I posted this topic on one of the other subjects but I figured I would post it in here too. I have been trying to sell my other house for 2 yrs. Fired the first realtor, then tried to sell it ourselves and now we are with another realtor - we signed on for 3 months. I just cant believe we cant sell it. It is driving me nuts! everyone wants to do a land contract or rent the darn thing. We just want it out of our lives. I have really tried to think positive but after 2 years that flew out the window. I have prayed about it till I just cant pray abotu it anymore. Has anyone had this problem before? I have never ever had this problem before with any house I have ever lived in. This house is bleeding us dry! Thanks for listening to me vent!

This may sound either crazy or sacriligious, but an overwhelming number of people have said their home sold quickly, and for a price better than previous offers after burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard... I seldom believe in this sort of ritual, but 2 people I actually know in real life swear that it was St. Joseph that made the difference... can't hurt.

I don't think that will help.

Maybe it's just a crappy house that no one wants in their life.

You neglect to say what part of the country your house is in. Salem, What? The only Salem I'm familiar with is Salem Virginia, right by Roanoke. Most parts of the country, with few exceptions, are not exactly a sellers' market at the present time.

That being the case, if you are really eager to unload the house, I would recommend having a professional appraisal made. It may cost a few hundred bucks would it will allow you to price the property realistically. Taking into account both the price of other comparable houses in the neighborhood, and the replacement cost of equivalent houses. Real estate sales agents may just agree with your opinion in order to get the listing, and you may well have an inflated opinion of the actual value. An overpriced house is never going to sell in a market where the supply exceeds the demand as much as the present one does.

It's painful to sell at a loss , but it is sometimes the only alternative to slowly bleeding to death and burying statues. Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by MrsS:
This may sound either crazy or sacriligious, but an overwhelming number of people have said their home sold quickly, and for a price better than previous offers after burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard... I seldom believe in this sort of ritual, but 2 people I actually know in real life swear that it was St. Joseph that made the difference... can't hurt.

Thank you..I put St.Joseph is my yard as instructed when I put the house up for sale ....it still sits for sale....Thanks so much for your help, I appreciate it. I wanted it to work very much!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kendor:


I don't think that will help.

Maybe it's just a crappy house that no
Thats a pretty mean thing to say. It is not a crappy house! It has been completely gutted and remodeled from top to bottom. We paid top dollar for everything in that house. It used to be in very sad shape until we remodeled it. You know what?....forget it! I am not going to tell you how much money I have in that house and what has been done to it...All I wanted to know is if anyone has had any problems trying to sell a house in todays market. I know why it isnt selling and that is because the damn thing is haunted. I will post my subject in the paranormal section from now on..

I seem to remember that he should be buried upside down.

quote:

Originally posted by frankvan:
You neglect to say what part of the country your house is in. Salem, What? The only Salem I'm familiar with is Salem Virginia, right by Roanoke. Most parts of the country, with few exceptions, are not exactly a sellers' market at the present time.

That being the case, if you are really eager to unload the house, I would recommend having a professional appraisal made. It may cost a few hundred bucks would it will allow you to price the property realistically. Taking into account both the price of other comparable houses in the neighborhood, and the replacement cost of equivalent houses. Real estate sales agents may just agree with your opinion in order to get the listing, and you may well have an inflated opinion of the actual value. An overpriced house is never going to sell in a market where the supply exceeds the demand as much as the present one does.

It's painful to sell at a loss , but it is sometimes the only alternative to slowly bleeding to death and burying statues. Good luck!

I live in Salem Ohio. My other house I have been trying to sell is in Berlin Center. We have had it appraised and it was appraised for $100,000. We are asking $93,500. Totally gutted and remodeled from top to bottom. We know everything about what the houses have sold for around us and what the market is..believe me, we know.

Do you have property auctions locally? In Britain this is a popular way of selling a house.The auctioneers have anything from a few dozen to hundreds of properties in each sale. The sales attract all kinds of bidders: first time buyers, downsizers, ordinary people who like to renovate,people who want to buy quickly, amateur developers, hardened professionals, the lot.

You fix a realistic, unpublicised, reserve price with the auctioneer, below which bids will not be accepted, and let the auctioneer do the rest. The sale is as good as instant, you get your money in short time and the house is off your hands.

There's a television show about hard-to-sell houses. I watched once, and they had an 'open house' on a property that wasn't selling and tape recorded the comments of viewers. There were a couple of comments that were very helpful and the owners fixed them and the house sold.

The thing is to get the actual comments that would-be buyers make to each other, when they believe they are not overheard.

If you just ask them flat out, they may just say pleasant things so as not to embarrass you.

I've seen that show too. I really like it because it gives really good input.

I'm the "Web Adminstrator" of a Realtor's site in Anchorage, AK. This page may be helpful: Selling a home.

Of course, this Realtor is too far away to be helpful, but if you like, Rod could recommend a GRI Realtor in your area. You can email him from this page.

Good luck with this!

"Sell This House!" is the show I think you guys are speaking of, where there's a guy who comes in and "stages" the house..I love it too, and Roger is such a kick! Looks more like a pro-wrestler than an interior designer!

If the house is empty of furniture, it would be good to put some pieces in there just to give people a visual on how their house might look

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
I seem to remember that he should be buried upside down.

It's true, if you want to sell your house he should be buried upside down. I don't hold much for superstition, but some things do seem to work.

Giz, I have a friend that rents funiture and artwork to "High End" homes that are for sale. The realtors say this helps the home sale faster and closer to the asking price.

He says HE even gets some sales out of it.

"I seem to remember that he should be buried upside down."

But ... but ... that's Satanic!

Here's an account of statue-burying that's a bit of a cautionary tale:

"I was watching a reality show about selling houses and this guy had a sure fire plan to get the deal moving. He buried a statuette of St. Peter upside down in the backyard. He then prayed to the little painted figure, "Oh St. Peter, I know that you don't like being buried upside down. The faster you help my house to sell, the sooner I will dig you up and put you right side up on my mantle." Well it must have worked because the house sold by the end of the show!

The funny part is that when the guy went to dig up the helpful saint, he accidentally snapped the head off. He kept apologizing to the statue as he glued the head back on.

All I can say is... What was St. Peter thinking? If I was an all powerful saint, I wouldn't have put up with that kind of treatment. Nobody blackmails me, buries me upside down in the backyard, snaps my head off and gets away with it. Maybe wimpy Pete didn't feel like he had a choice, but I would have used my saintly powers to burn the idiot's house down and erase all the insurance records. I would then arrange for Laura Croft to come dig me up."

Source

In Dante's Inferno, simoniac popes (who sold pardon for sins) were buried upside down.

So it is clearly not a saint, but the devil himself who causes the sale! Meantime you will have insulted a very powerful saint!

Beware! The house my sell, but you'll lose your soul!!!!!

St Peter? He's not for existing houses. He's for new churches
'Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church' [Matthew 16:18 ] And that was a carpenter speaking: he'd know a bit about buildings

Neither god nor St. Joseph can do anything about the huge downturn in the housing market since the real estate bubble burst some time ago. New housing starts are way down, and existing home sales are, at best, flat. Through no fault of yours, the timing of the sale was awful. You're just going to have to ride this one out until a prospective buyer who sees it says "This is exactly what I've been looking for!" When that will happen is anyone's guess.