Home Buying Superstitions: Luck From Around the World
Buying a new home? Ensure your house brings you good luck for years to come with these bits of ancient folklore.
Quick Reference: Home Buying Superstitions
- Lucky numbers: in China, the number eight in the price is good luck, while the number four in the address is avoided because it sounds like the word for death.
- Best day to move: in India, Thursday is the luckiest day, and moving on a Friday, a Saturday, or a rainy day is discouraged.
- Carry in first: a brand new broom, plus bread and salt, with a little salt sprinkled at the door.
- Ward off spirits: a haint blue porch ceiling, fennel over the door, and salt across the threshold.
- Good luck charms: an acorn on the windowsill, an evergreen branch in the rafters, an empty hornets’ nest, and coins scattered in the living room.
Haunted houses are a staple of spooky Halloween stories. Horror movies are filled with tales of unsuspecting families who move into the wrong house and pay the ultimate price. Most home buyers in 2026 do not lose much sleep over whether a ghost came with the keys, but the folklore of many countries, ancient and modern, is full of advice on how to pick a place that will bring good fortune and keep it that way.
If you are house hunting this year, you might be curious what different cultures believe brings good luck to a home. The Almanac has always treated superstitions as folklore worth preserving and testing, not mocking. Here is a room-by-room walk through the beliefs that follow a house from the first showing to the first night under its roof.
Finding the Right Place
Long before the home inspection, folk tradition weighs in on where a lucky house should sit and which way it should face. Much of this guidance comes from feng shui, the Chinese practice of arranging space so that energy, light, and water flow in your favor.
- According to the Chinese philosophical system of feng shui, a house must have windows on the east side to face the sunrise, or it is bad luck.
- The Chinese also believe that moving into a home that sits on a curved road or faces a “T” intersection will bring bad fortune.
- Also in China, home buyers are warned to avoid homes with the number four in the address, because the word for “four” sounds like the word for death in both Cantonese and Mandarin.
That last belief is common enough to have its own name. The fear of the number four is called tetraphobia, and it is strong enough that some buildings across East Asia skip the fourth floor the way American hotels skip the 13th. If old fears about numbers interest you, our roundup of myths about the number 13 tells the flip side of the story.
Buying the Home
Once you have found the place, folklore turns its attention to the numbers on the contract and the date at the top of the page. A lucky purchase, the traditions say, starts with the right figures.
- Look for homes that have the number eight somewhere in the list price. In China, this is said to be good luck.
- In the Philippines, the date a property is transferred matters. To ensure that things keep looking up for you, make sure the closing date includes a number that, when written, ends with the pen stroke pointing toward the top of the page rather than the bottom, such as 0, 3, 5, or 8.
The idea behind both beliefs is the same. A number that rises, in sound or in shape, is thought to pull your fortunes upward with it, while a number that sinks or echoes an unlucky word drags them down.
Moving In
The richest folklore is saved for the day you cross the threshold. Around the world, families have carried small rituals from the old house to the new one, or left the old luck firmly behind. Here is what tradition says to do, and what to leave at the curb.
- In India, it is said to be bad luck to move into a new house on a Friday or Saturday, or on a rainy day. Thursday is considered the luckiest day to move in.
- Always buy a new broom for a new house. According to popular belief, bringing an old broom to a new home will bring along all of the bad luck you want to leave behind, whereas a new broom signifies a fresh start.
- In addition to your new broom, be sure to bring bread and salt with you when you first enter your new home. Sprinkling some of the salt in front of the door is said to keep evil spirits away.
- Never carry a hoe into the house. It is considered bad luck. If you accidentally do so, immediately walk backwards through the same door to reverse the bad luck.
- Stuffing fennel into your keyhole or hanging it over the door is said to protect your home from witches.
- A southern legend claims that painting your front porch “haint” blue (a shade of blue-green) will ward off ghosts. The ghosts, which cannot cross water, mistake the blue color for water and stay away.
- The ancient Norse believed that placing an acorn on a windowsill would protect the house from being struck by lightning.
- In the Philippines, it is believed that scattering coins around the living room of a new home will ensure financial prosperity.
- Nailing an evergreen branch to the rafters of a new home is said to bring good luck.
- Hanging up an empty hornets’ nest is also said to attract good luck.
- Folklore favors Thursday for a move, and frowns on a Friday, a Saturday, or a rainy day.
- The Best Days Calendar lists the most favorable days this month to move, sign papers, or start something new.
Where These Beliefs Come From
Most of these customs are older than the houses they protect, and each carries a plain, human logic underneath the magic. Bread and salt as a housewarming gift is a European tradition of long standing: bread so the home never knows hunger, and salt so life always has flavor. Salt across a threshold is one of the oldest protective charms in the book, valued for keeping food from spoiling long before it was thought to keep spirits out.
The porch ceiling painted haint blue is a Southern custom often traced to the Gullah Geechee people of the coastal Lowcountry, who used the soft blue green to trick restless spirits, or “haints,” into mistaking it for water they could not cross. Practical-minded neighbors will tell you the same paint once helped keep wasps and mud daubers from nesting overhead, which is its own kind of protection. As with all folklore, the direct evidence is thin, but the comfort of the ritual is real, and a fresh coat of paint never hurt a porch.
Home Luck Beliefs Around the World
Good luck at home looks different depending on where you stand. Here is a quick look at how a few traditions read the signs.
Home Buying Superstitions: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the luckiest day to move into a new house?
In Indian tradition, Thursday is considered the luckiest day to move into a new home. Moving on a Friday, a Saturday, or a rainy day is thought to bring bad luck. If you would rather plan by the calendar than by old fears, the Farmers’ Almanac Best Days Calendar lists favorable days each month.
Why do some home buyers avoid the number four?
In China, buyers are warned away from homes with the number four in the address because the word for “four” sounds like the word for death in both Cantonese and Mandarin. The fear even has a name, tetraphobia, and some buildings in East Asia skip the fourth floor the way American hotels skip the 13th.
Why should you bring a new broom to a new home?
Popular belief holds that an old broom carries along all the bad luck you are trying to leave behind, so a brand new broom signifies a fresh start. Many families also carry in bread and salt on the first trip, with a little salt sprinkled in front of the door to keep evil spirits away.
What is haint blue, and does it really keep ghosts away?
Haint blue is a soft blue green often painted on Southern porch ceilings. A southern legend says ghosts cannot cross water and will mistake the blue for water and stay away. The custom is frequently traced to the Gullah Geechee people. There is no proof it stops spirits, though the paint was also said to discourage wasps from nesting overhead.
What number is considered lucky when buying a home?
In China, the number eight is lucky, so buyers look for it somewhere in the list price. In the Philippines, the closing date should include a number that ends with the pen stroke pointing toward the top of the page, such as 0, 3, 5, or 8, and some families scatter coins in the living room for financial prosperity.
Which charms are said to bring good luck to a house?
Folklore offers several. The ancient Norse placed an acorn on a windowsill to guard against lightning. Others nail an evergreen branch to the rafters or hang an empty hornets’ nest for good luck, tuck fennel over the door to keep witches out, and carry in bread and salt for a home that never knows hunger.
Join The Discussion
Ever hear of any of these superstitions?
Share your experience in the comments below. You might also enjoy our roundup of common superstitions and the folklore behind 11:11 and good luck.
Jaime McLeod
Jaime McLeod is a longtime journalist who has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including MTV.com. She enjoys the outdoors, growing and eating organic food, and is interested in all aspects of natural wellness.
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I would like to live in this haunted house. I am not afraid of ghost, see something strange things going on etc….
Hey, I was born with a gift. I can sense what the spirit feels. You can always live in a home that’s haunted and feel at home. Just let the spirits know that’s you mean them know harm. Tell them that you are not asking them to leave. You’re just asking for your space and you don’t want them in your space and you want be in theirs.
Also, in Cuban/latin culture I’ve seen putting an upside down broom behind your front door keeps out unwanted visitors, and a full glass of water on top of the fridge absorbs bad energy and bad spirits.
Amen!!!
Funny I heard my Grandmother says some of these things especially about the broom & salt. Not surprised cause she was a big believer of the Farmers Almanac for the weather perdictions
The first things in a new home are : a loaf bread (you won’t go hungry)
a dollar bill ( you won’t be broke) and a Bible ( God will keep you safe)
Did this 44 years ago and still going strong.
I have moved many times in my life. Sometimes I moved myself and sometimes I hired professional movers. It was from the professionals I first heard it was bad luck to move a broom. Some would refuse to move it and one mover offered to buy us a new broom rather than move the old one.
I would rather keep out the space aliens than keep out ghosts (by painting the porch blue). Space aliens don’t like orange. Paint your porch That color instead.
To Each His Own… It is your home and your beliefs.
as a Pagan myself I can say that painting your front door red will keep bad from entering your home and that mixing salt and pepper and circling your property edges will protect your home as well 🙂
Pray for God to bless your home and it’s occupants. Pray for a peaceful home. That is all that you need.
Amen!