Two years ago, an old Kiwi friend of mine from New Zealand contacted me to ask my opinion on a piece of land he was set on buying. It was a lovely two hectare segment of farm land situated about two hours’ drive from Auckland City, and I could tell from his email he was very excited.
I was so thrilled to hear from Tony* and even more thrilled to hear he had found his dream property. Tony and I worked together many years ago and we clicked almost instantly. He and his wife both lived in Hong Kong during their younger adult years and both have always been fascinated with the concept of feng shui and oriental traditions.
City life wasn’t their thing, and their dream was to one day own a mini “lifestyle block” where they could plant their own vegetables and rear their own farm animals. Now that day has arrived, as Tony was made redundant and given a huge redundancy package due his 30-year service with his company. He found this piece of land through a friend, as it was about to be foreclosed; the owner wanted a quick way out and was willing to let it go for 30% below market value!
So along with his cheerful email came gorgeous pictures of the green pastures that surrounded the property, complete with segmented farm beds, self-watering irrigation, chicken barns, fenced gardens for a few sheep and horses and a charming brick cottage right in the middle. The house was a little tired and in need of a major makeover, but everything else looked like something out of a country painting. I could see why they jumped at the chance to own it.
I was almost about to reply with plenty of praise and my seal of approval, but the fact that the farm was under foreclosure troubled me a little, so I asked Tony for aerial photos of the land and floor plans of the house. Tony replied within the hour and sent me the Google Maps location for the property.
Oh dear! As soon as I clicked on the Google pin and surveyed the aerial view of the land, I realized why the property was under foreclosure! His “lovely slice of country heaven” wasn’t really quite as auspicious as it looked in the pictures. It was situated directly next to a fierce and busy highway, but worse – the shape of the land was TRIANGLE!
According to the principles of feng shui, the shape of the land plays a crucial role in making sure that the land is auspicious. Regular shapes like squares and rectangles are best, as all the other shapes create “missing corners” of luck. Triangle-shaped land in particular is considered the most inauspicious shape for any kind of land. Triangle-shaped land embodies the element of FIRE, and placing your house on land with strong Fire energy can burn away your luck!
I couldn’t bring myself to tell Tony and Sarah my thoughts on email, so I rang them up personally to chat about the land. I told him that I was concerned about the triangle shape of the land, and urged him to investigate the history of the owners who lived in the property before committing to buy it. Two nights later, he wrote back with a very long email telling me everything he had found out:
- The current owner moved in five years ago. He also bought it off the previous owner who sold the home in a mortgage foreclosure situation.
- Since owning the farm, his barn and greenhouse caught fire twice and suffered serious damage.
- The wife of the previous owner died in a freak accident caused by an unmanned tractor rolling towards her. She was knocked over and hit her head on a rock.
- The present owner’s son was diagnosed with a brain tumour since moving into this property. His medical bills were what caused the owner to default on his loans.
- The broken fence on the property was due to an 18-wheel truck ramming and overturning into the property about a year ago.
After learning all this, Sarah made up her mind not to go ahead with buying the property. But Tony really wanted to purchase the property and pressed me for a solution. Tony said “I know that bad feng shui can be fixed! I saw this done countless times in Hong Kong, so please can you give me some advice on what can be done. Can’t you just hang some windchimes here and some yellow paper with Chinese writing there?”
Truly, I had to chuckle at his remark – but I also knew what this meant to Tony. It was his dream! So I looked at the property again and suggested that they “regularize” the land. To do this, I explained that it would cost quite a bit to fix it and he would have to be prepared for the sizeable chunk of the land to become unusable. Here were my suggestions:
To regularize the land in a way that didn’t lose too much usable land, I recommended building concrete fences at the two tail ends of the triangle. Mentally, he would have to treat the outside parts of the land as if it wasn’t part of his property.- I also recommended planting tall pine trees on the border of the property facing the highway and a new concrete wall. This would help to buffer his property away from the fierce highway energy flowing behind his house.
- I told them that their home was old and tired – the time feng shui of the property was severely afflicted now. I advised them to do a major makeover before moving into the home.
Alas, the cost of all the changes required came to more than what Tony and Sarah were able to afford. They let the opportunity slip by.
Two years later, Tony and Sarah got in touch with me again and thanked me for persuading them not to purchase the property. They explained that the property was eventually purchased by another friend, who bought the property for their parents. After their parents moved in, the mother had a stroke, which paralyzed her entire left side.
So here is tragic tale of how triangle-shaped land can be truly very dangerous. Always try to look for land that is regular in shape and you will be off to good start in getting your feng shui right!
