Its been nearly two years since I wrote about the St. Joseph statue, which was appropriate in late 2005, as the housing boom shifted gears. There has been more coverage of St. Joseph as of late, a sign of a weakening market perhaps (who says housing isn’t emotional).
In today’s WSJ, there was a fun (or sad, depending on your take) article When It Takes a Miracle To Sell Your House.
Well, St. Joseph is back (actually upside down). In Catholicism, St. Joseph, a carpenter, is honored as the husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. Representing a humble family man, he is the patron saint of home, family and house-hunting. Here’s a full blown history.
The Catholic saint has long been believed to help with home-related matters. And according to lore now spreading on the Internet and among desperate home-sellers, burying St. Joseph in the yard of a home for sale promises a prompt bid. After Ms. Luna and her husband held five open houses, even baking cookies for one of them, she ordered a St. Joseph “real estate kit” online and buried the three-inch white statue in her yard.
Suggested use of the statue:
- bury it three feet from the rear of the house (facing away)
- bury it next to the front door facing away from the home.
- display in the house.
- bury in a potted plant in an apartment.
The sales pace of the statues is now double at catholicstore.com.
Who needs housing stats, lets start tracking sales of these statues. Its a booming business with a lot of places to purchase them (if you’re wondering):
OurFather.com
CatholicCompany.com
GoodFortuneOnline.net
BuryStjoseph.com
TotallyCatholic.com
StJosephStatue.com
Tags: St. Joseph, luck, superstition, Catholic Supply of St. Louis Inc.
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A lot of people don’t believe in Jesus as Christ, but a Jewish Buddhist (and whoever else buying into this scam) believes that a statue of Joseph ( a significant figure in the Christian faith) will sell their house. Pretty unbelievable. Signed, Gina of California
i can’t believe catholic’s (and now non/catholics)are still pushing the burying of St. Joseph. How disrespectful to think that this great Saint has to be buried in order to hear our prayers. How sad. I want this practice to end. You know this is bordering on the occult?
It’s totally weird, but I’ve seen it work, so to speak. We were having had absolutely no luck selling my mother-in-law’s home. After about two months, we were given the “Underground real estate agent” and we sold the house in 14 days. It’s clearly a correlational design, and probably sheer coincidence, but who really cares? That little statue was, well, a miracle worker.
I am a Realtor. About 1 1/2 years ago, when the market was just starting to slow in our area, my client (who is Catholic and also a good friend of mine) was really getting nervous that her house was not selling after we had already had two price reductions. She had heard about the St. Joseph statue and jokingly said maybe she should get one. Another agent on my team happened to have a few in the office so he told me to take one to the listing, as it had worked for a few of his clients in the past. I brought my friend the St. Joseph and she buried it by the real estate sign. We were under contract and settled within a few months! No joke! I have not tried it since, but maybe I should. My client/friend tried to find and unbury the St. Joseph when she moved, but couldn’t find him, so maybe it will bring future luck to the new homeowner shold he sell in the future.
Are jews allowed to use this? I cant sell my moms house on LI!
Hey – whatever it takes, no? I think if the homeowner really believes in this, that energy is picked up on by potential buyers and the deal happens. I’m going to try it on my next overpriced listing.