hear more on Tracey’s Real Estate Tip of the Week!

About Tracey Hampson and Tracey’s Real Estate Tips:

I have had the pleasure of living and working as a realtor in Santa Clarita and the surrounding areas for more than 14 years and I love sharing real estate tips with others. Throughout my Santa Clarita real estate career I have had the privilege of assisting buyers and sellers of Santa Clarita homes with their individual real estate needs. I’m here for you as well.

I hope you enjoyed my real estate tip of the week and if you have any questions, concerns, wants or needs regarding real estate please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m here to help.

Tracey Hampson
Century 21 Troop Real Estate
License 01429142
(661) 993-6124
Thampson@Troop.com