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Wednesday, January 24, 2001

Many believe saint helps sell homes
Statues of St. Joseph are often buried in yard to market property here
By Andrea Jares
Caller-Times
Selling a home sometimes takes more than a sign in the front yard. Sometimes it takes a sign from God.
   Some who wish for a speedy sale on their home will bury a St. Joseph statue in the front yard of the home in hopes that it will sell quickly. Local real estate agents, such as Donna Testa, an agent with Coldwell Banker Pacesetter Steel Realtors, have seen the St. Joseph work for them.
   Testa currently has a house under contract for sale that had been on the market for eight months. Six weeks ago, she buried the statue in the yard.
   The real estate agent of 20 years said she also relied on St. Joseph when she was selling her home in Arizona. The home was sold the day before she put it on the market, when the buyer saw a sign lying in the yard.
   "I never actually had my house on the market," she said.
   Some sellers use St. Joseph out of religious faith, others out of desperation, she said.
   Jacqueline Svoboda, owner-broker for Prudential Real Estate Center's Corpus Christi offices, said she did it once, at the request of the owner of a $189,000 Padre Island home. It was sold in three weeks.
   "I have them in a drawer so that no matter what happens, I will be happy to bury one in the yard," Svoboda said. "It is weird and uncanny."
   St. Joseph, a carpenter, is often prayed to by Catholics to intercede in finding a happy home. When used to sell a home, he is buried upside down on the property. Some say he should face the home to focus on its sale, others say for him to watch the street to look for new buyers, said Frank Fregoso, manager of spiritual store Tex-Mex Curios.
   Those in the market to sell a home have flocked to Tex-Mex Curios on North Staples Street to buy little plastic St. Joseph statues, Fregoso said. Some of the cars that park out in front have logos of local real estate companies.
   "It's pretty much every day," Fregoso said. "I have to have him on hand. I can't run out of St. Josephs."
   Because winter is traditionally a sluggish time for home sales, it's the time that sales of the statues increase. Most are priced at about $1.50. Sometimes people will think that a more elaborate St. Joseph, such as one $175 version available at Tex Mex, will yield better results, but Fregoso said any one will do.
   'Doesn't hurt to try'
   Other popular home sale aids include burning a yellow candle for success or a green candle for the money that the sale will generate, he said.
   Often people will ask to have their statue blessed before they put it in the ground, said the Most Rev. Edmond Carmody, bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.
   "That's been a practice in the Catholic faith for years and years," he said.
   Rose Mary Keys, a real estate agent at Prudential, has sold many homes with St. Joseph - some in a matter of days. She first heard about the custom while in Baltimore.
   "I thought, oh, I'll try it. It usually doesn't hurt to try,"' she said.
   Even though she is not Catholic, she said she has had experiences where homes have sold in a matter of days after St. Joseph was on the property. One house that had sat on the market for years moved in a matter of weeks after she put the statue in the ground.
   Customers want to see it work for their home.
   "I have them in my car," she said. "A lot of times if you tell them that you bury them, they want it. I do it if I think I have a difficult piece of property."



Business writer Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by e-mail at jaresa@caller.com

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