This is a continuation of the Wednesday Series: Can [this] sell houses? Read the previous 2 posts here:
I recently spent 2 weeks at home in Taiwan for Taiwanese New Year (Gong Si Fa Tsai to everyone!) and it’s always interesting to go back because the values of both California and Taiwan differ a lot.
There is no staging in Taiwan except for model homes. Agents show homes vacant or cluttered and people are used to it (The houses are tiny there, we all live very cluttered lives). Homes are a lot smaller and storage is always a hot topic in Asian homes. Feng Shui is also big, not only for people who are alive and also with people who are dead. People often jokes that it’s more expensive to live in Taiwan as a dead person than a live one since feng shui is a key ingredient in selecting an appropriate plot for every individual.
Feng Shui, fad or true?
(photo by Room With A View)
Feng Shui has always been sort of trendy. Feng Shui has become a trendy thing to hear about in the staging field. As I progress in the industry, I often encounter people who are on both sides. There are even publications on feng shui for cats, it’s really difficult to take something like so seriously. Some believe in staging with feng shui, some think it’s a sign of desperation.
But does feng shui really sell houses?
Luopan compass used in feng shui
(photo by musicvisionary2000)
Feng Shui expert Carole Provenzale told me that “Feng Shui is literally translated to mean (more…)
“By the Divine Power Vested in Me, I Shall Sell Your House”
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008This is another blog of our Wednesday Series on: Can [this] sell the house?!
Last blog we talked about if Feng Shui works, some say it works wonders and some say it is a total crock. Continuing in that thread, does St. Joe sell your house?!
Here is a little bit more background to Saint Joseph: “ The custom hearkens back at least to the great St. Teresa of Avila (A.D. 1515 – 1582), foundress of the Disalced Carmelite Order. As her Order spread, a new convent had to be built, and in order for a new convent to be built, land must be had. When the nuns found a particular piece of land that was perfect for their purposes, they also found that their coffers weren’t full enough to purchase it, so they decided to ask the intercession of St. Joseph, burying medals imprinted with his likeness in the ground of the desired property as a sign of their prayers. It worked.
It also worked for Blessed Brother André Bessette, who was able to get the land on which he built the Shrine of St. Joseph of Mount Royal, in Montreal, Canada by praying to St. Joseph and burying a St. Joseph medal on the grounds of the future site as a sign of his prayers.
Now, both of these events deal with acquiring land, not selling it, and they deal with St. Joseph medals, not St. Joseph statues. Nonetheless, over time, the folk custom came to be for sellers of homes to bury a statue of St. Joseph as a sign of prayer asking to find a buyer and hasten the sale.” (http://www.fisheaters.com/stjoestatue.html)
Apparently 2 million statues of Saint Joesph are sold each year, what do you think? Desperate times call for desperate measures?
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