Markets in Everything: Foreclosure Exorcisms

Wall Street Journal -- The foreclosure crisis has helped resurrect an ancient tradition: the house cleansing. Buyers are turning to witches, psychics, priests and feng shui consultants, among others, to bless or exorcise dwellings.Sellers, too, are adopting the trend to help move a property stuck on the market. 

In recent months, foreclosure and other distressed sales have represented about a third of all home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors. With so many foreclosures riddling the market, some buyers find that a coat of paint is hardly enough to rid a house of its creepy quotient. 

"It's not entities or ghosts that we're dealing with anymore," says Julie Belmont, a so-called intuitive who works in Orange County, Calif., where 40% of home sales last year were distress sales. "With foreclosures, a lot of it is energy imprints from past discussions, arguments, money problems. All of that is absorbed by the house."