Most agents will tell you a luxury listing won’t move because of price, presentation, or timing. But every once in a while, a property checks every visible box—flawless staging, sharp pricing, beautiful photography—and still refuses to sell.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Colleen McCann of Style Rituals, the author of Crystal Rx, a former editorial fashion stylist of fifteen years, and the woman quietly known across fashion, beauty, and entertainment as “the energy stylist.” Based in Santa Monica, Colleen specializes in clearing the energy of homes, ranches, and luxury properties, and aligning what’s inside a home with the person living in it.
Today, I’ll walk you through the biggest insights from our conversation and what stood out to me as a luxury agent who’s seen plenty of “perfectly staged” listings sit on the market longer than they should.
Why I Had This Conversation
I work the luxury market every day, and I’d never once spoken to anyone doing what Colleen does. The moment she described being called into homes that wouldn’t sell, I knew this was a conversation my listeners needed.
What pulled me in is that Colleen didn’t arrive at this work through a lifetime of New Age training. She grew up in a strict Midwest Irish Catholic household.
Her shift began in her late twenties, mid-career in New York, when she started having premonition dreams and watching ghosts walk through her apartment walls. Multiple strangers stopped her on the subway to tell her she was a healer.
She eventually landed in a psychic’s office and then trained in Reiki, crystals, tarot, astrology, and space clearing, emerging with what she now calls her “special sauce” at Style Rituals.
When a Listing Won’t Sell, the Energy Often Tells the Real Story
I asked Colleen about every luxury agent’s quiet nightmare: the property that just won’t move. She told me she’s signed more non-disclosure agreements than she can count, herself, but the pattern she sees over and over is the same. The issue isn’t on the MLS sheet.
She described one home recently where the staging inside was flawless, but the moment she walked into the garage, it looked like a hoarder lived there. Stuffed animals from grown children, boxes from a divorce, etc.—there were items the owner couldn’t intellectually explain holding onto.
“This isn’t about potential buyers coming in and actually seeing the mess. This is about all the things that you’re holding onto in this space. These aren’t the current version of yourself anymore, and this is not where you’re trying to walk forward into having this — because energy holds, or objects hold energy.”
That reframe hit me. As an agent, I think a lot about what a buyer sees walking through. Colleen made me think about what the seller is energetically broadcasting, and how that shows up in how long a property sits. This is the kind of insight I wish more of us in space-clearing real estate conversations had access to.
Your Home Should Reflect Who You Are Now, Not Who You Were
Colleen explained that luxury home energy alignment isn’t decoration. It’s energetic accuracy.
“We are what we wear, we are what we eat, we are the couch we sit on, we are the art on the walls. There is meaning, energy, symbolism in every single thing we put in our bodies and surround ourselves with.”
She gave a feng shui home staging example I keep thinking about. She’ll often walk into a home of a single woman (a client actively trying to attract a partner) and notice the wall art is full of solitary figures. There would be one person staring into the distance or a single candlestick on each end of a mantle instead of a paired set, which are small choices quietly reinforcing the very situation the client is trying to leave behind.
The takeaway for me as an agent is that, when I help someone with buying a home, I’m not just helping them choose a structure. I’m helping them choose what their next chapter gets to look like. The home has to match who they’re becoming, not who they’re leaving.
Crystals, Thresholds, and the Quiet Tools High Performers Actually Use
I was a little skeptical about decorating with crystals, but after our talk, I actually walked out with a list.
Colleen explained that for anyone in a people-forward business (and luxury real estate is exactly that), certain stones support being heard and trusted, like sodalite and lapis lazuli worn near the throat for clear communication, amethyst geodes on either side of a doorway to filter out energy vampires. Crystal healing for business isn’t a fringe idea anymore. It’s a quiet practice she sees from boutique owners to architects.
The detail that surprised me most is how often successful builders and contractors quietly bury crystals in the dirt, the concrete, or behind drywall during construction. Nobody ever knows they’re there. The owners rarely talk about it publicly. But Colleen has watched the practice play out on high-end builds for years, and the people doing it are some of the most successful clients she works with.
The Closet Is Almost Always Where the Real Therapy Happens
Colleen also described what happens when she helps a client clear emotional attachments to objects. It stops being about square footage and starts being about identity.
“There are things that people actually need to let go. I would go into all these women’s closets in New York and Los Angeles during COVID, and they had this giant area of business clothes — and they’re like, ‘I haven’t worn these in two years, but I love these pieces, they cost a lot of money. I felt my power then.'”
Her advice? Keep one or two pieces if they truly still represent you. Release the rest. Holding onto those items isn’t sentimentality but energetic real estate that could be holding the next version of you.
This is the part of the conversation I’d want every seller I work with at Lisa Berg Real Estate to hear before listing day. Decluttering isn’t a staging tip. It’s a release.
What Changed for Me After This Conversation
“We are each the centers of our own universes, and it’s incredibly important how we talk about ourselves. How we view ourselves and talk about ourselves really affects how others view and talk about us.”
That line is what I took home. Before this episode, I thought of my job as preparing a property and matching it to a buyer. Now, I think of it as helping a seller close a chapter and helping a buyer open a new one, with the home meeting them halfway.
I now pay closer attention to garages and closets on listing walk-throughs. I ask different questions about why a home isn’t moving. And, I think of creating an energetic reset for your home or office as a real strategy, not a curiosity.
As wellness keeps pushing into architecture and energy clearing for luxury homes, the agents who understand the invisible layer of a home will have a real edge.
Want to hear my full conversation with Colleen on energy clearing for luxury homes?
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Colleen McCann of Style Rituals actually do for a luxury property?
She walks the land, the building, and the spaces inside, then identifies energetic blocks and clears them so the property can move forward.
Can space clearing really help a stuck luxury listing sell?
Yes, and not because of mysticism alone. Most stuck listings have an owner who hasn’t fully released the home. Clearing that attachment changes how the property is presented and how it’s perceived by buyers.
Do I need to believe in crystals for this kind of work to help me?
Not necessarily. Many of Colleen’s highest-performing clients are private about the practice but consistent with it. Releasing old objects and aligning a home with its current owner produce real shifts regardless of how much of the metaphysics you adopt.
Apply as a Guest on the LUXEtalk Podcast
The luxury market is shifting. Buyers are sharper, sellers are more attuned to wellness, and the conversation around what a high-end home actually delivers is evolving fast. Colleen McCann of Style Rituals showed me there’s an entire layer of real estate most agents never address—and the agents who do are the ones quietly winning.
If you’re working in luxury real estate, design, wellness, or any field shaping how high-net-worth clients live well, and you’re solving real problems in your market, I’d love to have you on my show.
LUXEtalk is produced by Icons of Real Estate, the #1 Real Estate Podcast Network. If you are a real estate professional, apply to be a guest speaker across the network!
