( CNN ) -- With home sales falling to five-year lows , homeowners desperate to sell their homes are looking for a little divine intervention . Retailers report statues of St. Joseph are selling briskly . Dawn Hoernemann of Minneapolis , Minnesota , had her one-bedroom home on the market for four months . Every weekend there was an open house . But there were no offers . That 's until she took her mom 's advice and buried a statue of St. Joseph upside down in her front yard . The next week , she had three offers and her home was sold . `` I could n't believe it . I do n't know what it is about it . It worked . It 's some sort of a miracle , '' says Hoernemann . This `` miracle '' has it roots in Catholicism . According to the tradition , burying St. Joseph began hundreds of years ago in Europe . St. Teresa of Avila , a nun in the 16th century , buried a medal of the saint and prayed to St. Joseph to help secure land for a convent . The ritual is said to have worked , and so the trend of burying St. Joseph has caught on . Just ask Phil Cates of Modesto , California . His online retail site , StJosephStatue.com , offers the `` Underground Real Estate Agent '' home-selling kits . For $ 9.95 , the 4-inch statue comes with a burial bag and a burial instruction booklet . There 's even an 8-inch version of the statue for larger homes . Sales have increased 100 percent in the past two years , according to Cates . Robert Malhame , who runs Malhame & Co -- a Catholic supply company on Long Island , says sales of the St. Joseph Statue spiked last year . And he expects the trend to last . `` We 're probably going to sell over 100,000 this year , '' he says . The biggest demand is coming from the Northeast and the Midwest , he says . Jan Wheelehan , the store manager at a Catholic retail supply store in St. Louis , Missouri , says the statues have been one of the better sellers , with sales increasing 25 percent this year . `` People seem more panicked and there is a hurried-ness to their expression when they come in , '' she says . St. Joseph is even on the auction block . There are dozens of St. Joseph home-selling kits on Ebay . From glow in the dark St. Joseph statues to mini pocket shrines , St. Joseph has a whole new following . Burying St. Joseph statues has its own set of rules , too , although they can vary . Home sellers are instructed to dig a hole near the `` For Sale '' sign . The hole should be three inches taller than the statue itself . The saint should then be facing the direction of the street . Then prayers to St. Joseph should be said before the saint is covered with dirt . Once the house is sold , St. Joseph should be dug up and put in a place of honor in the new home . Some renters have even cashed in on St. Joseph 's divine intervention in hopes of getting a break on rent or to have their application accepted . They buried St. Joseph statues in flowerpots . The statue 's feet should either be facing the street or in the direction you want to move , according to Cates . The whole statue-burying process was a bit hard to swallow for Joe Iannacone . His Dallas , Texas , home was on the market earlier this month . Iannacone first heard about the ritual from his godfather . `` I looked on the Web . It was less than $ 10 . So , I said why not ? '' recalls Iannacone . Six hours later a young woman walked into the house and made a bid . `` I 'm not very religious , '' says Iannacone . `` But that was pretty amazing . I was shocked . '' St. Joseph may have made a believer out of some sellers , but for some real estate agents , selling a home is n't the work of a higher power . `` What a crock ! '' says Connecticut real estate agent David D'Ausilio . `` As a Realtor I think it 's ridiculous . The business has always been simple . If a house is properly priced and properly exposed , it 'll attract buyers and it will sell -- St. Joseph or no St . Joseph . '' Cates says the statue is more than just superstition . `` It 's the idea of getting beyond yourself . It 's about hoping and praying for something that is bigger than you are , '' he says . And these days , maybe just a little hope for home sellers is n't such a bad thing . E-mail to a friend .
With home sales declining , some sellers seek divine intervention . Tradition says burying St. Joseph statue will help sell homes . Sales of statues are brisk .