Posted by
Elana Safronsky, Managing Editor
Thursday, October 14, 2010 5:01 PM EDT
I actually know someone who buried a figurine of St. Joseph -- head first -- in the front yard, to help her home sell. It sold. Eventually. But was it thanks to the buried boon? We'll never know.
This is why I chuckled during last night's episode of Selling New York: real estate makes people crazy. Perfectly urbane agent Kirk Rundhaug of CORE, for example, had no qualms advising a skeptical soap star (Noelle Beck from As the World Turns) selling her parents' high-priced Gramercy Park pad, to bring in “spiritual intuit” Reggie Arthur, for a Smudge. (A Smudge is a spiritual purification ceremony, involving smoke.) She shrugged, but diligently stepped aside to let the Smudging exorcise a presumed lurking negativity.
While you can purchase yourself a St. Joseph -- patron saint of real estate and carpentry -- home-selling kit for under $10, a Smudge from Reggie Arthur, who only works with agents by the way, will run you more like $150. That's not that bad when compared with the thousands other practitioners charge for more extensive spiritual realignments.
The Kleiers, who dropped in on our live blog last night -- I have a special place in my heart for their cuteness -- admitted that out-of-the-box antics are not all that uncommon in a high stakes market such as Manhattan. When asked about the craziest thing they've had to do to make a deal, they offered up the following:
Though they shouldn't complain -- in last night's episode an-out-of-town client dropped $5 million on an apartment sight unseen (well, seeing only a few hard-won digital photos taken by non-lover-of-the-digital-camera, Michele Kleier).
What's the craziest thing you've done or heard of others do, while selling of buying a home?