Forward from the Editor

At REM, we often feature stories from industry professionals sharing their insights. We also love highlighting personal experiences that shed light on the emotional journey of buying and selling a home. This holiday season, we’re happy to share a story from Devin Meireles, a homeowner whose recent real estate adventure is one many of us can relate to—stress, surprises and, ultimately, success.

Devin’s journey explores the challenges of selling a home under pressure, the creative strategies Realtors employ and how a bit of faith (and a certain statuette) led to a serendipitous resolution. 

Buying and selling can be complicated, especially for those working with strict timelines to get the deal done. The risk in itself can deter clients from entering the market, considering how quickly things can change. Life has a knack for pouring when it rains, but for those who believe in miracles, sometimes everything can happen serendipitously.

Back in September, we successfully bought our dream home. Maybe it was an impulsive decision, but the opportunity to upsize from a modest bungalow to a two-storey home in our desired neighbourhood, with the added bonus of rate improvements, was too good to pass up.

That kickstarted the process of listing our current property, and with a looming deadline, things were stressful. God forbid we could not close on what we hope will be our forever home.

The waiting game and a desperate search for solutions

As days passed, we considered worst-case scenarios, and our anxiety was amplified. The down payment was riding on the sale of our home. So when things weren’t happening as quickly as we’d hoped, we sounded the alarm.

Our Realtor tried different strategies with no luck in what was a precarious time for Toronto’s housing market. Potential buyers came over to view the home, but we weren’t getting offers. The home was staged well, priced competitively, and had high visibility with great feedback each time. So why wasn’t it happening? We couldn’t figure it out, and comments from other agents further corroborated our sentiments.

With one month to go, our agent put out incentives and scheduled another open house with extended hours for more foot traffic. We stayed hopeful. Our family kept us in their thoughts, and an interesting video sent by my mother had us trying anything to get it done.

A statuette, a prayer and a turning point

TikTok described how Italians take faith in Saint Joseph to help sell their homes. All you need to do is bury a statuette of the patron saint in front of your home, upside down and facing outwardly to the sidewalk, with a promise of selling your home. After it sells, you need to dig the statuette up and take it to your new house as a show of gratitude.

Being Portuguese and raised Roman Catholic, the Italian advice was not that absurd. We were ready to try anything, and we were desperate. So we placed an order on Amazon for our own statuette. We figured why not, and our agent said, “What the hell!”

It was peculiar when the delivery did not arrive the next day, as typical with a Prime membership, nor that week for that matter. Apparently, coming from China, the little parcel only landed on our front porch a day before the anticipated open house. We scrambled to bury it and announced our intentions, doing our best to manifest a buyer.

From faith to final offers

Well, life happens in mysterious ways. Midway into that Sunday open house, our agent sent us a message, “Hi guys, very good turnout so far, very impressed. Busiest one yet.”

Compared to the prior weeks, the message was promising and gave us reason to be optimistic. We kept our composure and prayed that something would come of it. Later that day, as expected, our agent called us to provide an update.

She touted lots of visitors and some verbal interest. However, we were jaded after weeks of hearing similar comments, so we weren’t holding our breath. Suddenly, she mentioned that one of the visiting agents was calling on the other line. Our hearts skipped a beat.

Well, after she took the call, she reported back to advise that their client would be placing an offer as soon as the next morning. Hallelujah! Moments later, another agent sent a registered offer via email.

Sold and starting fresh

By the grace of whatever you want to call it, our house was sold that evening with a secured deposit the next day. It’s hard to explain how it all came about—either a weird coincidence or that little statuette made the difference. Regardless, we dug it up and took it with us on our move the next month.

Our agent thought it was amusing, but we couldn’t help but feel like there was something there. St. Joseph now sits atop the doorway of our forever home as a reminder that sometimes a little risk can be unsettling, the market can be a mysterious beast, but good things can happen in the most unexplainable ways if you have a little faith.