Pat & Wayne Harriman - Broker/Owners Wallingford CT Real Estate

Villa Capri Restaurant Hosts 2nd Annual Pizza Madness

Pizza: from the Latin pinsere, meaning “to press”. No matter what the etymology of the delicacy is, to those who love it it means, “Good God, let’s eat!”, and on March 21st pizza lovers can unite under one roof to do just that.

On that date, Wallingford’s Villa Capri Restaurant is once again hosting the 2nd Annual Pizza Madness event from 5:30pm to 7:45pm. Eleven pizza shops from Wallingford and Meriden will gather together and bring their best creations to share with the public. Here is a list of this years entrants:

• Amore Apizza
• Christo’s Pizza
• Family Pizza of Meriden
• Fragomeni’s Pizza
• Illiano’s Restaurant
• Little Caesar’s
• Little Rendezvous
• Minervini’s Pizzeria
• Peeps Pizza Parlor
• Primo Pizza
• Rimini’s

(Deadline for participation is March 14th!)

Pizzas will be judged by a panel of three elite judges (not yet determined) who will deliberate over crust, sauce, cheese, spices and toppings to come up with a winner in three categories:

• Best Overall (Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice)
• Best Original Pizza (People’s Choice)
• Best Specialty Pizza (People’s Choice)

Entrance fee for this grand event is $10, and there will be a DJ, a cash bar, raffles and a trivia contest. We attended last year’s inaugural event and can honestly say we had some really good pizza, some really radical pizza, and a lot of fun! So give the Cook the night off and come on down to the Villa Capri and sink your teeth into some of the best pizza this side of Little Italy!

Some pizza facts:

• Pizza is a Greek creation (but the Italians perfected it!)
• In 1987, October was designated National Pizza Month
• Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza each day, or 350 slices per second.
• Approximately 3 billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year.
• Most popular topping: pepperoni
• Least popular topping: anchovies
• Sixty-two percent of Americans prefer meat toppings on their pizza, while 38% prefer vegetarian
• 61% prefer thin crust, 28% prefer thick crust /deep dish, and 11% like extra thin crust.
• More pizza is consumed during Super Bowl Week than any other week of the year.
• The world's largest pizza was built on October 11, 1987 by Lorenzo Amato and Louis Piancone. The pizza covered 10,000 square feet and measured 140 feet across. It weighed in at 44,457 pounds, consisting of, among other items, 18,174 pounds of flour, 1,103 pounds of water, 6,445 pounds of sauce, 9,375 pounds of cheese and 2,387 pounds of pepperoni. The pie was cut into 94,248 slices and eaten by more than 30,000 spectators at the baking in Havana, Florida.

“Mark the calendar, save the date, see you there and don’t be late!”

Wallingford CT to Host 19th Annual United Way NFL Players Weekend

For the past 125 years since their humble beginnings in Denver, the United Way has been at the forefront in the effort to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good. This noble goal is once again being brought to Wallingford in the form of the 19th Annual United Way NFL Players Weekend.

Taking place over two days and at three different venues, this fantastic event gives everyone the chance to not only help a good cause, but also buy NFLS gear, enjoy delicious food and drink and even rub elbows with over 20 stars from several NFL teams, including the Patriots, Jets, Bills, Packers and more!

The festivities kick off on Friday, March 9th with a silent/live auction at Zandri’s Stillwood Inn from 6pm to 9:30pm. Cost of entry is $65 per person or $600 per table of 10 in advance, or $75 per person at the door and includes a buffet. If you’re unable to attend the auction, never fear, the United Way of Meriden and Wallingford is also offering an online auction as well. Some of the items up for grabs include a South African photo safari, a home water softening system, a football autographed by Mike Ditka and an Esteban guitar. This auction closes at 4:30pm on Thursday, March 8th, so get your bids in now! Click here to participate in the online auction. Click here for online registration for the auction.

The fun continues on Saturday, March 10th at the Johnson Athletic Center on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall with a Youth Clinic from 12 noon to 3pm. Kids between 8 and 14 years of age can spend the afternoon learning football tips from the NFL stars, plus get some cool Reebok gear, too! Space for the clinic is limited so pre-registration is required. Cost to attend is $50 per youth. Click here to pre-registration soon, as this event is sure to fill up fast!

The final event is “Bowl with the Pros”, which will be held at Colony Lanes in Wallingford from 6pm to 9:30pm. What an opportunity it will be to bowl a few games with NFL players, who will also be signing autographs, so be sure to bring your football memorabilia for signing! Lanes must be sponsored at a cost of $750 per lane and this fee will include 4 wristbands for the autograph session. Click here to sponsor a lane.

The tentative list of the NFL players scheduled to attend include Brian Hoyer and Nick MacDonald from the New England Patriots; Vladimir Ducasse of the New York Jets; Chris Campbell anad Shaky Smithson of the Green Bay Packers, and many more. Click here to see the full list.

This promises to be a fantastic weekend filled with fun and sure to make some great memories for young and old alike. And, you get to help an amazing organization in the process. For more info, call the United Way of Meriden and Wallingford at (203) 235-4403 or go to their web site, www.unitedwaymw.org.

Top Connecticut Cities and Towns: 2012 (Part 2)

This is the second in our four part series highlighting the rating of Connecticut cities and towns by Connecticut Magazine. In our first post, we focused on the cities and towns with populations of between 10,000 and 15,000. To recap, the publication set the following criteria for the rankings:

They first sorted the localities into four groups based on population:

• 10,000 – 15,000
• 15,000 – 25,000
• 25,000 – 50,000
• 50,000+ (Towns with populations below 10,000 will be featured in their own four part series coming soon!)

Then, information was collected in the quality-of-life criteria that are most important to residents:

• Schools
• Crime Rate
• Cost of Living
• Local Economy
• Leisure/Cultural Outlets

Then the numbers were crunched and rankings were awarded based on how the towns scored in those criteria, with a “1” being the best score possible. In this second part of the series, we’ll be taking a look at the next population segment, between 15,000 and 25,000 residents, and specifically those in our market area:

15,000 – 25,000: Ridgefield Repeats, East Lyme and Stonington Advance

Ridgefield was once again at the top of this group, due mainly to great schools, a robust economy, and nearly non-existent crime rate of .69 crimes per 1000 residents. Farmington, last year's #8 in this category, moved on to the next higher population group allowing both Stonington and East Lyme to move up several spots in the ratings. Unfortunately, many of the communities we serve were outside of the top 20 shown here. For example, our neighbor to the south, North Haven, was at #23 (same as last year), while Seymour and Ansonia were at #31 and #32 respectively, affected mainly by poor economic conditions and high unemployment that plague the Naugatuck Valley. The median town in this group appears to be Stonington which, despite its poor showing in education, more than made up for it in other ways (be sure to visit Stonington Vineyards if you're ever in the area, their Seaport White is to do for!).

To see the complete rankings of all 32 towns in this category, see the Connecticut Magazine report here. Remember, these rankings are not to be considered the last word in what the quality of life is in a particular city/town; however, they are a starting point and can be used as a point of comparison when making a decision about where to live in the state. There are many reasons for liking – or not liking – a specific city or town that transcend any statistical ranking or report, and only you can decide if a place is right for you and your family.

In the next installment, we'll take a look at the towns and cities with a population between 25,000 and 50,000.

Related posts:

Top Connecticut Cities and Towns 2012: Part One

Top Connecticut Cities and Towns 2012: Part One

Ever wonder what makes one community better to live in than another? If so, then you’re in luck as Trumbull-based Connecticut Magazine has once again published their analysis of how various cities and towns rank based on several criteria. As usual, they have sorted the localities into four groups based on population:

• 10,000 – 15,000
• 15,000 – 25,000
• 25,000 – 50,000
• 50,000+ (We will feature the smaller towns with populations below 10,000 in their own series of posts coming soon)

Then, information was collected in the quality-of-life criteria that are most important to residents:

• Schools
• Crime Rate
• Cost of Living
• Local Economy
• Leisure/Cultural Outlets

Then the numbers were crunched and rankings were awarded based on how the towns scored in those criteria, with a “1” being the best score possible.

In this four part series of posts, we’re going to show how the top 20 places in each population size fared, and highlight how some towns in our market area fared as well. We’ll begin in Part One with those communities between 10,000 and 15,000 residents:

10,000 – 15,000: Weston New #1, Cromwell, E. Hampton Improve

Very few towns in our market area fell within this group, with the exception of Cromwell, Oxford and Derby which finished 9th, 12th and 16th respectively. Cromwell improved on their previous ranking by 2 spots, thanks mostly to a lower crime rate and good leisure activities, while Derby jumped 3 places after improving in every category. Oxford was rated in a different group last time. Weston and Canton slipped ahead of previous number one Old Saybrook. Weston’s improvement came mainly through lower real estate prices, as median home prices their fell by 25% from 2007 and 10% from 2009.

East Hampton appears to be the happy medium in this group, with above average scores in education, crime and cost of living offsetting subpar numbers in economy and leisure. As we’ve noted before, it’s interesting how the towns that placed well in education, crime and economy are almost always at the bottom of the pack for cost of living and leisure, proving once again that a good school system, low crime rates and good economic opportunities cost money to maintain.

Keep in mind that there are obviously many more criteria to be considered when deciding where to live in Connecticut, but the ones scored here are important and can be used as a starting point for comparison when deciding where to call home. There are many reasons for liking –or not liking – a specific city or town that transcend any statistical ranking or report, and only you can decide if a place is right for you and your family.

In Part Two of this series, we’ll take a look at the next group of towns, those with a population between 15,000 and 25,000 people.

Meriden CT Market Update for January 2012

Here's the way the housing market is shaping up in Meriden as of January 31, 2012:

There are currently 228 single family homes for sale in Meriden:

• Low list price: $46,350
• High list price: $575,900
• Average list price: $189,623
• Median list price: $169,900
• Average Days on Market: 104
• Homes sold on average for 93.7% of list price

There are 66 homes currently under contract, priced between $15,000 and $329,000. Based on the number of homes sold in January (25), it would take approximately 9 months to sell the current inventory.

As for condominiums, there are currently 87 condosfor sale:

• Low list price: $43,000
• High list price: $274,900
• Average list price: $123,980
• Median list price: $119,900
• Average Days on Market: 80
• Condos sold on average for 90.9% of list price

There are currently 17 condos under contract, priced between $30,000 and $266,900. Based on the number of condos sold in January (3), it would take approximately 29 months to sell the current inventory.

Here is a chart comparing annual home and condo sales in Meriden for the year-to-date:

There was little change in the Meriden home inventory in January, as single family homes gained 2 units to 228 (compared to 238 in January of 2011), while condos fell 5 units to 87 available properties, just one off the 88 units available a year ago. The average sale price for both condos and single family homes fell to their lowest levels since last Fall, $177,639 for homes and $112,735 for condos. Interest rates for conventional loans remain below the 4% range and CHFA rates (for first time home buyers) are still at 3.250%. Meriden single family home sales fell to 25 units from 31 in December, but was up 56% over January of 2011. Condo sales took a beating, however, falling to just 3 units sold from 8 the previous month but up from 4 in January of 2011. While there was minimal change in the inventory or in units sold,it was enough to push Meriden's market into a normal buyer's market, with about 10 months of home inventory. We had hoped for an increase in sales activity in January instead of a 30% drop from last month, but it is 25% better than last January so we'll take that and be happy! At this point, we're not holding out for a good February since whatever closes this month will be what went under contract in December during the peak of the holiday season.

Meriden Properties For Sale

(zoom out to see more properties)

Related articles

• Meriden Market Update for December 2011 (wallingfordwired.com)
• Meriden Market Update for November 2011 (wallingfordwired.com)
• Meriden CT Market Update for October 2011 (wallingfordwired.com)