This weekend, Split Rock Resort at beautiful Lake Harmony will host it's annual Cigarfest. Bands, prize raffles, micro brew sampling and more than 40 vendors will present a sampling of their wares. BBQ, music, cigars, booze and general debauchery. For info, call 570-722-9111.

Yesterday I lost my shirt in real estate. No, not because the market is down or any of the reasons you may be thinking. Let me explain....

Nearly every afternoon for the last several months, I have been hearing the strangest sounds coming from across the street. My office is located in the resort area of Lake Harmony, PA and is directly across the street from Split Rock Lodge, so there is almost always some sort of activity or music going on.

My curiosity got the best of me yesterday and I finally decided to investigate. Here's what I witnessed:

A crowd of about 60 or 70 people in swim suits were gathered around chanting, yelling, whistling and waiving paper money while the announcer called the play-by-play action over the microphone...."and it's Grandma Joy, followed by Little Diaper Danny, then Nicky No Neck on the outside. Here comes Chef Don and he's followed by Dances with Beaver...and bringing up the rear is Willie B. Soup."

Yes, it was turtle racing at it's finest -- vacationers betting their turtle bucks and cheering on the jockeys (no, they don't actually ride the reptiles!)

I couldn't resist -- I laid down my turtle bucks all 5 of them -- on Willie B. Soup just because I liked the name and joined the others in chanting and waiving. Now Willie B. was an odds-on favorite and he was coming off a big win over Nicky No Neck. Besides that, he was a thoroughbred -- a direct decendant of the champion Big Tony. How could I lose?

Now, I've never been what you call lucky. Even bet on a horse once at Pocono Downs that ran half way around the track, then back to the barn before he died -- (true). But, this was different. I was feeling lucky. Willie B. wouldn't let me down.

That is until Chef Don, a 14-1 shot came up the far side and took the purse. All of my turtle bucks gone in a moment, I went back to the office with my head down. As for Willie B. Soup, he never even finished the race, instead deciding to turn around halfway down the course and head back to the shade of the turtle pen. Do I know how to pick em or what?

Yeah, back at the office, I told myself -- some days in real estate are better than others. That's what keeps it interesting!

A new agent presented a cma he did for a new customer and asked me to look it over before he presented it to the seller. He's new to my office, but has been licensed a few years and worked previously with one of our competitors, so I was confident that the cma would be of professional quality and up to par.

A quick review and I noticed right away that something was missing -- there were no solds to be found -- only currently listed homes.

I thought, well, I must be missing a few pages, so I asked. Boy was I surprised by the answer --"that's the way I was told to do them," he told me, "then when it doesn't sell in 30 days, we tell the seller we need a price reduction and if it still doesn't sell, we ask for another reduction."

"Huh??" I said in disbelief. Why are you NOT showing the seller what homes are actually selling for in this market? Isn't that the most important thing?

Yeah, I know that the other real estate company gets a lot of listings and I guess now I know why. "I can't believe that not one of the sellers questions what are the actual sales prices," I questioned. "Nope," he replied.

"What happens after a few months and a few price reductions if the property still doesn't sell?" I asked him, "aren't the sellers upset with the agent?

"Well, sometimes, they go and list with someone else for less then," he said.

"Aren't they upset with you then?" I asked.

"I dunno," he replied, "we never hear back from them."

Now maybe I'm naieve, but that's NOT how I want to do business. So my new agent and I had a talk.

"We've gonna provide the seller with useful information, " I said, "including an accurate picture of the real estate market, based on what has actually sold recently. Then we're gonna show him what is on the market currently, what was on the market, but expired without selling, we're gonna show him how long the houses were on the market too. Then, if the seller doesn't like our answer, he is free to go and list his house with that OTHER realtor for whatever he wants and when it doesn't sell and he is ready to be realistic about his home and the market and wants an agency that will work for him, we'll be here, " I said. "After all, isn't it the last realtor who sells the house?

In the mood for a little Trick or Treat? Here's a press release I sent to our local news organizations about one of our more interesting listings.

Things that go bump in the night!

Realtors hoping to ‘Scare Up a Buyer' for historic Gordon Landmark

If you've ever passed through the tiny town of Gordon, Pennsylvania, you probably won't remember much. It's not very memorable. There's no town square, no shopping center. Heck, it's hard to even get a cup of coffee after 6 p.m.

If you've ever visited the tiny town of Gordon, Pennsylvania, you probably didn't stay long. But there are some who did. You might even say their presence remains long after they've passed on.

At least that's the opinion of paranormal investigator Chris Skelly, founder of C.A.S.P.E.R. (Clarity Awareness Spiritual Paranormal Exploration & Research). Skelly and a dozen or so of his co-researchers gathered Saturday night at the former brick school house, which stands at the end of East Biddle Street. Their goal was to investigate a possible spiritual presence at the old school house.

For Skelly, it was his second visit to the building. A previous investigation with another paranormal investigative team in 2002 yielded photos of what Skelly claims is the vision of a small girl with a bow in her hair. The girl was captured on film in an area of the basement next to an old coal bin. According to one member of the research team, that area of the building used to be the janitor's room and when the children misbehaved in school, they were sent to the janitor's room. In another 2002 photo, Skelly says, the outline of a young boy through a white streak of light near the main door is clearly visible.

The school, now privately owned and vacant (at least by anyone of this world), is currently for sale and both the owner and her realtors, The Property Shoppe, LLC. Of Jim Thorpe, are hoping that there's a buyer out there just looking for a haunted or allegedly haunted property to open a business or even renovate and turn it into a home.

The building is a 2,200 square foot, 2-story solid brick building, built in 1890, according to the cornerstone in Italianate style with tall windows and a central split staircase. The building's interior has been gutted to the studs, but the hardwood floors, carved woodwork and even a blackboard or two remains. An addition in the rear, obviously added after the original construction is in dyer need of a roof. "I guess you'd call it a handyperson special, but the building is solid and has good bones," said Jason Larsen of The Property Shoppe, LLC, the property's listing agent.

"It certainly commands a presence the way it sits majestically on that small knoll," proclaimed The Property Shoppe's Broker Kelly Fisher, "it would make a great office or shop."

"Presence" is precisely what the paranormal investigators were looking for last Saturday night.

On this latest exploration, the team began the evening with a protection prayer, said to protect those who visit from any harmful spirits. Next, they spread out in search of any spiritual presence, which might be residing in the building. Armed with an electronic sensor, Skelly circled the area watching for any sign of electromagnetic waves. Since the power was disconnected to the building, one member explained, there shouldn't be any electro magnetic activity, but still, the sensor was activated over and over, glowing red and beeping.

As members scattered throughout the building, flashes from digital cameras were the only lights, but the sounds were everywhere. They were the sounds of "I got some orbs," "over here," "ectoplasm." The members called to each other and shared photos of round white splashes of white they call orbs - thought to be a concentrated area of power. Bob Fanaro of The Property Shoppe even captured an orange orb on film - very rare according to the group's members. There were even sightings and photos taken of ectoplasm, a vaporous or ethereal substance associated with spiritual manifestations.

Next, Skelly setup a voice recorder while his wife, Loriann and others asked questions of the spirits from "what's your name" and "why are you here" to "can we do anything for you?" Some members of the team claimed to hear whispered responses, for the rest of us, we heard only the sound of rain outside and the occasional barking dog.

Little has been written of the building's history. But, according to The History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County, by Joseph H. Zerbey, The six-room schoolhouse was built in 1890 after fire destroyed the former school, which was located across the street. N.M. Frank was the first principal and teacher of the high grades. Teachers typically received a salary of $25 a month and according to one teacher, Miss Bertha Hubler, "we built our own fires and swept and dusted our rooms three times a week." Zerbey's accounting goes on to say that students were absent quite often and discipline was a problem, likely since the schoolwork was the same day in and day out. Later, new subjects were added and attendance became mandatory and the teachers agreed that school became much more enjoyable and truancy became a thing of the past. The first graduation was in 1892 and had four graduates. Until 1928, there was only one teacher for the entire high school. That teacher also served as principal.

Not much else is known of the school, but the building's current owner said that a neighbor told her that there was an influenza outbreak in the 1920s, which claimed many lives in the small town. It wasn't possible to dig graves fast enough to accommodate all of the victims, so the school, as well as a local church, was used for a time as a ‘storage house' for the bodies waiting to be buried.

"So is that who's supposedly haunting this place?" Fisher asked one of the investigators, "or are the children still here?"

Whatever remains - if there's any spiritual presence remaining is still a mystery. Skelly and his team will analyze the recordings made on the EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) recorder, as well as photos taken by the group on this outing. Will they be back again for more investigating? There's no plan right now, but for now, the old building waits patiently, perched up on that knoll, for the next live inhabitants who will buy the building and bring back the "spirit" of the old place.

As the investigations winded down, the group gathered once again in a downstairs classroom and joined in a soul recovery prayer before they disappeared into the rainy night like ghosts.

Chris Skelly of C.A.S.P.E.R. may be contacted at 570-473-7448. For information on purchasing the building, please call Jason Larsen at 570-640-7511 or The Property Shoppe, LLC at 570-325-3302.

Last weekend, I had an appointment to show 2 houses in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. Now, I've always thought of Tamaqua as a "nothing ever happens there, old coal mine town that time forgot." But, in recent years, some very positive things have been happening there. There are new sidewalks and street lights and former vacant store fronts are alive and open for business. The old train station now houses a charming restaurant, and there are great one-of-a-kind shops, like the Company Store and a quilt shop -- even an art gallery. There is a library, parks and clean streets.

On this particular Saturday though, the town was hosting a firemen's convention, complete with a 4 hour parade around the main historic district. Parking was a bit of a hassle, but the weather was gorgeous, so we elected to park where we could and walk from house to house -- sometimes finding ourselves right in the center of the parade.

It was amazing to see the number of folks lining the streets enjoying the parade -- I swear, the whole town was there cheering and waving. Well, I said to my buyer, it certainly is a happy town. She agreed! There was so much positive energy there -- I could not have stage it better.

The house that we were most interested in seeing was tenant-occupied -- usually this makes me nervous. Tenants can sometimes kill a deal, but, again, we found the tenants cooperative and friendly. They even went to the owner's house to obtain information they did not know. The owner came over, answered all of our questions without being pushy or obnoxious -- instead, she was a pleasure to be with. The entire experience was fun.

And yes, my buyer bought the house!