Patron Saint of the Bidding War?
We are experiencing some unseasonably cold weather in Seattle this week. Good for winter sports, bad for driving. During my rally-cross drive home, I caught tonight’s episode of Marketplace on NPR. They had a really entertaining segment about burying a statue of Saint Joseph to speed the sale of your house. Long story short, wherever you bury a statue of Saint Joseph the property is bound to sell. I am willing to bet this will be a question on Bluff the Listener on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me this weekend.
The Marketplace story followed Mike Hickson, a skeptic turned believer after reading a testimonial about a “man who, while trying to sell his home, was given a St. Joseph statue, but scoffing at the notion, threw it in the trash. It went to the dump. Wasn’t he surprised a couple of weeks later when he saw in the paper that — lo and behold — the dump had been sold.”
Mike promptly ordered a statue and “dropped St. Joe into his basement sales office next to the For Sale sign on a Saturday morning anyway. Lo and behold, people viewed the house on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, we got an offer.”
We would like to conduct a more scientific study of the effect burying a statue of Saint Joseph has on selling a home. If you are selling your home and would like to be part of our study post a comment or send me an e-mail. Or if you’ve buried St. Joe to aid in the sale of your home, let us know the outcome.
Kent said:
I am just starting the process of selling my home and would love to participate in this scientific study. Let me know what you need me to do.
November 29, 2006 8:04 AM
Rob McGarty said:
Hi Kent,
Send me an email with some information about your home and we will get you registered for our scientific study.
Thanks,
Rob
rob at redfin dot com
November 29, 2006 11:00 AM
Lisa said:
Hi Rob,
Like Kent, I’m about to put my house up for sale and would love to participate in the study. I need the house sold ASAP and heard about St. Joseph who swears it works.
April 4, 2007 9:23 AM
shirley said:
I am a realtor and have many homes that need to sell. Please include me in your scientific study.
September 6, 2007 5:29 PM
shirley said:
I am a realtor and have many homes to sell. Please include me in your scientific study.
September 6, 2007 5:30 PM
Tom Swell said:
hi Rob
Great topic. I posted my own story on the subject recently
http://blog.redfin.com/sandiego/2007/09/monday_madness.html
and now I’m curious.
I think it’s only proper that California should participate in your study, beginning here in San Diego.
October 19, 2007 11:30 PM
Dale Dabest said:
Great post, will be interesting to see the results, look forward to it.
March 20, 2009 8:00 PM
Minneapolis home mortgage said:
Definitely not a lot of bidding wars anymore.
March 20, 2009 8:02 PM