Feng shui helping determine N.Y. deals

NEW YORK — In July, Michael Rudder, a broker at Time Equities, was nearing completion of a deal with a Chinese client to buy two floors of office condominiums at 131 W. 33rd St. when the client made some last-minute requests Rudder found peculiar.

Adjacent floors were available, but the company, Om-Ah-Hum Realty LLC, chose the ninth and 15th for its offices, then switched to the ninth and 14th upon learning that there was no 13th floor. And although the price had been set at $450 a square foot, the company asked for $448 — and offered to make up the difference in another way. In addition, Om-Ah-Hum requested that the deal be signed on a day with a date ending in 8. (The company declined to discuss its dealings for this article.)

Om-Ah-Hum’s requests were based on feng shui, the Chinese system of beliefs that governs building design, the calendar and numbers, among other things, and which is followed by many people in other cultures, particularly in East Asia. Rudder said the number of Asian buyers and lessees in New York had surged this year; he and other brokers are quickly learning just how pervasive feng shui can be.

As the deal progressed, the principal of the business was spotted outside the building, taking measurements with a feng shui kit, Rudder said.

“It looks like a very elaborate compass,” said Rudder, who said he first encountered feng shui in a deal in 2007. “I joke that I can tell how much space my Asian clients are going to buy by how elaborate their feng shui kit is. And this buyer had the most beautiful feng shui kit I’ve ever seen.”

With the commercial market in New York still soft (prices for some of the buildings Rudder sells have declined 40 percent in the past few years), he said almost all of his recent sales of office condominiums had been to foreign buyers, especially those based in Asia.

“They have this huge appetite for office condos,” he said, adding that “they want to own real estate very badly. They do not want to pay rent.” Accordingly, he said, “I’ve completely redirected my marketing plan.”

John Lim, a vice president in the business and commercial banking group at Citibank, also said Asian businesses were buying New York property that they perceived to be undervalued.

As someone who provides owner-occupied commercial mortgages to many Asian-owned businesses, including some of Rudder’s clients, Lim has made it a point to understand feng shui.

According to Lim, numbers associated with a building and suite are significant: In Chinese, Japanese and Korean, the pronunciation of the number four sounds the same as the word for death — which is why many buildings in Asia do not have a fourth floor, the way American buildings often skip the 13th. And in Chinese, the number eight is a homophone for the word for getting rich. The eighth floor and building numbers with eight in them often sell at a premium.

The concern over numbers extends to the timing of a closing, too. Not only should the day end in an eight, but certain times of day also are more auspicious than others.

Feng shui dictates more than just numbers and times; it is probably best known for its guiding principles for the design and orientation of homes and offices. There should be ample natural light, for example, entering through the windows and no open air shafts in the middle of the unit. Also, space should not abut fire-escape stairs.

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