Last week I did a consultation for a gal who has turned a home into a Board and Care home for senior citizens. She had it ready for months and had many people come to check it out, but not a single one of them signed up. She did admit that the first “renter” is usually the hardest to get, but she was really stumped as to why this home was not getting renters. It had a golf course view right out the back door, and had plenty of nice living space and many bedroom choices to rent. This is the third home that she has converted, so she is not new to the field.
During the consultation, I treated this home in a couple of ways. I looked at it as if I was someone who was going to live there. I pointed out anything that I felt “was off message” like dirt/grime, personalized trinkets, as well as clutter. (She was living there until she got the first renter.) This is the same tactic that I use when I’m trying to sell a home for a client. No one wants to move into a room that has dirty baseboards, grime in the closet door track, left-behind things in closets, nicks in the wall paint, and dirty windows. These things REALLY jump out – especially when there is no furniture in the room like some of these bedrooms.
I also tried to “tell the story” of how a renter would live there – similar to how you might stage a home to sell. We created a “game room” (complete with the game on the table in the sun room,) a TV/computer lounge, a family-style dining room, and a few outdoor seating areas that made the most of the gardens and golf course view.
One of these outdoor seating areas was just outside the front of the house where one bedroom had french doors to the front garden. The problem with this set of doors is that they competed with the front door — to be more specific, they actually won out over the front door because they were visible from the street but the front door was not. So, we placed a bistro table and chairs to “block” the french doors and make them look like a private patio space instead of a possible front door. We then set about to add more “front door clues” along the sidewalk between the real front door and the sidewalk (colorful whirly-gig, chime, etc.) to easily guide people to the formal front door.
Of course we did space clearing and employ the helpful people box cure to set the intentions as well, …and voila! Seven days later, after months and months of waiting for a renter, she had someone sign up. She made over 8 times the money she paid me, and will be receiving that amount each and every month while that renter is there! Now that’s a direct financial success, right? Woo-hoo!
Her husband, who wasn’t on board at all with her spending the money to have me do a feng shui consultation, is now on board with any feng shui ANYTHING she wants to do. Does feng shui really work? You bet! 