Feng Shui Tips

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Thursday, August 11, 2005

Chinese buyers sue over 'unlucky' units

Townsville Bulletin: Chinese buyers sue over 'unlucky' units [ 12aug05 ]: "Chinese buyers sue over 'unlucky' units
By Larissa Cummings
12aug05

CHINESE investors who bought units off the plan in a 'lucky' development are taking legal action to be released from the sales because of bad feng shui.

The move comes after the height of the building was reduced from 18 to 14 residential floors.

The investors, who purchased units in the 'Form' section of the Victoria Park development in South Dowling St, Zetland, claim they were attracted by good feng shui because the principal tower was to be 18 storeys.

In Chinese mythology, the number eight is associated with good luck, fortune and well-being.

However, in reducing the building's residential levels to 14, developer Waltcorp has linked it with death, as the Chinese words for the numbers four, 14 and 24 sound like the words for 'death', 'must die' and 'easy to die'.

Settlement of units in Form, a 219-unit complex of four buildings, began on Wednesday, but at least 20 investors are taking legal action to be released from their contracts.

One investor, who asked not to be named, said she did not know to check that the development application had been approved by council before signing up to buy a two-bedroom unit.

"When the sales people show [sic] us the model, it was 18 floors. They didn't mention it was subject to council approval," she said.

"This is very important for Chinese people -- to us, 14 storeys means it's like a dead building now."

The investor, who paid $600,000 for her unit, said the drop in value of the units added to her reluctance to settle.

She said she was promised that the value of the units would double within five years, but her apartment is now worth 25 per cent less than when she purchased it in 2003.

"They are advertising similar units in the next stage of the development for $150,000 cheaper than we paid for ours," she said.

Waltcorp managing director Colin Walters said he was aware of the investors' complaints, but after investigating their claims, the company's solicitors found no satisfactory reasons to release them from their contracts.

"The market is flat and they don't want to proceed with settlement," Mr Walters said.

"Buying property is like speculating on the sharemarket - you invest in a certain stock and you take a risk that that stock will go up or down in value.""

WOW!! Just goes to show that you always need to be careful with what you are buying, huh? Just because someone says its great doesn't make it so!

Sam, Feng Shui Tips

Feng Shui Tips: Forget the tacky posters, students

TownOnline.com - Wellesley Townsman - Arts & Lifestyle: "Forget the tacky posters, students
By Michael Cox/ Townsman Staff
Thursday, August 11, 2005

As college students pack up their cars next month with laptops, egg crates, plants and family pictures, the one thing they're most likely to forget to fill their dorm room with this year is the thing they'll probably need most - feng shui.

That's what one Wellesley college student who penned a book called 'Dorm Room Feng Shui' believes. Katherine Olaksen, of Pine Street, is convinced that college students can dramatically improve their lives by simply cleaning and arranging their dorm room space with a purpose. 'It's about dealing with your life,' Olaksen said of the book. 'It's not about interior decorating.'


Through the innovative approach to dorm life, the rising senior at the College of Wooster in Ohio is trying to help millions of college students bring more harmony and balance to their daily campus lives by showing them how to transform their living spaces to maximize good energy, known as chi. To do this, said Olaksen, they need to develop feng shui, an ancient Chinese practice that looks at how energy flows in a certain space.

"In college, you can go into one person's room and love being there, and then go into another person's room and feel uncomfortable," she said. "Those situations really clarify how important what you do with your space is."

Olaksen said her struggles as a freshman living in a crammed room that felt like a prison inspired her to write the book. Trying to find a way to make better use of her modest living quarters, Olaksen contacted her aunt, Elizabeth MacCrellish, who was bringing in feng shui expert Margaret Donahue to look at the use of space in her home. She suggested her niece get in touch with Donahue to discuss her dorm room problem. The two hit it off, and Olaksen began taking dozens of pictures of her dorm room and sending them to Donahue, who gradually helped her transform both her living space and her life. MacCrellish and Donahue co-authored the book with Olaksen.

Feng shui is not expensive or complicated, said Olaksen. For those who are going to do some feng shui fixes to their room, she points out that it is important to understand "bagua" first. Essentially, the bagua is a way to divide any space into eight separate pieces that are held together by a ninth - the center. Each piece is known as the "gua" and the center is the "ba," and each section relates to a different part of a person's life, she said. The sections are career, relationships, family, prosperity, center, helpful people and travel, creativity and children, knowledge and fame.

For example, said Olaksen, someone who wanted to get involved in a relationship might put cut flowers in their relationship corner. The idea is not so farfetched. She said it worked for her roommate, a feng shui skeptic at first, who a week after putting flowers in her relationship corner ran into someone from her math class, and the two have been dating ever since.

Olaksen said she has also noticed a shift in her own academic career and relationships since going the feng shui way. "Having something there is a visible reminder that can trigger it to come into your life," she believes. "It works in subtle ways."

The book even has adjusters for troublesome roommates. "Not everyone is going to be Martha Stewart," said Olaksen. "One thing you can do is put up a mirror that reflects the mess back to their side or the room and away from your energy."

With dorm room feng shui tools in hand, Olaksen believes that millions of college freshmen can avoid the ugly pitfall she experienced her first year away from home and flourish in a new environment.

'Dorm Room Feng Shui'

Katherine Olaksen will hold a book signing tonight at 7 at Borders Books in Chestnut Hill and Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge.

The 144-page paperback book sells for $10.95 and is published by Storey Publishing. It is available locally at the Wellesley Booksmith, Barnes and Noble and at Amazon.com."

21, attractive, and full of good advise for the dorm room. Is there anything Katherine Olaksen doesn't have going for her?

Sam, Feng Shui Tips