Posted on 09/19/2006 8:04:31 AM PDT by Cagey
BOSTON -- In order to sell a house these days, people are looking for all the help they can get.
A Boston area real estate agent is among those who've turned to a saint. And she believes it worked.
Facing a slow market -- and a house with a steep driveway -- agent Judy Moore turned to a St. Joseph figurine. She buried it in the yard, head down. And she soon had a buyer.
Moore isn't alone in turning to St. Joseph. Stores nationwide that sell religious goods say sales of his statues are way up. They come with varying instructions, but they all boil down to burying the statue in the yard or near the "for sale" sign -- then saying a prayer for a buyer.
Linking St. Joseph to real estate goes back to the 16th century, when a nun buried his medal and prayed to him for help in getting land for convents.
These days, one theology professor has a more simple explanation: "In times of crisis," he says, "people try anything."
Well, according to Martin's link in post #3, St. Anthony is the Patron Saint of Butchers and Gravediggers. Did you sell your home to either profession?
YMMV
I'll take my house off the market before I engage in voodoo.
That only works if you put Christmas lights on 'em.
Heck, why not? If we're going to engage in idolatry - in for a penny, in for a pound.
It just takes a little common sense. My friend "stages" houses. Meaning she goes into a home, rearranges the furniture that's there and, for a minimal amount of money, makes your house look better. Her last house was on the market for 13 months. She staged it and it sold 8 days later.
Like all things religious...impossible to prove, but if it makes one feel better, then OK with me.
I am a practicing, believing Catholic. I teach catholic Sunday School (Catechist). I have never heard of this before and consider it both silly (why on Earth would a Saint desire this--burying their image upside down--in order to intercede?) and blasphemous (it's just not something to bug God about). I could see praying to sell a home in order to ensure one's material survival, but beyond that, it's like praying to win the lottery.
Saints should be honored for the sacrifice they gave God, not for their ability to give us material things. It's not proper.
Only if yer nekkid when ya read it!
Huh. New to me I guess. Still, doesn't change my opinion.
So it was an act of faith, not voo-doo..and it worked.
I used St. Joseph from my Christmas Nativity set..:)
sw
It worked for me. Had my condo on the market and not a nibble. Put the statue in the ground, and two weeks later had an offer and I sold.
There are some key differences, starting with the fact that St. Joseph is actually a saint . . .
You can't argue with results. Jewish real-estate firms in New York have been giving them away for decades.
This practice was very popular, at least in the Northeast, during the last real estate slowdown.
Saints should be honored for the sacrifice they gave God, not for their ability to give us material things.
I agree and this really does seem silly.
Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, patron saint of nuclear long-distance bombers.
Bogus list...St. Barbara is the Patron Saint of Artillerymen.
Last time I looked, I was too .. by faith, through grace.
I agree about it being a silly thing to do, but it's not new at all. It may be a regional thing, I don't know (certainly I haven't run into it here in the Washington area).
Now, "staging" houses, that does work. People can't look at their own houses objectively; they don't see the clutter and they don't smell the smells. An objective eye is necessary - and so is getting rid of a lot of crap. :)
Sorta dissapointing to not see your name on the list, isn't it? I wonder if their list matches Gods?
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