A saintly appeal to help sell homes

In a sluggish housing market, homeowners clear clutter, rearrange furniture, and replace kitchen appliances in hopes of enticing buyers. But some sellers bury a statue of St. Joseph in their yard to try to help close the deal. As noted on Snopes.com, people have been relying on the heavenly help for years.

"The statue surfaces every time we have a soft market," says Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. "I don't think anybody's analyzed whether this works, but there are people who really believe that it helped them."

Mary Ann Giacobbe, a real-estate agent in New Rochelle, New York, a suburb north of New York City, says she usually has a bag of statues on hand for clients who want one. "I don't care what religion you are, homeowners are doing it," says Giacobbe.

St. Joseph is the patron saint of the home and family, and although the practice of burying the statue is popular, even with non-Catholics, the origins of the tradition are unknown. The Catholic Church does not sanction this practice, according to Stephen J. Binz, the author of St. Joseph, My Real Estate Agent. "I was selling a home and it had been on the market for nine months, and I was desperate because I was carrying two mortgages," says Binz. "My Realtor, who was Presbyterian, suggested burying a statue and I thought it was superstitious and I didn't do it." Months later, Binz decided to devote prayer to St. Joseph and bury the statue upside down in his yard. Several days later the house was sold.

You can find St. Joseph statues online for about $5 and up, including kits that come with a burial bag. The Original St. Joseph Statue Home Sales Kit from the St. Joseph Statue Store is shown.

If you want to rely on more earthly efforts to help you sell your home in this rocky market, read our expert advice in "Buying, Selling, Remodeling" from the September 2008 issue of Consumer Reports.—Kimberly Janeway

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