Things are looking up!
When I first put my condo on the market, my dear friend J asked if I had buried St. Joseph. This was something I had heard about but was not overly familiar with.
Seems there is a belief and a tradition, if you are selling your home you bury a statue of St. Joseph and pray for a sale and doing so will help the process.
To this end, quite some time back I decided I would do it. First step was to get the statue. Turns out, just down the road from my favorite sewing/quilt shop is a lovely religious stuff store.
I went in a bit hesitantly and started searching for a St. Joseph statue. Imagine my surprise when I came upon on full show case filled with St. Joseph Home Seller Kits!!!!
The box has a very nice resin statue about 5" high and instructions for what and how to do things and " the prayer".
For condo owners, who may not have a yard in which to bury their statue, it is suggested he be placed in a potted plant, one that will be moving with you.
This is what I did. And, as those of you who have been reading along know, things started off quite fast and furious, lots of action, showings. Then, a potential sale fell through. And it was really, really, quiet, for a while.
I can't recall the exact date but some where during the falling apart and lull, I decided that I needed to re-pot 2 of the house plants that I had put on my deck, they were in huge, unattractive, plastic pots. I had two really nice ceramic pots that would work. So, one morning I went out and quickly re-potted the 2 plants. I took the plastic pots along with some other "stuff" and put it all in the dumpster.
A few days after the re-potting I realized, uh oh, I might have thrown away St. Joseph. I wasn't home when the thought came to me, but, when I got home, I poked around the soil in the plant I had selected for him and, nope, he wasn't there.
I really can't recall when I did this, but there is a part of me that is wondering, was it before the potential sale fell apart and was I the cause?
So, no St. Joseph in my plant, potential sale not happening, and not much interest in my home. After considerable pondering and calculating on my part, my realtor and I discussed dropping the price a bit and adjusting how it would be presented. A decision was reached and the listing was revised. This was on a Friday, I think maybe two Friday's back.
I am very fortunate that my daughters visit rather often. And I am very deliberate, when I know one of them is coming by to collect all the trash and have it waiting for them to cart to the dumpster for me. The Saturday after publishing the revised listing I decided I needed to get the trash to the dumpster and would be doing it myself. It is not that this is hard or far away, I've just enjoyed being so lovingly spoiled by my girls. On this day I put on my "big-girl" pants and took my own trash to the dumpster.
After I put it in I just happened to look down. On the ground I saw a small pile of potting soil with gravel and rocks. This looked like the remains from one of my plants. I remembered that when I threw out the plastic pots one of them had fallen over. I looked a bit closer at this soil and, well, there he was, St. Joseph!!!! He never got into the dumpster! All this time he has been patiently waiting for me to come find him!
Delightedly I picked him up, brushed him off a bit and apologized profusely. We went back home and as a way to atone for my carelessness, St. Joseph got a nice, warm bubble bath in the kitchen sink. I gently cleaned out all the folds and crevices. Then I sat him on the deck rail in the sun to dry. After a bit, I once again, and with great reverence buried him, this time in a different plant.
To recap, the listing was amended on Friday. St. Joseph was found and re-buried on Saturday. There was an open house on Sunday.
Since that open house there has pretty much been at least one showing every day. For now that is all I will say, but there has been a lot of new interest and between the price adjustment and restoration of St. Joseph I think we are back on track and on our way.
Seems there is a belief and a tradition, if you are selling your home you bury a statue of St. Joseph and pray for a sale and doing so will help the process.
To this end, quite some time back I decided I would do it. First step was to get the statue. Turns out, just down the road from my favorite sewing/quilt shop is a lovely religious stuff store.
I went in a bit hesitantly and started searching for a St. Joseph statue. Imagine my surprise when I came upon on full show case filled with St. Joseph Home Seller Kits!!!!The box has a very nice resin statue about 5" high and instructions for what and how to do things and " the prayer".
For condo owners, who may not have a yard in which to bury their statue, it is suggested he be placed in a potted plant, one that will be moving with you.
This is what I did. And, as those of you who have been reading along know, things started off quite fast and furious, lots of action, showings. Then, a potential sale fell through. And it was really, really, quiet, for a while.
I can't recall the exact date but some where during the falling apart and lull, I decided that I needed to re-pot 2 of the house plants that I had put on my deck, they were in huge, unattractive, plastic pots. I had two really nice ceramic pots that would work. So, one morning I went out and quickly re-potted the 2 plants. I took the plastic pots along with some other "stuff" and put it all in the dumpster.
A few days after the re-potting I realized, uh oh, I might have thrown away St. Joseph. I wasn't home when the thought came to me, but, when I got home, I poked around the soil in the plant I had selected for him and, nope, he wasn't there.
I really can't recall when I did this, but there is a part of me that is wondering, was it before the potential sale fell apart and was I the cause?
So, no St. Joseph in my plant, potential sale not happening, and not much interest in my home. After considerable pondering and calculating on my part, my realtor and I discussed dropping the price a bit and adjusting how it would be presented. A decision was reached and the listing was revised. This was on a Friday, I think maybe two Friday's back.
I am very fortunate that my daughters visit rather often. And I am very deliberate, when I know one of them is coming by to collect all the trash and have it waiting for them to cart to the dumpster for me. The Saturday after publishing the revised listing I decided I needed to get the trash to the dumpster and would be doing it myself. It is not that this is hard or far away, I've just enjoyed being so lovingly spoiled by my girls. On this day I put on my "big-girl" pants and took my own trash to the dumpster.
After I put it in I just happened to look down. On the ground I saw a small pile of potting soil with gravel and rocks. This looked like the remains from one of my plants. I remembered that when I threw out the plastic pots one of them had fallen over. I looked a bit closer at this soil and, well, there he was, St. Joseph!!!! He never got into the dumpster! All this time he has been patiently waiting for me to come find him!
Delightedly I picked him up, brushed him off a bit and apologized profusely. We went back home and as a way to atone for my carelessness, St. Joseph got a nice, warm bubble bath in the kitchen sink. I gently cleaned out all the folds and crevices. Then I sat him on the deck rail in the sun to dry. After a bit, I once again, and with great reverence buried him, this time in a different plant.
To recap, the listing was amended on Friday. St. Joseph was found and re-buried on Saturday. There was an open house on Sunday.
Since that open house there has pretty much been at least one showing every day. For now that is all I will say, but there has been a lot of new interest and between the price adjustment and restoration of St. Joseph I think we are back on track and on our way.
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