It’s a well-kept secret in the real estate world. Forget staging your home or pricing it to sell. What you need to get your house sold is a St. Joseph statue. You may remember how we sold two homes For Sale By Owner at the bottom of the market. I failed to mention our secret weapon: our St. Joseph statues. Yes, we had more than one. You can never be too sure.
Who is St. Joseph?
Joseph is the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. In the Catholic tradition, St. Joseph is known as the patron of a holy or happy death. He is also the patron saint of fathers, travelers, carpenters and workers. Somewhere along the way, he added patron saint of house sellers to the list. He’s an especially busy saint when the market is slow. You can see the reviews on amazon to see how much work he’s been doing over the years.
Where Can I Get a St. Joseph Statue?
When my husband and I decided to sell our first home, I did what all the experts do. I called my mom.
She asked me, “Have you gotten your St. Joseph statue yet?”
Well, no. I have no idea what that is.
“If you want to get your house sold, it’s what you need to do.”
Okay. I would never question my mom’s advice.
“Mom, where can I get one?”
“Amazon. They have everything. But, we’ll get you a real one from Mexico.”
This part may need further explanation. My mom is Mexican. My grandmother, who always lived with my family, had no shortage of religious icons in her bedroom. Against all odds, my grandmother lived to the age of 96 despite serious health battles. It goes to reason that religious statues made in Mexico work better. Besides, my mom planned to be in Mexico that month. The purpose of the trip was not the St. Joseph statue – that was just a fringe benefit.
How Do You Bury A St. Joseph Statue?
If you live in an apartment, you can bury the statue in a planter.
Once you purchase your St. Joseph statue, you bury him in the ground, upside down, facing away from your home. Some sites recommend facing the St. Joseph statue towards your house, but we chose to face him away from the house as this symbolizes leaving. We knew that because we googled it. To be on the safe side, we buried two St. Joseph statues into our garden planters on our front patio. I like doubling my odds. Prayer helps, too. You’ll probably be doing a lot of that when you’re trying to get someone to make an offer on your house.
How Quickly Will I See Results?
This is the part that stinks. St. Joseph offers no money back guarantees. He relies on amazon reviews for marketing and he doesn’t seem to care much if he gets one star ratings. When we sold our Chicago townhouse FSBO, we did thirty showings in a month. One week after we lowered our price and we buried St. Joseph, we received an offer. Some may attribute our success to location, the price drop, or keeping the house tidy during showings. Some may say St. Joseph helped us out. Maybe my mom finagled it so the buyers would only make an offer after we buried the St. Joseph statue, so I wouldn’t question her wisdom. (I never do). Whatever the reason, the house sold and we couldn’t be happier.
What If I’m Not Religious?
I recently met with a home seller who was at her wit’s end. Jenny’s family needed to move in a month and they hadn’t received any nibbles on their house. We walked through all the typical advice about staging, decluttering, and lowering the price. Then, I leaned forward conspiratorially, looked around to make sure no one was listening, and asked with slight embarrassment, “Have you ever heard of St. Joseph?”
Jenny looked at me skeptically as I told her my story. Then, she asked with concern, “What if I’m not religious?” I assured her that St. Joseph wouldn’t mind at all. I didn’t follow up to ask if she buried the St. Joseph statue. One doesn’t really talk about these things. But, I do know that she sold her home soon after we chatted.
The church in my new neighborhood. Coincidence?
Does a St. Joseph Statue Really Help You Sell Your Home?
If someone has done a research study on this, I’d love to hear about it. If you read the amazon reviews, you’ll see that some people feel that St. Joseph made all the difference. Personally, I think it’s always fun to try new things. It’s also important to have hope, no matter where or how you find it. When you feel that despair that all home sellers can relate to, it feels good to do something about it. If you used St. Joseph to sell your home, how did it work out for you?
6 comments
I’ve never used the St. Joseph statue but have heard about it. The next time I move, I might just have to try it out though. I love your story!
Thanks so much, Mom of 4! It’s definitely worth a shot. 🙂
Will st Joseph help me to move
I’m not selling a home I just need to move to bigger home
I was anxious about finding a buyer when we moved over ten years ago and, finding out about St Joseph, bought a little kit. I said my prayers and buried him upside down in the garden. The next day, we got a call from the agent to say a priest was coming around to view our house, I couldn’t have been more surprised. It wasn’t the priest that bought it, we had a few more viewings and then secured the full asking price from a lovely couple, only two weeks after going on the market. Of course, I retrieved St Joseph and have kept him on the mantle ever since.
Today, I am here because I’m on the market again, having no luck, what with all the lockdowns as well. Then, I remembered St Joseph and wanted to remind myself of the details of what to do with him. Tomorrow, I will do the prayers and bury him and see what happens this time. Viewers have dried up, we haven’t had anybody around for at least 3 weeks and all the previous viewers complimented the house but had their own reasons why it wasn’t right for them. Let’s hope St Joseph can send the perfect person to us for this house, just one person who belongs here and will be happy.
Update: yes, it worked again. That’s the third house St Joseph has successfully helped me sell. And I’m still keeping him with me.
LOVE this article!!! We are burying St. Joseph tomorrow, and praying for big things!!!