Shari Chase seems to have her wits about her.

As the owner-operator of one of the more successful and reputable real estate companies in the world — Lake Tahoe, Nev.-based Chase International — she has been featured in international magazines and newspapers since she steered the closing of the $50 million Thunderbird Lodge in 1998, one of the most expensive private residences ever sold.

Chase was one of the first agents to focus on the luxury second home market and even opened an office in London to represent North American buyers for European estates while promoting U.S. properties to an international clientele.

Chase raised a few eyebrows from the 1,700 attendees at a recent real estate technology conference, however, when she announced the addition of a “heart-centered real estate teacher” to her organization. He brings with him a background in self-help, metaphysics and alchemy, along with physical tools like wire rods he says he can utilize to detect negative energy in a home or building.

Peter Tongue, educated at Oxford University and a former teacher and principal at St. Michaels University School in Victoria, British Columbia, was added to the staff to help Chase employees be the best people they can be by fostering a spirituality in the workplace. Tongue believes that by promoting the essence of integrity and true leadership, companies will raise their productivity and profitability in a healthy and vital way.

Chase says her staff is writing “significantly” more real estate deals since Tongue arrived.

“Our company achieves higher consciousness and higher energy thanks to Peter’s work,” Chase said. “New and existing agents, employees and clients are all attracted to our new vibration. Peter’s open-hearted message has brought forth a new awareness that has strengthened our foundation and bonded our company and clients in a most extraordinarily beautiful way.”

Is the rough-and-tumble world of real estate ready for such a warm and fuzzy approach? What will the brokers and agents who will not budge off a 6 percent commission structure say to this new paradigm that preaches “the days of greed and materialism are over?”

While I absolutely subscribe to the idea that most people perform better when harm and anxiety are removed from their lives and a positive environment is present in the workplace, I don’t know about detecting negative energy with wire rods. I once knew an old man who could water witch — find a water source by using wire hangers — but water is a tangible, physical thing. (True, some would argue that energy also is tangible.)

I have to admit that while my family did not actually feel negative energy in one of our previous homes, we did enlist a Jesuit priest to conduct a sort of exorcism — minus the piano music — when we found out the owner twice removed had shot his wife to death in the living room. The place also was rumored to have been a house of ill-repute, so we didn’t think a few prayers would hurt.

And I have been acquainted with the philosophy of feng shui since the mid-1980s, when an old friend was considering this ancient Chinese art of alignment, or geomancy, for his office-building projects in several West Coast cities.

If the feng shui is positive, it is said to ensure good fortune and harmony. Feng shui, pronounced “fung schway” and sometimes written as “fung shui,” is translated as “wind and water.” It is a mix of mystical Buddhist and Taoist rules for positioning buildings and arranging their interiors to balance with the forces of nature.

For good feng shui, elevators should never be directly ahead of you when you walk into a building. Elevators should be to the right of the entry while escalators should converge toward the entry on a diagonal. These moves are said to confuse evil spirits and prevent them from entering the building while keeping money within the building.

Colors, numbers and building lines are all critical to good feng shui. For example, blue is considered evil while red is lucky. The number 8 is treasured because it sounds like the Cantonese word for prosperity. The number 4 is a no-no because in Cantonese it sounds like the word for death. In feng shui, words that sound like other ominous words are considered sinister signs.

“What I am talking about is a lot larger and different than feng shui,” Tongue said. “It’s more about a people removing negative energy from their lives and gaining a greater balance while nourishing the mind, body and spirit.”

Tom Kelly, former real estate editor for The Seattle Times, is a syndicated columnist and talk-show host.