Posted on 10/10/2006 10:04:26 AM PDT by MrNationalist
Sellers put faith in St. Joseph statues.
Randy Moore jumped on the shovel with both feet, and the blade pierced the earth.
``It's supposed to be buried 8 inches deep and upside down,'' said Carla Herbert, owner of Harvest Home Realty, who has Randy and Beth Moore's $149,900 Cape Cod on the market.
Again, Randy leaped on the garden tool.
``OK, that's deep enough,'' said Herbert, sporting a taupe suit, high heels and a grin.
The statue was placed in the ground.
Using their bare hands, the Moores pushed the dirt back into the hole, Beth's diamond ring catching the light from the afternoon sun.
``Now, we pray,'' Herbert said, telling Beth to ask for divine intervention in selling the three-bedroom home in Stow.
Legend has it that for help selling property, homeowners should bury a statue of St. Joseph, the patron saint of family and household, in their yards.
Many homeowners these days are grumbling about a difficult real estate market. But Bill Askin, president of the Akron Area Board of Realtors, said that lots of area homes are selling. In fact, he said, more real estate could be sold locally this year than ever before.
However, statistics also show that a record number of properties are on the market. By the end of August, there were far more new listings to date than in all of last year. The result is oversupply -- forcing sellers to keep their homes in top shape and allowing buyers to be picky.
The imbalance between supply and demand can mean some homes will sit unsold for months.
That's one of the reasons some real estate agents and homeowners who are having a devil of a time selling their properties are enlisting the help of St. Joseph to deliver them a buyer.
At Grismer's Religious Gifts, co-owner June Grismer has noticed a marked increase in the sale of St. Josephs in the past year or so. Each of the family's three stores sells six to 12 statues a day.
At the downtown Akron store, there are at least 15 types of the statues on display. Among them is the patron saint enclosed in a ``Home Sales Kit,'' which sells for $7.99, complete with a prayer card. But Grismer doesn't like how the product is packaged.
``If it were up to us, we would never have a `sales kit,' but that is beyond our control,'' she said. ``The true custom is that you put the statue in a place of honor in your home.
``You never have to bury it.''
But others, like Herbert, say St. Joseph must be placed in the ground if you want his help. It's a ritual that Herbert says has brought her success -- and glares.
She laughed when spinning a tale about a contractor's home she had on the market. Frustrated that the house wasn't selling, she persuaded her staff to tag along with her to Kent, where the home had been built.
``We buried the statue in the front yard, stood in a circle, held hands and said a little prayer.''
Curious construction workers at a nearby house were watching the bizarre ceremony. Herbert wondered whether they might think that the women were involved in some type of devil worship.
``Shortly after, the house sold,'' Herbert said.
Asking a client for permission to bury a St. Joseph statue in the yard isn't something that comes up immediately in conversation. Herbert waits until the home has been on the market for at least 90 days and, if the owners are Catholic, then she might broach the subject.
``It depends on their faith and beliefs,'' she said, adding that she personally trusts in a higher power.
The step most people skip, Herbert said, is saying a prayer for nine days following the burial rite. Some believe that it's the prayer, and not a piece of plastic, that leads to a sale.
Exactly how the statue is to be placed in the ground and which way it should be positioned depends on whom you ask. But popular opinion suggests that it be placed upside down, its feet pointing to heaven.
And despite disagreements on things like whether the statue should be placed in the front or back yard, believers agree on one thing: After the house sells and closing is complete, the statute is to be unearthed and placed in a prominent spot in the new home.
Ray Leber, owner of Rebel Enterprises in Tallmadge, provides selling tools to real estate agents. His own home is on the market.
``Since I have the product (St. Joseph statues),'' he said, struggling to suppress a chuckle, ``I may plant them all around the house.
``I need all the help I can get.''
Silliest thing I've heard of so far today.
Perhaps, but to humor my dear mom, who says two rosaries a day, I did this in a slow market in 2003 in Boca Raton, FL.
We got a 97% of List Price offer 5 days later, accepted & closed on it.
Are you sure?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1716928/posts
> We got a 97% of List Price offer 5 days later, accepted & closed on it.
Yeah? I asked Odin for assitance, and my house got three offers on the first day it was listed (two unofficial before it listed) and sold for ten grand more than the asking price.
Neener neener! Odin whups them saints!
I've done it, sold a home in a week after being on the market for 60 days in 1980.
Ok.....I'm girded and guarded for the obvious incoming strife from my fellow Freepers for what I'm about to post. But, for the sake of this thread alone I'm willing to bare my soft white underbelly [ tanned actually ... I live in Florida].
My daughter and her husband are young, early 20's young when they built their first home. He was reassigned to another part of the country and packed up his lovely wife,(my stunningly attractive and equally brilliant)daughter and their 2 year old daughter.
....and they put their house up for sale in real estate challenged, SW Florida.
Many, many, many double mortgage payments later I get a call from my daughter who is crying. They had to sell their cars, blood, cuticals and anything else they could to make both mortgages. They dropped the price of their home, changed realtors ... anything they could ....
....when I decided to try something foolish. I bought a St. Joseph's statue, drove the 146 miles to their house for sale which wasn't selling along with the several other homes on their street in the same condition ..... buried it ... said a prayer and left. Calling my sobbing but grateful daughter, and telling her what I had just done....feeling both helpless and foolish we hoped this would work.
It's 5 days later and she got a call from her realtor. They have an offer .. in the price they were asking .. with a close date of 30 days from today.
I know...I know........but you have to admit .... it makes a great story!
Why would anyone want to live or buy a house in Akron, OH?
I report - you decide :-)
I don't think I could bury my St Joseph's statue. I would have to buy one of the kits. I just don't think I could do it but if it ever comes to the point of really having to I guess I could. Just doesn't seem right to me to bury him. Do you dig him back up after the sale? Or is he left there forever?
Dunno ..... I gave up the pagan idol schtick long ago.
I hear you can dig it up when the house closes. In this case my mother wants it.
I came to some relative peace about it while I was praying over the sale of the house that day, apologizing for doing it but asking my efforts be taken as faith.
Who knows........I know God doesn't smack you in the head for trying. He might even find all this quite amuzing.
Me thinks God sees past the motivation and directly at the heart. Or I hope anyway...
Although the Catholic Church supports using religous statues and icons as aids in prayer, the Church STRONGLY warns against sliding into superstition and iolatry as a result. The Church reminds us that such objects are NOT talismans and charms in and of themselves, and do not possess any power within them WHATSOEVER!! They are merely aids to help those who already belive to focus upon God. One needs to have a firm faith and 100% focus on Christ to begin with, and such objects are used to direct our attention more fully to Jesus (but are NOT by any means NECESSARY for this purpose!!). They are not objects of worship themselves. Such things are for people who are ALREADY staunch followers of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. If statues and icons ever become a superstition for a Catholic, where they think that good things will not happen unless they do something with a physical object, the Church then forbids their usage.
I am laughing here thinking of my husband buying a new house & finding St Joseph in the ground, he would think he had a antique or a treasure.
In my Post # 15 above, "iolatry" should have been "idolatry", but I suspect most of you figured that out for yourselves. I really need to spend more time with my friend, Mr. Spellchecker!!
OK - I admit it! We have St. Jos. upside down and facing the house in our front yard!
Hey Gene! How's by you? Long time, pal...
Yup, we're moving again - off the coast - a little inland.
Two hurricanes were enough. Stay well, pally..........FRegards
I know, it's Super BS. But after 7 months on market, tried it. Sold house in 3 weeks, and I'm a Presbyterian!
Your # 8 - Would you come over to our house and teach us the prayer?
Musta done it wrong..............FRegards
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