St. Joseph in the yard

[sschuler1]

ok, I finally broke down and buried St. Joseph in the yard today. My husband didn't want me to give in to that superstition, but I am willing to try anything right now. We only have a couple more months of prime house selling season left, and we want to sell and be down in TV this fall. Tell me if I did this correctly: I buried him upside down facing the road. Is there anything else I was supposed to do?

[graciegirl]

YES. Promise him that you will dig him back up and give him a bath and sit him upright when the time comes to thank him. I myself just speak to his wife and son about things like that.

[Helene2008]

Graciegirl you crack me up.....I hope our paths cross one day.

[gingersmom]

There should be a prayer that you have to recite every day until your house sells. The prayer should have come with the statue. Good Luck!

[Muncle]

There should be a prayer that you have to recite every day until your house sells. The prayer should have come with the statue. Good Luck!


There is. From past experience, I think it's said as soon as you awaken and goes something like this: "Oh my God, I hope somebody, anybody buys this damned place today!!!"

[jadebox]

We burried him in my sons yard at Plantation Recreation a couple months ago and got a call right away. It did not work out and nothing since. I even did the prayer. So sad because his place is really nice and would make a lovely summer home or place for visitors to stay.

[Just Susan]

There is. From past experience, I think it's said as soon as you awaken and goes something like this: "Oh my God, I hope somebody, anybody buys this damned place today!!!"


Muncle, I love your sense of humor!

[sschuler1]

Nothing came in the box besides the statue. I already knew about the digging him up and bringing him to the new house. I put him fairly close to the surface so I can find him again. We have been on the market since April and we have had 21 different showings. We had one offer, but it was really low and we couldn't meet in the middle. Our house is fairly unique for the area. We just need that special buyer that wants a different kind of house.

[nONIE]

Sschulser,

Just curious, In what way is your house unique?

I think we have the same situation and altho we have not put our house on the market yet, I have a strong feeling that it will be a difficult one to sell. It is an old farmhouse(1869) and barn, with a newer development all around us. It will take someone looking for exactly that when the time comes.

[efrahin]

Nonie: I suggest that if you are thinking of selling to puts the house for sale ASAP, it will take a lot of time an patience. I have mine on the market since Jan and nothing happened yet. Be ready for a shock when they made you an offer.

[sschuler1]

My house is unique because it is a 3 bedroom ranch built in 1957 in a neighborhood of newly built mansions. We have a little over an acre of land that is heavily wooded. Our house is not visible from the road because we are set way back into the woods. You get the feeling of living in the country, but we are only 1 mile from the expressway. It is in a fairly affluent neighborhood, and most homes don't have the privacy that we have. So it's a great house for a family that wants to send their kids to school here, but can't afford the half million dollar homes. We have another open house scheduled for the end of the month. If we don't get any interest by then we will be reducing the price again. This will definitely affect what we can afford when we get down to TV. But I'm know we aren't the only ones who are going through this either!

[nanci2539]

I buried St. Joe and sold my home in just about three months.

But I didn't list in prime selling season. I listed early Dec. Reason (according to my agent) is everyone lists in the spring. You have more of a chance selling to a transfer in the winter months - companies do their budgets and transfers at the end of the year and this is also the time many people change jobs that will bring them to a different state.

I did sell to a transfer and we negotiated a decent price; not exactly what we wanted but it worked out.

I dug up St. Joseph, washed him off and wrapped him in tissue. He's packed away until we move into our TV home in Sept. Oh, I never said the prayer. Just buried him upside down facing the house.

[Muncle]

Last evening I noticed several of my neighbors in the street out front. Didn't know what was happening, latest gossip, etc, so I went out to chat. When I got there, the conversation kinda waned and the group thinned out quickly. I later discovered that several of them had been burying statues of St. Joseph in my front lawn. Does that mean anything?

[nanci2539]

Are they anxious for you to move?

[Sidney Lanier]

Excuse my ignorance, but is this for real? Do you really bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down and say prayers to him asking for the sale of one's home? Has anyone had success doing this, and if so, is there any way to know if the house would have sold anyway? I guess I'm not the superstitious type.... (Go on, yell at me!)

[sschuler1]

My cousin told me about this many years ago when she was selling their house. They were on the market for quite a long time with no offers. She put St. Joseph in the ground, and within two months had sold their house. But it has been such a long time ago since she told me I wasn't sure if I had done it correctly. The statue that I purchased didn't have any instructions in the box. Are you sure it's supposed to face the house Nanci? I thought she told me he should face the road?

[nanci2539]

I buried mine facing the house. I've heard storeis from a home selling within weeks to homes not sellling for a year. From facing the house to the road to upside down to right side up,

My home sold in less than three months. I never said the prayer but once in a while would remind St. Joseph that I wanted to sell the house!

[mikey]

We just did the same thing in WY. We have had several friends that said it worked for them. Who knows if it works, but in today's market , I do not think that it can hurt anything.

[graciegirl]

Last evening I noticed several of my neighbors in the street out front. Didn't know what was happening, latest gossip, etc, so I went out to chat. When I got there, the conversation kinda waned and the group thinned out quickly. I later discovered that several of them had been burying statues of St. Joseph in my front lawn. Does that mean anything?


I wouldn't worry about it at all Munc. However you might want to switch brands on your deodorant and mouth wash.

[Terra Ridge]

sschuler, I too buried St Joseph in my yard...TWO YEARS AGO! I figured it wouldn't hurt. The directions that came with him said upside down facing the direction you wanted to move to. Mine is pointing south east since that is where TV is in location to Milford, MI. For almost a year I said the prayer and many others along with it. I too have a very unique property (ranch home with acreage on a lake). My price is great but I can no longer compete with the high end homes in forclosure here. I don't know how the market is in Plymouth but nothing is happening in Milford. I am now working on Plan C and will keep working the way down the alphabet until I get to V!

If I were you, I would take any offer made. It may seem low now but in six months you will be sorry. If anyone would have told me that today I would be begging someone to buy at a hundred grand less than we put it on the market at I would have said they were nuts. But that is were the prices are now. I only have had one offer in all these months and the buyers backed out on me.

Like I said.....on to Plan C!
Let me know if you want me to pm you the prayer.

[SteveFromNY]

Frankly, my wife did all of this too. It was something she'd heard at work and I think it's ridiculous.
We had much better luck after we dug him up and lowered the price. Our house was on the market for over a year, and our listing agent (to get the listing I am sure) comped us much higher than we even thought we should get. But hey, he's the pro - so we went with it. As the time went by, we lowered the price and his listing expired. Another agent brought us a buyer (in January) who'd been looking for 2 years for the perfect house. I asked why didn't you come see it last year? Of course the answer was "It was priced too high". So, after another year of mortgage payments, I sold (I hope - we have a tentative closing date of next Thursday) to someone who would have bought my house a year before but I had it listed too high. By the way, we actually got the price we originally had in our heads before the "professional" blinded us with dollar signs.
So dig up poor St Joseph and set a price that works in today's market!

[graciegirl]

Frankly, my wife did all of this too. It was something she'd heard at work and I think it's ridiculous.
We had much better luck after we dug him up and lowered the price. Our house was on the market for over a year, and our listing agent (to get the listing I am sure) comped us much higher than we even thought we should get. But hey, he's the pro - so we went with it. As the time went by, we lowered the price and his listing expired. Another agent brought us a buyer (in January) who'd been looking for 2 years for the perfect house. I asked why didn't you come see it last year? Of course the answer was "It was priced too high". So, after another year of mortgage payments, I sold (I hope - we have a tentative closing date of next Thursday) to someone who would have bought my house a year before but I had it listed too high. By the way, we actually got the price we originally had in our heads before the "professional" blinded us with dollar signs.
So dig up poor St Joseph and set a price that works in today's market!


ABSOLUTELY AGREE STEVE!

[sschuler1]

Terra Ridge, sorry to hear you aren't having any luck in Milford. The one offer we had was so low that it was ridiculous. They had the nerve to tell our realtor that we should be happy because we don't owe that much on our mortgage. Can you believe that? We have had a lot of lookers, but they are all looking for a bigger house. You would think they could see from the listing that it is only 1650 square feet! I think with the price of gas that people want to move closer to work, so I think we should be able to sell this year. Milford would be tough because of the distance from the city. Hang in there! By the way, I have been making up my own prayers. I don't think St. Joseph will mind if my prayers are little different! Thanks

[Muncle]

[/color]

ABSOLUTELY AGREE STEVE!

You guys just don't have faith in the old ways. I buried a strip of bacon in my back yard and it removed all the warts from the statue of St. Joseph I had buried in the front yard.


There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

[graciegirl]

You guys just don't have faith in the old ways. I buried a strip of bacon in my back yard and it removed all the warts from the statue of St. Joseph I had buried in the front yard.


There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.


Muncle, Muncle, Muncle!

[SteveFromNY]

You guys just don't have faith in the old ways. I buried a strip of bacon in my back yard and it removed all the warts from the statue of St. Joseph I had buried in the front yard.


There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.


Wait a minute Muncle! I also use bacon to remove the warts from my St Joseph statues. I just don't think it helps sell houses.

[Shirleevee]

I just received a catalog and lo and behold they are selling St. Joseph statues to help sell your home. It may have been Walter Drake or Trends. I had never heard of this before.

Shirleevee

[Muncle]

Wait a minute Muncle! I also use bacon to remove the warts from my St Joseph statues. I just don't think it helps sell houses.

But you have to admit, Steve. The statue looked maahvalous.

[SteveFromNY]

But you have to admit, Steve. The statue looked maahvalous.


Yes it does, yes it does.

;D

[clekr]

We closed today on our home in CT. We'll be down to TV in July to buy. We sold our house in 9 days w/o an agent. The bit of advise I would offer to all those lamenting that they can not sell - you must be realistic about the price; particularly in a declining market.

We started with a professional appraisal. Not an option by the agent who would list it. We did pay $300 for this, to a firm who regularly does this for the banks, etc. We were very disappointed that it was valued at $40K less than we thought it was worth. But, when we viewed the comparables I could not disagree. However, (at the advise of the appraiser) we listed it at $20K more than the appraised value. And, we sold it for $10K more than the appraisal. Again, 9 days, no agent. The closing was delayed 90 days by mutual agreement. Today similar houses are LISTED at $20K to $30K less than we sold for.

Get an appraisal. Be realistic. It is not worth what you want it to be worth, but what the market says it's worth.

[784caroline]

BE CAREFUL.......I heard of a story where someone wanting to sell their home buried a St Joseph statue and shortly thereafter the house next door sold......I was told the reason was St Josephs head was pointing in the wrong direction!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chuckinca]

A house in our neighborhood in California, same model as ours, has just been listed at 30% less than it sold in Dec 2005!

(Maybe I'll work for a few more years)

However, yesterday new buyers were moving into a house across the street that has been vacant for nine months.

[SteveFromNY]

A house in our neighborhood, same model as ours, has just been listed at 30% less than it sold in Dec 2005!

(Maybe I'll work for a few more years)

However, yesterday new buyers were moving into a house across the street that has been vacant for nine months.


Chuckinca - is the house in TV? Can you quote the actual numbers? A $600K house down $180K sounds worse to me than a $200k house down $60. I know %'s are %'s, but if the house is in TV such a precipitous drop sounds much worse than I'd have expected. If it's something on a golf view site, maybe the demand for that has dropped, while an interior home may track to a lower decline.

[784caroline]

Steve
In my opinion its not that there is a drop in the demand of Golf view lots (which there is because of price) but I believe the real reason is the prices are too high because this is where the developer in 2004-2006 really added on the lot premiuns of $100,000-150,000 per lot. The real cost of building a house does not decline assuming apples to apples..lot premiums are all builder profit. For interior lots their is no or little lot premiums...maybe 50K at most for a corner or end cul-de-sac lot or something like that.....so you would expcet to see greater drops in prices on the golf course premium lots. Everyone today is super "price conscious" regardless of the view.

[chuckinca]

In SF Bay Area.

$925K to $649K

We bought new nine years ago at $425 and I figured in ten years it would double. It more than doubled in 6 years. In 2004 and 2005 it went up about the 30% that it has given back in the past two and a half years. In early 2005 an adjacent new subdivision of 50 homes offered their first 8 houses for sale on a Saturday (they were selling for the high $700's). They pre-qualified nearly 50 buyers on that Saturday and on Sunday pulled 8 names from a hat. A couple years earlier another adjacent subdivision of about 100 homes had 20 or so buyers camped out in their parking lot for over 30 days to be first in line for their first release of homes then selling in the mid $700's (larger homes than the later ones).

[SteveFromNY]

WOW - that's some price drop!

[Muncle]

Which, of course, begs the question, are the prices low today or were they unreasonably high 2 years ago? Not using Chuck's numbers or situation exactly, but say you paid 500K for a house 10 years ago. This was a place to live, not a stock or commodity bought for investment. Three years ago, an identical house sold for 1 Mil. Today, your house is valued at 800K. Did you lose 200K in the last year or did you make 300K in the 10 years you owned and lived in the home? I guess in a way, it goes back to that half full/half empty conundrum, but I tend to think you made a 300K profit. Regardless of the supposed value of something, it ain't worth nothing unless you sell it -- with the exception of the evil tax appraiser and the refi situation, of course.

Now if you paid 1 mil two years ago and must sell today, you did lose. Don't sell now unless you must or you can make a better deal on some other guy's house who's price has bottomed.

[mokey]

Even though you are selling a home for less then you want or the market will take, its probably a trade off. When you get to TV, you have the same buying power the people who bought yours had. We sold our home and bought in TV one year ago, and the deals are even better now. Have seen some terrific buys on resale, and new homes. But remember there are some large bonds on the new homes.