Maybe I’ve mentioned it here before, but I know I’ve told a couple of people that my parents decided to sell their house. I can only imagine that it’s a difficult thing to transition from striving to buy a big spacious house to cutting back and moving into something smaller. With me out of the house, it only makes sense for them to downsize. Therefore, I fully support their decision. They need to enjoy their years instead of finding themselves entirely concerned with just paying the house off, you know?
Anyway, the process of selling the house started at the beginning of April. It seemed like things were going well. The house had a lot of showings, and a heck of a lot of the people that came by liked the house. They seemed interested and were very complimentary. My parents patiently waited for an offer to come in, but one never came. After a few weeks, the frustration was starting to kick in. I was starting to become worried myself because I didn’t want to see them go through such trouble, you know? I was telling a friend about this worry when she mentioned a little bit of related Catholic folk magic that seemed to have a following. All of it revolved around making a petition to St. Joseph who’s the patron saint of the family and home. Legend says that if you bury a statuette of St. Joseph in the ground and ask for your house to sell, the house will sell shortly thereafter. If you search the Internet, you’ll find a good amount of stories from people that believe that this worked for them. I passed this bit of lore over to my parents, and they decided to give it a shot.
On Friday morning, they went over to a religious article store and bought a small statuette. When they got it home, my father buried it in the front yard and they proceeded to make the petition. Heck, so did I. I just wanted my parents to be happy. The weekend came and went with a couple of showings, but nothing. Monday came and two families dropped by. The first one was ready to make an offer but they went well below asking price and had a ridiculous amount of conditions. Both my parents and their real estate agents were frustrated. A second family came by shortly after that was more amenable. The family’s kids were all over the house and were enjoying the deck out back. The family also placed an offer and actually went a bit over asking price. And that’s the family that sealed the deal. So yes, my parents went from having tons of showings but no offers, to having two offers on the same day.
I know, it’s going to sound a little bit insane to attribute any part of this to the lore, but for me I’m willing to believe. Why not? Yeah, it’s unscientific, and just crazy…but it’s also fun to think that this had an effect. So yeah, much gratitude goes up to St. Joseph for looking out for them. Once the deal is fully done I expect my mother to dig up the statue and put it up some place for people to see. It sure is an interested story to tell, isn’t it?
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2 comments
Anne Green says:
Wed. May 5, 2010 at 3:17 pm (UTC -5 )
My Mom was a real estate agent. She had several St. Joe’s tucked back on a shelf in her office for just the purpose you discussed. They do seem to work! Delighted they worked for you. My Parents downsized after we all left home and it was really terrific. They did not have to worry about all that house maintenance and they could travel at will. They really enjoyed their new smaller space. The key is for them to also divest them selves of all the ‘stuff” from the big house. Sell all but your favorite pieces… buy new! It’s like setting up a new place. Made my parents feel like honeymooners… they even got new dishtowels!
Jay says:
Thu. May 6, 2010 at 9:36 pm (UTC -5 )
You know, I was rather torn on this St. Joseph thing. On the one hand, I wanted so much to believe in everything it involved. On the other hand, the skeptic in me wanted to see it work. In the end, there really isn’t anything concrete about it having a cause an effect thing going, but frankly, I’m satisfied. My family and I will believe what it wants to believe, right?
I know my parents are really trying to get rid of a lot of their big pieces because they definitely won’t serve them well in their new place. I’ve already helped them figure out how to set up their living room. It should be great. I’m really happy for them, and I hope it will help push my parents–my father especially–to enjoy themselves more. They’ve worked hard enough; they deserve a break.