Can Burying a Statue REALLY Help You Sell Your House?

Greg Nino who wrote,

5 Inch Tall Man Will Help U Sell Your Home, Guaranteed, As Seen On 60 Minutes inpsired me to write this post ...

There seems to be just about as many skeptics out there as there are believers in the St. Joseph's Home Sale Practice.  It is certainly not my intention to convert the skeptics.  I'd simply like to share my story of how St. Joseph helped me and my business.

I had my staging business for a short time when I put my own house up for sale back in February of 2008.  The concept of staging was just barely starting to catch on here in central Connecticut at the time.  As a real estate staging professional striving to be taken seriously in my community, I felt enormous pressure to prove to all the many skeptics out there that staging really did make a difference.  The market was just starting it's decline, so here was the true test.

We told our agent, if the house didn't sell in 90 days, then we were going to stay put.  The first 30 days went by with just a few showings, some very positive feedback but no offers.  The house we hoped to purchase and my reputation as a stager were all on the line.  I was very nervous.

It was early March when my sister gave me a statue of St. Joseph insisting that it worked for her when she sold her house and that it had worked for many of our family members as well.  I was skeptical.  I'm not proud to admit this, but I was also a little insulted.  After all, I thought to myself, I'm a professional.  I know what I'm doing and I certainly don't NEED any help.  Keeping these thoughts to myself, I politely thanked her for the gift and put it aside.  Something about it made me very uncomfortable ...

Time passed quickly and the pressure was mounting.  My sister called to see if I had buried my statue of St. Joseph.  I said No.  I explained to her that it just didn't feel right using my religion in the pursuit of financial gain.  I didn't feel comfortable exploiting my faith in that way.  She said that's not what it's about and told me to bury the statue, insisting all the while - it works.  I half-heartedly placed the statue beneath a bush near my front stoop, and barely covered it with some mulch and leaves.  The second 30 days came and went with more showings and one offer that quickly fell through.

I was beginning to feel like a fraud and starting to wonder, maybe staging doesn't make a difference after all.   As I was contemplating the future of my staging business, my sister called again asking if I buried the statue, I said that I did... sort of.  She told me to stop being stubborn and just BURY the St. Joseph statue.  At this point I was willing to try anything.  I felt rather silly, but I did as I was instructed.   

Then I sat down and read the instructions that came with the St. Joseph Home Sale kit.  I liked how it said that burying the statue upside down, right side up, in the front yard or the back - none of that mattered.  While a lot of people swear by these specifications, this is what tends to render the practice nothing more than superstitious hocus-pocus magic.  I couldn't agree more.

I liked the disclaimer which said that to be fully effective, sellers must first perform the necessary fix-ups, stage the home and then price it to reflect its true market value.  Music to my ears!  THAT was when I started to really embrace this practice.  I loved the pitch for staging and thought, maybe I should sell these on my website!

The turning point happend when I read:  "what really matters is that the seller ... asks St. Joseph for his help ... believes that he will intercede ....and trusts him."  

I took that to mean that I needed to LET GO of all the negative emotions that were swirling around the sale of my home (did I want it to happen for the wrong reasons?)  I needed to release the anxiety I had been feeling about the outcome.  I needed to TRUST that I had done everything that I could ... and allow whatever was meant to be to happen. 

For the first time in months I let go of the stress and it felt so good.  What a RELIEF!   It was an amazing moment, an awakening, a truly freeing experience.  

A few days later - on the 89th day of our listing contract - we got an offer [a good one].  And after one very crazy roller coaster ride, and a few weeks of temporary homelessness, we were finally able to move into our new house!   Did the statue make it all happen?  I'll never know for sure.  But I do know that I found great comfort in the ritual itself. 

I give a St. Joseph Statue to all my [more religious] staging clients who want one, especially since its my job to recommend that they remove religious artifacts from view.  As as a general rule, all things persoal, religious, patriotic etc. should go.  But some sellers have a really hard time with this and on more than one occasion I've been perceived as being "anti-religion."  When I explain to them that this is certainly not the case, and that de-personalizing the home is just a very basic first step in preparing it for sale, I think offering the St. Joseph statue helps.

Skeptics and believers I know you're out there.  Please share YOUR thoughts and experiences! 

Visit my website at www.TheHomeTeamAdvantageLLC.com to learn more about the St. Joseph Home Sale Practice.