During tough times some turn to St. Joseph
When sales slow, many homeowners look for help from St. Joseph.
Q. We've been trying to sell our home, but haven't had any luck because our local market is still a little slow. I have heard that burying a statue of St. Joseph in the front yard can help to find a buyer more quickly. What do you think about this practice? When did it get started? We're getting so desperate to sell that we're ready to try anything!
A. I've been writing about real estate for four decades. And without fail, I have always received a flurry of letters like yours when the housing market goes into its cyclical downturn every five to seven years.
I'll once again answer the question about St. Joe -- and then hope such queries won't be resurrected for a long time.
St. Joseph is the Catholic Church's patron saint of homes, families and carpenters. Even church officials aren't sure how modern-day homeowners started to believe that burying a statue of St. Joe could speed a home sale, although some say the idea stems from a group of European nuns in the Middle Ages who buried medallions of the saint and then prayed that he would provide land to build new convents -- a request that was soon fulfilled.
Some recent sellers and real-estate agents swear that the practice works, while others say that it's a bunch of malarkey. Should you find yourself among the former, most believers say the statue should be buried near your for-sale sign and about a foot deep.
The statue, many say, should also face toward the home but be buried upside down (the theory being that St. Joe will work extra hard to find a buyer so he can be unearthed and stand upright again).
Church officials generally agree that it's not blasphemous to bury a statue of St. Joseph in your yard, provided that you dig it up after the property is sold, give it a good scrubbing and then place it on your hearth or other place of honor in your next home.
Several Catholic bookstores and Internet retailers even sell "St. Joseph home-selling kits" for $5 or $10, replete with a statue, prayer card, accessories and directions.
Q. We are planning to retire soon and have been looking at several out-of-state advertisements for land that mention "net acres." What does the term mean?
A. A net acre is the amount of land that can be built upon. For example, if you purchased a 10-acre property but three acres were on a steep slope that couldn't be developed, your net acres would be seven.
Q. A company that sells recreational vehicles in our area has been advertising that loan payments on RVs often qualify for the same tax-deductions that owners of "traditional" second or vacation homes can take. Is this true?
A. Yes, it's true. An RV or even a boat that has cooking, sleeping and sanitary facilities can qualify as either a first or second home and thus allow the owner to deduct loan payments in much the same way that owners of a single-family home or vacation getaway can deduct the interest on their 30-year mortgage.
Not all RVs and boats qualify. For example, the Internal Revenue Service probably won't let you deduct the loan payments on a camper that you purchase if it doesn't have a stove or bed: Claiming that you like to cook outside or rest in a sleeping bag under the stars doesn't matter, unless you have the ability to also cook and sleep inside the vehicle.
The same guidelines apply to people who want to claim a tax deduction for the loan on a sailboat. If you're fortunate enough to own a boat that meets IRS rules, you can probably deduct most or all of your loan payments. But you shouldn't even bother to ask for the write-offs if you're like the owner of a bathroom-less boat who supposedly tried to deduct his payments by claiming that the plastic bucket he used to relieve himself and then tossed overboard qualified as a "sanitary facility."
The IRS denied the write-offs because the bucket wasn't considered very sanitary. The taxpayer wasn't happy, but fish would have applauded the decision, if only they had hands.
© 2008, Cowles Syndicate Inc.