Anxious sellers put faith in icons

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

So over the weekend Richard and Dana Carrigan shoveled out a piece of their Fair Oaks yard, then buried a 3 1/2-inch statue of St. Joseph that Richard had bought a couple of days earlier. The couple are looking for any extra help they can get as their home goes up for sale alongside the 16,000 other area residences already on the market.

"We'll try anything," says Richard Carrigan, an English teacher at Jesuit High School in Carmichael.

Call it folklore or divine intervention, but the practice of burying a tiny statue of St. Joseph, patron saint of carpenters and helper of home sellers, is thriving in Sacramento's decidedly cool real estate market.

Catholic retailers say the little statues are flying off their shelves as the once-robust Sacramento-area housing market has slowed and driven the average time on the market up to 69 days. The peculiar phenomenon seems to run in stride with chilly markets: It flourished during slow times in the 1980s, mushroomed again during the 1990s housing slump and now is again booming and growing well beyond its Catholic roots.

Even the Sacramento Association of Realtors store on Howe Avenue sells St. Joseph.

Legend has it the practice first dates to German monks and carpenters in the 1500s who placed St. Joseph statues in foundations of new buildings and to Spain's St. Teresa of Avila, who buried St. Joseph medals in ground she hoped to acquire for a convent.

The Rev. Charles Hilken, religious historian at St. Mary's College in Moraga, says St. Teresa lived shortly after the Catholic Church began promoting Joseph, Mary's husband, following nearly 1,000 years of relative obscurity.

At California State University, Sacramento, cultural anthropology professor Liam Murphy likens St. Joseph's role in real estate to the folk practice of burying a coin in the hole where a ship's mast is placed.

"This is the kind of thing you can see all over the world, this invoking of care and safeguarding and giving it over to forces that are unseen," Murphy says.

He calls St. Joseph a natural go-to for home sellers. The saint, he says, is known as protector of the family and a patron saint of patience.

Anecdotes abound, even among those once fiercely skeptical, about the saint's ability to spark a sale. It's common to claim deals within days of planting a St. Joseph statue in the yard -- and be a cynic no more.

"I go and bury them in houses that have been for sale 30 days or more," says Sacramento broker Eva Garcia, a 40-year real estate veteran.

She positions the statues with the head facing the house and feet facing the street. Others bury the saint upside down, hewing to the folk belief that St. Joseph will work harder to win a buyer so he can escape the hole. Likewise, some favor burial near the "For Sale" sign and others nearer the front door.

Garcia, initially dubious, was won over after a particular tough Land Park sale in May 2006.

"The client was transferred to Washington, D.C.," she says. "The house wasn't selling, and they couldn't afford to keep up two payments. We needed to move the house.

"A lender who I have known a long time said, 'Have you tried a St. Joseph statue?' I said, 'What are you talking about?' I was very skeptical. He gave me two, and within a week I had an offer on it."

Kristen Ryan of Rocklin is selling her fourth house using a statue of St. Joseph. Ryan bought a new statue last week after loaning the one used during her first three transactions to a family member with a house for sale.

"All of our sales have been very easy and enjoyable," she says.

The statue typically costs between $5 and $8 and often comes with a printed prayer. One, sold by H.J. Sherman Co. of Van Nuys, reads in part: "O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my desires."

The kit also offers the kind of practical advice any real estate agent would give: "All necessary repairs should be taken in presenting the home and a fair market value for the home should be reflected in the cost."

Easter's Catholic Books and Gifts on Palm Avenue in Sacramento says customers have bought 350 St. Joseph kits in recent months.

"We have a lot of real estate agents who come in and buy them in bulk," says co-owner Denise Easter-Kramer.

Another Sacramento retailer, the Catholic Store on Broadway, claims more than 500 sales in two years. Owner Marilia Perez said sales spiked this summer as real estate listings increased across the region.

That's not surprising to the companies that sell the statues. Illinois-based gift wholesaler Roman Inc. sold about 100,000 St. Josephs last year and will sell about the same number this year, said Velia Faso, director of special affairs. At wholesaler H.J. Sherman, general manager Neil Adams expects 2007 sales to increase about 25 percent from the 10,000 he shipped last year.

Retailers say home sellers of all faiths buy the statues. But they counsel the importance of saying a prayer. "I tell people, 'You need to pray hard, you need to believe,' " says the Catholic Store's Perez.

Still, there are those who see more coincidence than divine intervention. "I think it's about as efficient as an agent standing in the front yard waving a magic wand," says Marvelene A.J. Weyer, a veteran Elk Grove real estate agent. "I still think pricing property right will sell it rather than reverting to poor old Joseph."

In Carmichael, the Carrigans are selling their house to move into a new one. That, too, has a St. Joseph story.

Carrigan says he and his wife were in the "counter-offer" stage with the builder recently when he found a St. Joseph prayer online.

"I printed the prayer off the Internet and explained it to my students at school," he says. "We said the prayer in class and the next day the builders accepted our offer. I thought that was pretty good."

About the writer:

• The Bee's Jim Wasserman can be reached at (916) 321-1102 or jwasserman@sacbee.com.