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Idols will not help you sell your home!

Hello Everyone,

I was watching TV last night and saw a disturbing story on TV. It was on Hannity's America and it was about how some people are burying a little statue of St. Joseph in the front yard of homes they are trying to sell because some lady happened to put one in the yard when she listed it and it sold. It seems from the story she was trying to sell it herself and it wasn't selling, then when she listed it and buried the statue it got an offer.

Forget Professional Advice, Just Bury Me Now I have many problems with this story, but then a Realtor came out and said that she thought anything could help in this market and how she heard of another agent doing this also. You can actually go out and buy now a little St. Joseph home selling kit.

The main problems I have with this story is that number one, if the agent thinks that anything will help including burying a little idol in the yard then they make themselves and Realtors look stupid because idols don't sell homes, marketing and the MLS sells homes. It made her sound like she didn't have a clue how to sell a home so maybe burying a little statue would sell it. It's sad they didn't have a knowledgable Realtor say something inteligent like the markets are down in double digits in some areas and their are more homes fro sale so before your try idols, how about pricing the home right, or staging the home, or any bit of expert advice other than yeah anything might help.

To me this just showed that many people in our profession don't really know how to get their clients home sold. The professionals can still sell homes because they aren't counting on gimmicks to sell their homes in this tough market, they are doing better marketing and giving their clients better advice.

If you need help selling your home in Spokane Washington call us for real advice on how to get your home sold. 509-362-1966 or visit our Spokane Real Estate Website

Team Quintana Spokane Wa Real Estate

Posted by Spokane Real Estate - Ross Quintana on 12/29/2008 06:35 PM

Comments (12)

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12 Comments on Idols will not help you sell your home!

DEC

You can buy the Saint Joseph statues at several of the local real estate boards around here. I have had a couple clients tell me they buried the Saint Joseph statue, the houses did sell after a price drop.

Yeah that is the funny thing, listing the house,giving it time or price reductions are what sells the property. Superstitions like well I was wearing purple socks so maybe it was them that sold the house. That is just silly and to have Realtors counting on buried statues is just as silly. I am sure most top producing agents would not attribute their success to buried plastic statues. I think for Realtors to offer this at their board only marginalizes our profession.

Ross...I have had several clients tell me about this. I tell them for personal reasons I willnot do that, BUT, if they feel that is what has to be done, i will not stop them.

Hey Ross, where are you putting all your snow? You can send some our way, we have more than we've had for the past 10 years, but I'll take more!

St Joseph home selling kit? Holy cow!

May The Force Be With You!

The St. Joseph's thing has been around out here for several years. Being Jewish, myself, I wouldn't use it, but if a client wants to bury a saint, that is their perogative! Maybe it is more an issue of bringing positive energy and thoughts (as well as price reductions and whatever else needs to be done) that helps it sell!

DEC

Ross: Don't think any less of me, but I did buy a few of those two years ago when the market turned. It's a $5 piece of plastic that was presented with a laugh. I told each client, with a smile, that I would do whatever it took to sell their home. That tiny piece of plastic helped deepen the relationship with my clients and two of the three made the right choices to reduce prices, etc. The third was a very good friend and had his hands tied because his mother was coming up with the short fall between the sales price and mortgage balance. She had been a Realtor for 6 months in 1980 and thought she knew better than me. Thank God our friendship is still in tact because his Mom's advice STUNK.

Believe it or not, the have "realtor" bulk packages available online for those interested in St Joseph's statues. They are quite cute and come with the history and directions. If they are offering special packages for realtors, a lot of realtors must be buying them. Hmmm.

JAN

I had heard of this before this blog - pretty funny! Maybe these will be on TV soon....act now and I will give you a 2nd idol for free!

JAN

Ok, I'm probably taking the funny out of this post and the resulting comments but I just have to say this...

The first person who buried the statue in her yard did so out of faith - faith that praying to that saint and to God would help her sell her home. It sold. That does not mean the statue is the reason the property sold. To me, it sold because she prayed about it and believed it would sell and believed in her agent. That's the power of faith and positive thinking!

For an agent to say "I'll do anything, even something I think is ridiculous, to get your home sold" does not exude confidence to the client. It shows desperation. That is a totally different dynamic. Now, if the agent said, "I have prayed to Saint Joseph and believe we will get this property sold. I would like to bury his statue in the yard as a testament to my faith." That's different. Even if the CLIENT felt that way and did it.

The agent should tell the client that the house is not priced properly for the market and area. The agent should tell the client that there are marketing tactics he/she can use to help get the property sold - such as putting the listing up on as many sites on the internet as possible.

But for agents to buy them - and in BULK no less!!! - just to do it and jump on the bandwagon is disgusting to me. It belittles the faith of those who believe in the power of prayer. Now, I'm not a Catholic so I don't pray to statues or saints. I do pray to the Lord and believe He will make things happen if I have faith and believe.

This story is just so sad on soooo many levels.

~Renae

JAN

I'm surprised to hear that the boards are selling these tokens in bulk. Strange.

Kathy

William, that is the approach everyone should take because it is professional

Carol Lee, Shalom to you, yes the Torah forbids such practices

Chris Ann - I don't think less of you, you're great! but I think the practice reflects bad on us

David, yes act now and we'll connect you to a psychic to to tell you're client their home is going to sell.

Renae - I agree that prayer (many said over my own listings) is good, but even on that level the Bible forbids the use of idols, also I think it when you buy a little statue and bury it in the yard you are not trusting in God alone to help you and the people selling the idols are just making us all look stupid.

My conclusion, the NAR runs ads to show people should use a professional and that we are professional, stuff like this makes us look foolish. Remember it's not just the owner that sees this, it's also the rest of the public and I would bet they don't think this is professional.

MAR

The way the market is they may have to fire the first idol they used and try another.

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