How the tradition of using a Saint Joseph statue to sell home got started

If you have ever worked in real estate or sold your own home then you have probably heard of the tradition of burying a statue of Saint Joseph upside down in the yard of the home that you are trying to sell in order to make the home sell faster. It’s a very famous tradition and most people that have tried it will tell you that it worked for them. But how did the tradition of burying a statue of Saint Joseph in the yard of the house that you’re trying to sell get started?

There are several different stories about how this tradition got started.   One of the most well known stories about the origin of this tradition says that St. Teresa of Avila started the tradition in the mid 1500s.   St. Teresa of Avila is a very famous saint and Christian mystic.   She was born in Spain and experienced her holy calling very early in her life.   She founded an order of Carmelite nuns called the Discalced Carmelites which stressed living in a very simple and austere way.   The Discalced Carmelite order became very popular and St. Teresa wanted to build a second convent so that she could start a new chapter of the order but she was having a very difficult time finding a piece of land that was right for the convent. 

After praying for guidance about the situation St. Teresa had all the Discalced Carmelite nuns pray with her to Saint Joseph for help and also told them to bury small medals of Saint Joseph that had been blessed around the property.   They did, and within a very short time St. Teresa had found the perfect piece of land for the new convent.   People began to copy St. Teresa and started to bury medals and small statues of Saint Joseph on their property when they wanted to find a new home and eventually the tradition changed to the tradition as it’s known today where people that are trying to sell their homes bury a Saint Joseph statue in the ground of the property they are trying to sell in order to get an offer on the property. 

Another story about how the tradition of burying a Saint Joseph statue in the ground in order to make a property sell is that the tradition started in Germany.   Hundreds of years ago when German construction workers and carpenters were building new homes to sell they would often place a Saint Joseph statue in the walls or the foundation of the home and pray to Saint Joseph to bless the home and anyone that lived in it.   Soon they started noticing the that homes built by workmen who had placed a Saint Joseph statue somewhere in the house got sold much more quickly than homes where the workers didn’t put a Saint Joseph statue and so more and more workmen began putting a Saint Joseph statue in the home to help it sell more quickly. As the years went by the tradition got changed and people started burying a Saint Joseph statue in the yard of the house in order to make it sell more quickly.

Those are just two of the many stories that claim to be the real origin of the tradition of burying a Saint Joseph statue in your yard in order to help your house sell more quickly but no matter where the tradition comes from the fact remains that many people who have tried it swear that it works.   If you are trying to sell your home then bury a Saint Joseph statue upside down in your yard and pray to Saint Joseph for help selling your home.   Chances are good that you’ll get an offer on the property much sooner than you thought.

Joyce Swift