Superstitions in real estate are a very real thing. Everyone has their rules. Some agents never do showings on Friday the 13th. Others won’t even list a property while Mercury is in retrograde. We all have that traumatic event that creates a superstition in our minds. A cosmic rule that probably has no basis in reality.
I once worked with an agent who would never show an apartment if the forecast called for rain. It was bad luck. She didn’t do much business in April.
Another agent I worked for early in my career insisted every listing have a fresh orchid on display. She believed it carried a certain energy that helped buyers feel at home in the space. “Did you water the orchid?” she would ask after every showing. I started hearing it in my sleep. One time I forgot. The orchid died. The deal, did not.
It seems Mercury is perpetually in retrograde (but really, when is it not?) Hard to build a business model around that. But some agents insist.
Then there was the buyer who didn’t seem to follow any logic, superstition, or belief system that I could figure out...
The Bath to Enlightenment
His criteria was simple, standard for a West Village apartment. One bedroom. One bathroom. Walk-up is fine. Natural light. Some closet space. All cash. He was a co-op board’s dream. This should have been a walk in the park.
But every apartment we sent him received an unusual response. We'd send two nearly identical apartments and he’d love one, but reject the other with no explanation.
Then one day he said something that threw me. “The toilet is in the northeast. Pass.”
Talk about a curveball. I’m used to buyers with strict opinions about which direction an apartment should face for sunlight. But a toilet with optimal afternoon light? How much time was he planning to spend in there?
Then came the next comment. “The railroad floor plan blocks energy flow.” Now I knew something was going on. After some quick research, we figured it out. They were following Vaastu principles.
Vaastu Shastra is an ancient Indian architectural philosophy that focuses on how spaces are arranged to promote harmony, balance, and positive energy within a home. Similar to Feng Shui, it assigns meaning to the direction of rooms and the flow of energy through a space. Suddenly everything made sense. And the guidelines are actually fairly straightforward.
Kitchens ideally face the southeast, which is associated with fire and cooking. Bathrooms are best placed in the west. Bedrooms are ideally located in the southwest, which is considered the most stable part of the home. Entrances are generally preferred from the north or east, which are believed to allow positive energy to enter the space.
Layouts matter too. Open floor plans allow energy to flow freely, while long narrow layouts like railroad apartments can block that flow.
I felt like we cracked the code. My team created our own Vaastu scorecard, ranking each apartment from 1 to 5 based on how closely it followed the principles. Southeast kitchen? Points. Southwest bathroom? Points. Good entrance direction? Points. Railroad layout blocking the flow of energy? Big deduction.
Once we cracked the code, the apartment search started to make a lot more sense.We still haven’t found the perfect apartment yet. I blame a combination of limited inventory and a surprising lack of Vaastu planning in the West Village.
But now we know exactly what we’re looking for. As soon as the perfect apartment with a southeast kitchen and southwest toilet hits the market, we’re ready to move.
Whether it’s superstition, quality of life, or divine principles, one thing is certain: people trust their instincts when it comes to buying or selling a home. And my instinct is simple. Never schedule a closing on March 15th.
I heed the warning. Beware the Ides of March.
And now, a few homes that exceed any superstition or universal law....
