Even with six decades behind me, there are still things that everybody knows but me. For instance, did you know that burying a small plastic statue of Saint Joseph in your front yard will help you sell your home faster?

I didn’t, even though St. Joe’s real estate skills have been touted by CNN, the New York Times and others.

His long and rich history of assisting with home sales and land acquisition began with nuns praying to expand their cloister in the 16th century.

I soon learned Saint Joseph home-selling kits are sold online at Amazon and sites like buryjoe.com, where a basic kit sells for $4.99 and the Deluxe Kit is $8.95. At st-josephstatue.com, you’ll find the history, how-to instructions, testimonials, articles and prayers.

Per the instructions, the designated prayer is intoned during the burial and repeated daily until the house sells. You must maintain unfaltering faith in yourself, your sale and Saint Joseph.

Typically, the statue is buried in the front yard, close to the “For Sale” sign, upside down, facing the house.

My divine revelation came when I discovered Saint Joseph was selling homes all around me.

Our Waterford neighbors were preparing to sell their home and move to Florida. Lo and behold, like everybody else but me, Cheryl Paganucci knew of Saint Joseph’s magic. She bought her kit in a Catholic charity store, though the practice is not officially sanctioned by the church.

Due to a bee infestation near her real estate sign, Paganucci had to bend the rules. She buried Saint Joseph in a nearby flower bed. The house sold in four months. Not an award-winning performance, but then the bees obviously skewed the procedure.

Also, with all the distractions that come with moving, she left the statue buried. This could be a problem. The rules say you must take him with you after the sale or the home will be doomed to change hands frequently.

In fact, Stephen Binz’s 2003 book, “Saint Joseph, My Real Estate Agent,” includes a tale of an impatient man who threw the statue in the trash. His local newspaper soon reported “Local Dump Has Been Sold.”

After the “skewing of the bees” experiment, I discovered Kirsten Fedors of Montville was selling her home. Like everybody else but me, she knew of Saint Joseph.

Fedors bought a statue on Amazon, and bought another for her parents, Mike and Donna Fedors of East Lyme, who were also selling their home. They, too, knew of Saint Joseph’s power.

With her home listed, and the For Sale sign installed, Kristen buried the statue, carefully following the instructions and prayer sequence. The house sold in three days.

Mike and Donna also buried their statue. After viewing dozens of homes, Kirsten decided to buy her parents’ home. Perhaps two Saint Joseph statues in one family was too powerful to escape.

This summer, I randomly asked a fellow golfer if he had ever heard of the Saint Joseph myth. Like everybody else but me, he had.

“We put our home on the market,” he said, “and after two weeks of zero activity, we buried Saint Joseph. Within days, a bidding war ensued and we sold the house.”

Many real estate agents are familiar with Saint Joseph’s magic, but my last one was not.

I paid $200 to have our North Carolina home “staged” prior to selling, as a hedge against a tanking market. It took several months to sell. Apparently, I could have paid $4.99 and sold it in days.

John Steward lives in Waterford. He can be reached at tossinglines@gmail.com.