Many believe numbers really do hold magical, spiritual or diabolic properties yet some cultures regard some numbers as lucky while others view them as unlucky.
What happens when two different beliefs in lucky and unlucky numbers collide in real estate?
Consider for example my Jewish seller clients who worried that their house would not appeal to Markham's Asian community despite the fact I showed them otherwise.
Our solution was simple - counter one belief in numbers with another and so their listing price was set to add to 9, 9 either left to right, right to left. It sold firm to a chinese buyer in 9 days, for 99.27% of list with the dollar value also with the same right, left, right count. Even in the face of later contenders, it was the street's record price that took almost two years to the day to break which was only last week. Or of my clients who, when buying or selling, will always include a 7 in their final counter-offer. Then there were the buyers of a client's property who, being of the same culture, invoked a number with cultural significance in their offer. Convinced that my seller would not argue its authority they refused to budge, but then neither did my seller.
In the first instance we'll never know if the sellers' faith in their number play prevailed or that the 30 something year old Chinese buyer was of a less superstitious generation. The second buyers budged - in a big way, to a seller who assigned the cultural number less significance than the number he cared about the most - the one to the left of it.
Western civilization has for numerous centuries treated the number 13 with disdain. It originated either from one of civilization's darkest days when on a Friday the 13th in the year 1307, the Knights Templar were ordered arrested, imprisoned, tortured and put to death or from the 13 step climb to the gallows. No one is certain but it lasted for centuries to the point that when it came to house and building floors, it was as though the number 13 never existed. Unlike number 4 though, its non-existence meant buyers and sellers never ever had to worry about stigma.
Coinicidentally, the stair count in two storey homes is often either 14 or that's right - 13.
The last 7 years or so has seen a disdain for number 4 migrate west with the increase in the Asian population, the reason being that its name word, in all Chinese derivative languages, is similar to the word for death. It's understandable that no one wants their home associated with 'death' just as westerners would probably prefer not to have their house associated with '666' but at the same token, bad feng shui is more likely to steer an Asian buyer away from a house than is the number 4 which is too bad because all things considered, the number 4 is a very powerful number even associated with the building blocks of life itself, take a look:
- 4 essential elements - fire, air, water, earth
- 4 basic chemical elements - hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen
- 4 main divisions of the heart
- 4 major divisions of the brain
- Humans have 4 limbs
- 4 corners of the earth
- 4 pillars of the earth
- 4 cardinal points of the earth
- 4 layers - crust, mantle, outer core, inner core
- 4 seasons in non-tropical climates
- 4 quarters (phases) of our moon
- It is the 4th object(mass) from the centre of our solar system
- The Canadian Charter grants 4 fundamental freedoms - conscience and religion, thought, belief, opinion and expression
- Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of 4 freedoms - speech, worship, want, fear
- There are 4 mathematical functions - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
- 8, the luckiest number in Chinese cultures has a total of 4 natural number multiplicands - 1,8 and 2,4
- There are 4 states of matter: liquid, solid, gas, plasma
- We say '4 winds to you' when we wish someone a safe trip.
- 4 leafed clovers are said to be lucky
- 4 heads branched out from the river in the Garden of Eden to water the earth
- 4 the number, signifes completion, wholeness or fullness in Judaism
- The name of God is referred to as the 'name of four letters' also in Judaism
- 4 noble truths in Buddhism
- 4 dragon kings with power to control the clouds, the rain and the seas in Chinese mythology
- 4 major archangels - Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel in Abrahamic religions
- 4 major demi-gods were assigned to earth and humans - Isis, Nephthys, Osiris, Seth in ancient Egyptian mythology
- 4 jars placed at the 4 cardinal points held the stomach, intestines, lungs, liver for the ancient Egyptian's afterlife.
Despite all of the above powerful attributes of the number 4, westerners have embraced 13 again to banish the 4 instead and to the point where a building has no floor or unit number ending in 4, yet, the official registration on title - the one that counts, will state the 4.
Given the intractability of numbers it doesn't appear to make sense that a word which sounds like 'death' when pronounced should be allowed to overshadow all the positives. There's an easy solution - tweak it, and let it die (pun intended) a natural death common in the evolution of language.
I must admit, I'm biased. The number 4 has been very good to me. My mother, brother, sister and son are all born in the 4th month. I have 4 very talented siblings. My birth month and day incorporate all of the 4 multiplicands mentioned above and for 26 years and counting I've enjoyed a happy, healthy and fulfilling life in a house numbered 4 (knock on wood). When time comes to sell, that photo will be prominent on my brochure and yes,
They'll be another record high price.
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