Worried that Saint Nick won't bring you a buyer for your house? Turn to St. Joe.
At a time when the residential real estate market has cooled, it seems more people are turning to what could be described as religious faith, popular spirituality or just plain superstition.
To help sell houses, agents and owners are buying statues of St. Joseph, and burying them upside down in the front yard. If you do that, the belief goes, and if you recite a prayer to the patron saint of carpenters and families, you will find a buyer for your home.
More people seem to be doing it. Donna Scott, owner of Trinity Books, Bible & Music, 3801 E. Fort Lowell Road., said the store has sold roughly 100 to 150 of the statues every month this year for $1.50 each. That's more than twice the number sold in previous years.
The Tucson Association of Realtors, which sells the statues for $5.75, has sold more than three times as many of the statues this year as last. In all of 2005, it sold 57 statues. In the first 11 months of this year, it sold 185.
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The main reason: It's hard to find buyers in today's market. The number of homes available for sale in the Tucson area, about 9,200 right now, had never cracked 7,000 before this year. While median home prices have bobbed around the $220,000 mark for more than a year, the average days on the market increased 76 percent annually over last November to 60 days from 34.
So, in a market like this, you do what you have to, agents said. Paint the outside. Install new carpet. Pay half of closing costs.
But maybe that little plastic statue will be just the something extra you need, said Nick Manning, a Realtor with Tierra Antigua Realty.
"I have been a believer in him, well, this goes back quite a few years. I don't know if that's my Catholic upbringing or whatever, but . . . let's take advantage of every little bit of luck we can," Manning said. "It's just part of the whole package that I think you can offer as a Realtor."
Angie Lopez, who owns Casa de Inspiración, 2536 E. Sixth St., said she sold a house in an undesirable Downtown area in 1998 using St. Joe.
"I was stomping the dirt down with my foot when this woman behind me asked me if I was selling it. I gave her the price. She said, 'I want to buy it,' " Lopez said.
Her experience was one of the reasons she wanted to open the store, which sells the statues for anywhere from $2.95 to $6.30.
Last resort for some
Some agents view the statue almost as a last resort.
"I wait until they're really, really, really distressed and not moving. In a market like this, it's too tempting to use it too early," said Doug Trudeau, with Long Realty.
Trudeau said St. Joseph works in mysterious ways.
"Don't ask me why, don't ask me how. You don't see God. You believe in him. You don't see oxygen, but you breathe. If you have faith, it happens," Trudeau said. "I don't question it, I don't abuse it, but it has worked for me."
In his six years as a real estate agent, Trudeau said he has buried a statue three times, all at houses that were on the market for longer than usual. In each instance, a buyer was found within three days of the burial.
"You can't go out and sell a $200,000 home for $300,000 and expect it to sell," Trudeau said. "The ones that I did it with, they were not bad locations. They weren't backed up to a big manufacturing company with big smokestacks sticking out. They weren't bad houses, they just weren't moving."
When Manning, the Tierra Antigua agent, recently tacked his name and phone number to the "For Sale" sign at a home in Catalina near North Oracle and East Tangerine roads, he also recited the prayer and buried a small St. Joseph statue near the for sale sign. When the house sells, Manning will ask the sellers to take the statue with them to their next home.
Of course, simply burying the statue doesn't guarantee a sale, Manning said. Sellers have to make normal improvements.
"First appearances mean everything to the buyer. You certainly have to have it in great shape with very little clutter. You have to have it priced right or people aren't going to get a second look at it," Manning said.
Carolyn Harris, 70, who owns the home for sale in Catalina, wants to move into a mobile home park and travel with her husband, John.
Harris described herself as Christian but "not that religious." She said she had never heard of the practice before Manning told her about it.
"I told him great, I need all the help I can get," Harris said. "If the Lord sees to it that this saint . . . is willing to help, that's all I can ask."
It's been over two weeks since Manning buried the statue, Harris said. No buyers yet.
Spirituality and superstition
Burying statues in your yard isn't endorsed by the Catholic Church, said Fred Allison, a spokesman for Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.
"It's the fine line between popular spirituality and superstition," Allison said. Statues, like candles or holy pictures, are called sacramentals, things that are not holy but "help the faithful in their prayer life," said Deacon Leon Mazza, of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 215 S. Craycroft Road.
Mazza said he has heard of the practice but has never had anyone ask him to bless a statue for that reason.
"If someone called me today and said, 'Is it OK if I bury this statue of St. Joseph?' I would say, if you feel that's going to help, go ahead," Mazza said.
Any ritual that connects a person to God would be positive, Mazza said.
"That could be the spark that leads a person back to their faith. If he sells his house, he may say, 'God took care of my house. Maybe I ought to go talk to him some more,' " Mazza said. "I wouldn't do it, but there's a lot of stuff I wouldn't do that other people would."
Prayers to St. Joseph can vary. The following, available at Trinity Books, Bible & Music alongside St. Joseph statues, is not specifically intended to hasten the sale of a home. Results, too, may vary.
The prayer
"St. Joseph, protect our home. Pour forth heaven's blessings on our family. Remain in our midst. Help us to live in love and harmony, in peace and joy. May the wholesome fear of God strengthen us that virtue may adorn what we do and our way may lead to heaven"
"To you this day I give the key to our dwelling place. Lock out all things that could do us harm. Lock my home and my loved ones with me in the hearts of Jesus and Mary. This I beg of you that our days may be like your days in the holy home at Nazareth. Amen."