Despite the current financial crunch that threatened to eliminate fireworks shows in Wallingford and Meriden, 

both have found a way to save their respective annual fireworks displays for 2009. This scenario is being played out in communities across the nation as neighborhoods struggle to find a place in the budget for the popular summertime event. Some, like Yonkers, N.Y. and Tuscon, AZ, have canceled their shows. Other places are also feeling the money crunch,  but manage to find the funds to allow the displays to go on as planned.

Meriden: Outsourcing the Big Bang

In Meriden, the City Council went ahead with plans to eliminate the $23,000 cost of their fireworks show when it became known that the Westfield Mall would go be staging their own display. Even if the mall had not planned to hold their own event, the council said they probably would have gone ahead with a scaled back version of the original, with the savings being realized either through shortening the duration of the program or asking their vendor to use less expensive materials.

Wallingford: The Town Taketh Away, Then Giveth Back

Wallingford had originally decided to eliminate their fireworks display due to difficulties with their town budget, but reversed that decision when it was realized that the shortfall could be made up in other areas of the budget. The $31,000 expense would be offset by a $30,000 savings on the cost of the town's property and casualty insurance. The decision was not unanimous, however. Some councilors supported holding the program because the cost is such a small part of the overall budget, making cancellation of the event symbolic at best.

Others were not so supportive of the idea, though. They reasoned that, because of the amount of layoffs happening in the town, any celebration that took place would be hard to explain to those who might be on the receiving end of a pink slip. In the end, tradition won out and the night of fun and excitement that so many have come to expect will still light up the night sky. Come out and celebrate the birth of our nation!

Where To Go:

In Meriden, the festivities will commence at 9:15PM Saturday, July 4th, on the top level of the Sears parking garage at the Westfield Shopping Mall, 470 Lewis Avenue.

Check out the location and get directions here.

In Wallingford, the annual event will kick off as usual on July 3rd at 9:15PM on the knoll at Moran Middle School, 141 Hope Hill Road. Music provided by the Wallingford Community "R Band" will begin at 8:15PM.

Check out the location and get directions here.

We've all seen the articles, blog posts and videos aimed at homeowners exhorting them to make sure they interview several agents prior to making a decision on who to sign on with. All of these sources usually include a list of questions to ask the agent that will help the homeowner to make an informed decision about who to list their home with. After all, it's no simple task to pull the trigger on selling their most valuable asset, and it behooves them to do their due diligence in finding an agent they're comfortable with who will work tirelessly on their behalf to get their home sold for the best possible price.

The list of questions can, depending on the source, range from 10 questions to two dozen or more and usually contain some of these:

1. How long have you been in the business?
2. How will you market our home?
3. How many homes have you sold in the past 12 months?
4. What makes you better than your competition?
5. What is your commission?
6. Do you have any references I can call?

and so on and so forth. All are valid questions and the agent should be able to answer them easily and confidently, and the one that does the best and gives the seller warm fuzzies will almost always get the job.

I said ALMOST.

Recently, I was browsing through the current issue of The Real Estate Professional. a bi-monthly magazine published by REBAC, the Real Estate Buyers Agent Council. I got as far as page 8, where the "60 Days" section is, and started scanning through the contents when a particular headline slapped me in the face:

"Millionaire Widow Allows Dog to Choose Agent"

Huh? Apparently, Candy Spelling, widow of TV producer Aaron Spelling, is putting her husband's L.A. mansion up for sale (for the bargain basement price of $150,000,000) and has elevated...or perhaps reduced...the task of choosing a listing agent to its most sublime level. The widow Spelling is the owner of a little furball called Madison, a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, that obviously has a very discerning nose. Whenever an agent was scheduled for an interview, Mrs. Spelling would have security bring Madison into the room and watch to see how she would react to the agent. If Madison didn't like them, the agent was crossed off the list. Amazing.

Now, one has to wonder if the agents were at all aware that their fate was not being decided by the seller, but by the family pet. I suppose if Madison just up and peed on the agent's Gucci loafers he might get the idea, but what if the Canine Inquisitor was not so forthcoming? How do you suppose the sequence of events would go?

Candy Spelling: Well Mr. Jones, I see you've sold 120 homes this year at an average of 99.5% of asking price, your marketing techniques are second to none in this area, and your references are impeccable.

Agent Jones: Thank you, Mrs. Spelling. We do our best to provide only the highest level of professionalism and...(Security brings Madison into the room)

CS: Oh, it's my little poopsie, Madison! How's mama's little baby, is you my baby? Yes you is! Here you go, get down and go say hello to the nice man...(Madison sniffs agent's pants leg, turns and waddles quickly from the room, security giving chase.)

AJ: She's sure a cutie, isn't...

CS: I'm sorry Mr. Jones, I don't think you're quite what I'm looking for. Security will see you out...

AJ: Er, I thought you said...

CS: Security!! Please see that Mr. Jones makes it to the front door in one piece, won't you?

Well...that went well, didn't it? I'm sure Mr. Jones, brushing off his Armani suit and his bruised ego, is baffled about why he got the bum rush. He probably thought the listing was in the bag. If only he knew that he was snubbed by an 4-legged Irish farm dog. I wonder if Mrs. Spelling realizes the huge mistake she's making. Trusting the sale of a multi-million dollar mansion to the resident car chaser isn't recommended business practice. Downright foolish, actually. That's not to be overly critical of the dog, of course. Soft-coated Wheaten Terriers are intelligent animals who are straight-forward and learn quickly. But they also smell each other's butts, too.

So, would you pass the sniff test?

Stunning home in rural setting with 5+ acres. This home has many upgrades including granite counters, crown molding, vaulted ceilings, first floor MBR Suite, optional bonus room, walk-out basement, wired for indoor/outdoor surround sound. Still time to make your selections! Call Pat for more info at 203-672-4499, or call Wayne at 203-672-4498 to schedule a showing!

Stand alone home in desirable Olde Oak Village. This home has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and over 1700 sf. Living room has a fireplace and hardwood floors, eat-in kitchen boasts Corian counters and tile floors. Family room in lower level with built-in bookcases. Deck offers seasonal views. Call Wayne at 203-672-4498 to schedule your showing today!

A home with a view! This 3-4 bedroom home has plenty of space for everyone. Beautiful updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances, remodeled baths, family room in lower level. In-law possible. Walk across the street to Beaver Lake for fishing, a picnic or enjoy the playground! For more details call Pat at 203-605-3873!

Home Sweet Home! You will be amazed from the moment you walk into this home with its wonderful features and updates, to include crown molding, wainscoting, hardwood floors, great room with fireplace and plasma TV, hot tub, gazebo, fish pond and more! A must see. Call Pat at 203-605-3873 for details!

A pleasure to show! This townhouse has had many updates and is move-in ready. Hardwood floors on first and second floors, new carpet in remodeled lower level family room. Kitchen has lots of cabinets and center island. Spacious rooms throughout. Heat and hot water included in condo fees. Great for first time home buyers!

The picture above notwithstanding, I love Twitter. I do. I've been using it for over a year now, and 3700+ updates and 1300+ followers friends later I really enjoy the people and conversations I've encountered. I've seen breaking news posted there, Amber Alerts, weddings, funerals, illnesses and recoveries, conventions and Tweet-ups, and everything in between. It's been a great ride, and will continue to get better.

But...their customer service, at least in my own humble opinion, really stinks. Here's why:

Like a lot of people, I created a custom Twitter background for my profile. I painstakingly researched and created a rather simple but functional image with all our pertinent information and uploaded it to Twitter using their upload function. Piece of cake. Until I noticed the typo. Ugh. One teeny, tiny letter left out makes all the difference when someone is typing in your web site URL. I wanted things to be perfect, so I modified the background image until it was right, making some other cosmetic changes as well, and then attemted to upload the new image.

And that's when Twitter turned its back on me. It would NOT let me upload the new image! I tried everything I could think of, to no avail. the old, incorrect image remained firmly entrenched in Twitter's grasp, not to be dislodged. Frustrated, I turned to the last bastion of help in the Intertoobz, Technical Support. Now the problem goes from bad to worse. To make a long, arduous story short, here's a timeline of my own personal Fail Whale:

1/2/09 - 1/24/09: Went back and forth with Twitter Tech Support rep Caroline, who gave various reasons why the upload wouldn't work and various workarounds to the problem which also didn't work. Waited for a reply, but none came.

2/17/09: Twitter, with no warning, closed my bug report as being RESOLVED! Uh...no, it wasn't! So, I waited a couple days to let my anger subside, and then...

2/20/09: Submitted NEW bug report asking, in no uncertain terms, WHY they had closed my first report when no solution was found for the problem. No answer from Twitter.

3/2/09: Sent 1st follow-up to Twitter. No response. Status of issue was "waiting to be assigned an operator".

3/6/09: Sent 2nd, more tersely worded follow-up to Twitter. Silence was deafening. Status still the same.

3/21/09: Finally, today I got an automated email from Twitter saying they had a backlog and please check such and such a place because we may have already fixed the issue, blah blah blah...BUT, when I went online to check, my second bug report was ALSO closed as being resolved! HUH??? I haven't heard a peep from anyone at Twitter in over a month and they tell me the problem is fixed? I think not, because I tried to upload a new background just a little while ago and the same thing is happening. So, I reopened the bug report with a comment that would cause third degree burns on unprotected skin and sent it off. Let's see what happens now.

Ok, I know Twitter is free and the expectation of top notch customer service from a free service isn't really practical, but really! How about if they at least make a half-hearted attempt to LOOK at the problem to see if MAYBE they can FIX IT?!?! I'm not expecting phone call detailing everyting they're doing, but geez, an email now and then wouldn't hurt. At least tell me if you can't fix it (which I don't believe), at least I'll respect your honesty, but don't ignore me. I hate being ignored by CS people; it brings out the worst in me, kinda like Mr. Hyde or The Hulk. I was in customer service for a long time before real estate, and if anyone on my staff handled an issue like Twitter has handled this one, I'd be like Peter Finch in "Network": "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more!" And that's exactly the message I want Twitter to get; I'm really, really mad and I hope they take this opportunity to make amends and try to fix the problem. That's all I want, just to be able to change my background image to something other than their drab and lifeless default images. That's it.

Which brings me to the end of this little diatribe. And what better way to conclude than with the self same Peter Finch telling everyone to get up out of their chairs, go to the window, stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more!" His speech is as oh so pertinent to the state of the world today as it was 33 years ago, and it remains one of the most powerful monologues in modern cinema.

You go, Peter. At least you got some response.

If any of my fellow Connecticut Realtors has someone looking for a nice condo in the Litchfield Hills, this is the one!

I was rummaging through my email today, trying to get to Inbox Zero, when I came across an email from the CEO of our MLS announcing the concept of an MLS Bill of Rights. The concept was first unveiled at the Inman Connect gathering in New York City in January and when I got the email I remember skimming through it quickly and then let it sink back into the morass that is my email inbox, until such time that it would float to the surface like the bones of some unfortunate mastodon caught in the grasp of an ancient tar pit.

Well, it floated back to the top today and after reading it I was more than a little surprised that I hadn't heard more chatter about this on the web. Some quick Googling turned up nary a peep from anyone about this development, with the exception of Jonathan Dalton's cogent analysis found here and a few other minor mentions. One would have thought that this would garner a little more press than it has, but maybe we missed something. In case you're wondering what the hubbub is all about, you can read the surprisingly short one page PDF document here.

I can see this concept being implemented in a small New England state like Connecticut, but what about in states that are far larger or even, as Jonathan points out, in a state where some counties are larger than some states? Is it a workable plan? And to take it one step further, how does this affect or influence the concept of a national MLS? Some of the rights listed in the bill are expected, others may generate some debate. When asked what the purpose of the document is, CTMLS CEO Cameron Paine said, "The MLS Bill of Rights is meant to open a dialogue in the MLS industry on what may be expected by brokers from their MLS. It is a living document modeled on the United States Bill of Rights."

Open a dialogue? OK, so let's do that. I'd be interested to hear what your opinion is about adopting an MLS Bill of Rights in your state and whether you think it would be beneficial to agents and/or the public. Also, do you think the Connecticut document is sufficient or does it fall short of its intended purpose? Please share your point of view in comments and, as always, play nice in the sandbox!