<p>Sorry to appear dumb but – Is a St. Joseph statue supposed to help with selling your home??</p>
<p>Well, we are looking forward to prying all the mezzuzot off the doors when we close on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Yes, St. Joseph is supposed to help you sell your home quickly. </p>
<p>A neighbor down the street had a mezzuzot on her door, and her whole family was Catholic, so I assume it was left by the previous owners, as a token of good wishes.</p>
<p>Please don’t be offended if you find a St. Joseph statue in your garden or a mezzuzot on your door. They are symbols of comfort, and are certainly not meant to be offensive to the new owners.</p>
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<p>I had that in my East Brunswick home! We have never touched it for the 12+ years of ownership and we are Buddhist…:)</p>
<p>Jewish law is that if you sell the house to a Jewish family, leave the mezuzah. Otherwise, take it off before the next family moves in. But a lot of people don’t know that.</p>
<p>Actually, Montegut, it’s kind of odd that mezzuzahs would be left on the doorpostsof a home by a Jewish familiy after they sell their house. There are actually religious rules relating to leaving or taking mezzuzahs. If it’s rented house, and will be rented to another Jewish person or family, they must be left on the doors when you move. If the house is being sold (to another Jew) they may be taken, or if expensive, may be replaced with inexpensive ones. If they will be left and are expensive, the incoming owner should reimburse the seller for them. In most cases, a family would take the mezzuzahs the day they move out, in order to be able to fulfil the requirement to mount them on the doors of a new home when they move in. All this is because mezzuzahs are not really symbols of comfort, or even inspiration, as a cross on the wall might be, but are required to be mounted on door posts by Jewish law, coming from the commandment in Deuteronomy 6: 6-9. </p>
<p>I’m only taking mine because the house is being sold to a builder who will tear it down.</p>
<p>My previous experience with mezzuzahs (and thank you for correcting my spelling) is from a pair of Jewish sisters who lived next door to us in the apartment complex we lived in before we bought our house. I used to visit with them daily, and I noticed they always touched the mezzuzah before entering. It seemed to give them comfort, so I thought it was analagous to our crosses.</p>
<p>The couple that bought my mom’s house had lost their home in the floods of Katrina. It was a home that had been passed down through their family, and they lived in rental property for a few years before finding my mom’s house and falling in love with it. I hope they were able to retrieve their mezzuzah from their family home and place it by the door of their new home.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to learn the different practices of different cultures. Our friends bought a new house a couple of years ago from an Indian family and were surprised to come “home” before the act of sale to find the family digging up something in the backyard. They didn’t know if they were maybe digging up a religious icon or maybe a stash of cash. They never inquired.</p>
<p>For my Jewish friends here, let me just mention that no, there is nothing in the New Testament about burying St. Joseph statues to help sell a house . . . </p>
<p>I have no idea where that came from, and I only heard about it when we moved to our current home with a fair number of Catholic neighbors. I think it’s a little strange, myself. But if I were trying to sell a house that had been on the market for a long time, I think I might try anything too!</p>
<p>^^ I have a different perspective on the removal of the mezzuzahs. Well, in my former home, they were everywhere. The Hellers did not take them off because, I guess, they paint the door frame after the mezzuzahs have been installed. To remove the mezzuzahs means a LOT of extra painting work, including matching the color as such. for the same reason, they did not remove the bolted down safe either.</p>
<p>^^^Thanks, hayden, for the clarification. I had never heard of the St. Joseph trick until I mentioned to some friends that I was having trouble selling mom’s house. They suggested I bury a St. Joseph statue. I went to the local Pauline religious bookstore and was surprised to find a nicely packaged mini statue with the description, God’s real estate agent! We Catholics do have some odd superstitions, I know. I’m sure a religious bookstore would be happy to sell a similar product to a non Catholic customer to aid in the selling of their house. I’ll bet they’re flying off the shelves nowadays.</p>
<p>Hoping for good news from jym soon.</p>
<p>The market here in my corner of the Bay Area (California) is very hot. We lost a bidding war for one house, declined to bid on a second which got 5 offers, and are coming in too late on a third which is an off-market sale. The third house needs a lot of work which we didn’t want to take on without having our architect take a look. We saw the house on Monday but our architect wasn’t available until Friday. In the meantime the seller found another buyer (who had also bid on house #1) so they’re in contract. We were ambivalent about the house so it’s not a huge disappointment, but we liked the location. We might make a backup offer.</p>
<p>vball - Here’s a nice 3-BR place in the Bay Area. I think you’d like it.</p>
<p>[432</a> Golden Gate Ave Tiburon CA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #21104465 - Realtor.com](<a href=“http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/432-Golden-Gate-Ave_Tiburon_CA_94920_M16703-84016]432”>http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/432-Golden-Gate-Ave_Tiburon_CA_94920_M16703-84016)</p>
<p>I have to 'fess up. I electronically buried a St. Joseph statue in jym’s front yard when she wasn’t looking…</p>
<p>I think I love you, LMNOP :)</p>
<p>Maybe if they have to dig it up someday, they can also dig up the driveway and get my savings. When I was a kid there was a gravel driveway. I decided one day to bury my savings (which was probably a bunch of change) in the driveway. Came home from elementary school one day to discover they’d had the driveway paved!! :eek: I was not a happy camper.</p>
<p>BTW, hope you put the statue near the oil tank with specific instructions to be SURE there are no leaks.</p>
<p>Tank test is next week sometime.</p>
<p>jym, I hate to laugh since you must have been devastated. But that is one of the funniest stories I’ve heard in months. Oh, my.</p>
<p>LMNOP, good job !</p>
<p>edited to add an important note: Good luck with the tank test.</p>
<p>NewHome OMG that’s a gorgeous home, and what a view! But we’re downsizing, not upsizing ;)</p>
<p>We’ve started moving into our rental today as we close on our current house next week. We’re wondering where all our furniture’s going to go, and we don’t even have all that much. It doesn’t help that the owner of the rental house left a bunch of his stuff there. The management company dude had assured me that the garage would be completely cleaned out…guess not :(</p>
<p>I don’t think the seller of that house is going to be happy that the link says Tiburon instead of Belvedere. There goes several hundred grand or more down the toilet. :)</p>
<p>I think the difference is much more than serveral hundred thousands, I think it is in the millions…:)</p>
<p>“NewHope OMG that’s a gorgeous home, and what a view! But we’re downsizing, not upsizing”</p>
<p>I would be willing to rent the part of the home you don’t need. Shall we settle on $1,200 per month rent?</p>
<p>I am betting there is at least ten bucks or more buried beneath the driveway, hayden :(</p>