Eight thousand years ago, the Chinese philosophy of feng shui became part of everyday Chinese living. Their belief that everything in the environment is connected extends to your home and even the colors your home is painted.
The energy known as chi must be allowed to move freely within your home by removing clutter and useless items to create more open space. Whether you believe in the flow of chi or not, every real estate professional will tell you to declutter your home before putting it up for sale, opening up the space and removing any distractions a potential buyer may encounter.
In addition, color is a very important part of feng shui. The Chinese philosophers believed the color a room is painted will influence behavior and mood. Green will avoid arguments in the family, pink and white could encourage romance, blue or black will enhance intelligence. This belief extends to the color of your front door, which feng shui advocates believe should be red lacquer, inviting prosperity into your home.
The idea of setting the tone of your home by the color of your front door is also a belief of most designers. Choosing a color for the primary portal to your home should be a well-thought-out decision since it is the first impression your house will make to visitors and potential buyers.
Glossy black front doors are still popular, and designers recommend it for many of their clients who want to make a statement, but not too much of a statement. However, if you want your front door to pop, especially in island homes, there are many tropical colors to choose from. Lime, melon, aqua, pale red, chartreuse, all of which are available to view on the major paint manufacturers’ websites.
Many designers go so far as painting the outside door a color that would blend in or replicate the inside colors. I personally love this idea, especially on an island where you can introduce lush paint colors both inside and out. It reminds me of a story I once read about Barbra Streisand’s homes. She would only have outdoor flowering plants that would complement her interior colors so there would no interruption in the color flow from outside to inside. Not sure if that qualifies as feng shui, but it sure qualifies as creative.
The one thing we can be sure of is the Manatee County real estate market. These are the January sales statistics reported by the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee:
January single-family homes broke another record, with the median sale price clocking in at $480,000, and the average single-family sale price recorded at $614,630. The median time for properties to go into contract was seven days and the month’s supply is 0.6 months.
Condos’ median sale price was $301,000 and the average sale price was $379,451. The median number of days to contract was six days and the month’s supply of properties was 0.4 months.
As far as median time to contract, remember it could take several days to actually record a contract of sale, meaning that it is likely all properties in the county are selling within days of coming on the market. January recorded more new listings than closed sales, but it remains to be seen if this is a trend for the coming year.
Good luck with your feng shui; my guess is that no matter what you paint your front door, there will be plenty of prosperity flowing through it in this market.
