Selling a House with St. Joseph
Let me begin by saying that I’m crazy. I know I am. I’m spiritually eccentric, can be socially awkward, and nearly always err on the side of the less than pragmatic. My head full of curly hair lives in the clouds while I only have one foot — maybe even just a toe — on the ground. Now, with that out of the way …
As you may or may not know, my family has undergone tremendous change. After over a year, my parents have moved out of the home we shared and into assisted living. This new development has invited great practical and emotional upheaval, not the least of which has included selling our home.
About our home; blood, sweat, tears. That’s what my husband and I invested to renovate it and make it inhabitable for my parents and us. Finally, after delays, firings, surprises, and rescue, we succeeded in creating a beautiful home for the four of us … but life. Life.
It happens. You adjust and continue to live it, damn it. LIVE IT!
With my parents’ move, Marc and I decided to downsize. After enlisting the help of our realtor, we put the house on the market and crossed our fingers that it would sell quickly. Well, probably I did more than just cross my fingers. Probably I did something crazy because, as I’ve already disclosed, I am that.
A growing number of people have turned to the “Patron Saint of Real Estate”…
Hey, did you know that St. Joseph can help you sell your home? Yeah, me either. But, apparently, he can because he did. He helped sell our home.
Before I continue it’s important that you know …
- My real estate agent is as crazy as I am, but far more productive, organized, and successful
- I’m down for whatever
- You can totally make it look like you’re gardening while you’re actually burying St. Joseph upside down in your front yard near the ‘for sale’ sign
So there we were, my agent and me, talking about how to move this house. Of course, we covered the usual tried and true channels, but we also discussed less conventional means as well.
“You need to get yourself a St. Joseph and bury him.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, if you want to sell this house, get a St. Joseph.”
“Ooookay … sure.”
Ever curious, I google St. Joseph, real estate, selling a house the first chance I got and, holy cow, I couldn’t WAIT to get on Amazon to order my very own St. Joseph statue.
The patron saint of real estate, St. Joseph.
St. Joseph arrived two days after I ordered him. (Yay Amazon Prime!) His arrival happened to be the day before our scheduled open house. Sweet! I grabbed my spade, dug up around 8 inches of earth in front of the for sale sign, and kissed the little saint on the head before placing him in the ground upside down and covering him with earth. Then I waited for him and our agent to do their magic.
Presto. Chango. We had an offer three days later.
Look, I don’t know if burying the little guy helped with the sale of our home or not. All I know is that it felt good to ask him for help. It felt good to create some sort of ritual to acknowledge what was, in essence to me, a sacred event. This house … this lovely house has sheltered people I love during terrible and incredible times. This place evolved from a friggin’ mess into the location of the single best first birthday party EVER for our grandson. This home is a demonstration of the beauty that can result when we have a vision and pursue it through to fruition. St. Joseph, if you had anything to do with blessing it to sale quickly then thank you.
You will receive my gratitude and a place of honour in my home…
On the day the sale of our house finalized, spade in hand, I went out to resurrect the good saint.
The patron saint of real estate, St. Joseph. He’s just a little dirty from his job.
If all goes well, we should close on our new house later this month. Whatever decisions we make about paint or carpet or tile or faucets or you name it, you can bet that St. Joseph will have rightful place of honor in our new digs. Call me crazy. I am.
Peace and Blessings,
Nicole
