"Drive-in Real Estate Services"

"I ain't lyin'
If it wasn't for bad luck
I wouldn't have no kind-a luck
If it wasn't for real bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all"

Born Under A Bad Sign
Written by Booker T. Jones / William Bell
First recorded by Albert King (1967)

Also performed by: Cream, Booker T. & The M.G.'s, Rita Coolidge, Peter Green, The Pat Travers Band, Big Fat Mama, Paul Rodgers featuring Neal Schon, Jimi Hendrix, Sarasota Slim, Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band, Etta James, Tino Gonzales, and Albert Lee

I was mid-way through American Idol on Wednesday night with the family when the phone rang. Caller ID showed "City of Bellingham" and I thought, "At least it isn't a telemarketing call!"  I wish it had been!  The operator / dispatch asked whether I was the "call-out" for 8045 Birch Bay Drive (our Birch Bay office).

Straining to hear Tatiana in the background and her latest effort in front of Simon, Paula, Randy, and Kara, all mediated by Ryan Seacrest, I grudgingly admitted to being the designated call-out. "Don't worry," said the operator, "No one is hurt, but could you come out to your building and attend with the Sheriffs deputies as a car has hit your building."  She got my estimated ETA and quick as a flash, I was out of my lounging shorts and on with a coat and headed down to the office.

I came along Birch Bay Drive and saw a smoke haze as I approached the office. Although I was first apprehensive, I realized the smoke was from a beach fire from some hardy soul. There were no police or fire or ambulance flashers at our waterfront office, that's a good sign, I thought to myself.

I arrived and there were two Sheriff's department vehicles - and a slightly mangled Toyota leaking what looked to be radiator fluid. I was met by the driver of the Toyota who apologized profusely for hitting the building. Apparently, he had just passed a field sobriety test and was arranging with the two Whatcom County sheriffs on scene to have his car towed and removed from the property.

I believe he may have been adjusting his radio or something when he looked up and realized he just knocked down a stop sign and was imminently about to have an unfortunate contact with our real estate brokerage building. Poor fellow, I was glad he was unhurt - and there was no one in the building ... the silver lining!

There were material and equipment casualties however:

                        Ø     The stop sign

Ø     3 large plate glass windows

Ø     headers, posts, exterior wall, drywall, wiring for telephone, internet, and power along the wall that was struck are all damaged

Ø     advertising lettering on windows; �real estate on a higher level, estates, residential, land, lots, cottages, condos, farms, acreages, commercial, et cetera�

Ø     1 desk damaged

Ø     a ripped executive chair

Ø     several window boxes with miniature boxwoods

Ø     a desktop PC damaged to a no-boot state of condition

Ø     window blinds down and destroyed

Ø     hanging flyer displays down

Ø     miscellaneous items

I got a hold of the emergency line of our insurance carrier and arranged for a "button down" crew to come out ASAP to put plywood up over the opened up side of the building and clean up glass, et cetera. Hats off to Joel at SSK and to Jay at Northwest Professionals!  I was home by midnight. It will be several weeks to effect a complete repair. Like the 6 million dollar man, we'll be better, stronger, faster!

I have recently added some new Bellingham real estate information for the benefit of my clients and those needing to search for homes in Bellingham, Washington and surrounding areas. Of course, we provide some great Bellingham Map Search tools already (complete with a neighborhood selector that shows you the boundaries of Bellingham neighorhoods).

I've also added a preselected search of Bellingham homes for sale using a three mile radius, but users can adjust the search criteria easily. There is also a general information page on the services we provide for Bellingham real estate, as well as historical and geographical information on the city.

Read more on surrounding areas:

• Semiahmoo Real Estate | Semiahmoo Homes For Sale
• Birch Bay Real Estate | Birch Bay Homes For Sale
• Blaine Real Estate | Blaine Homes For Sale

Call me, my life
Call me, call me, any, anytime
Call me, for a ride
Call me, call me for some overtime
Take me out, and show me off
Put me on the scene                Deborah Harry ~ Blondie ~ 1980

Let me tell you about a friend of mine. (Smart, tech savvy, handsome, small business owner, and staff of 35 in two Bellingham locations, real estate brokerage services) All right you guessed it.....me.

He, correction, I just got off the phone with calls from the Fraud Departments of AT&T, MCI, Ameritell, Startech, and Qwest. Seems our little PBX voicemail system (that I thought was properly secured with pass codes and so forth) was garnering charges for calls from our seven business telecom lines to such exotic locales as India, the Philippines, Nepal, Liberia, Qatar, Eritrea, Senegal, Kenya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. Hacked to the an amount approaching $4,000 from 1:00 AM to about 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning in September... Ouch!

Symptoms: Incoming calls didn't ring at the reception station but the lines were lit! Staff thought it was a slow day with all the media hype on the Bellingham real estate meltdown, who could fault their logic?

Hack: Bad guys hacked a voicemail extension to call forward and auto-dial 1010 and international calling access codes and also set voicemail announcement to audibly say, "YES" at timed intervals to computer generated collect calls or third party billing authorizations. Clever buggers.

Duration of Attack: Under four hours on a Saturday morning.

The Fix: Vendor reset system, upgraded the software for the telecom hardware, new random generated pass codes, system audit, disallowed remote line access and setting changes.

Financial Ramifications? 

According to the FCC it is the responsibility of an individual or business to secure and maintain their telecommunications system (even if it is a single home phone.) Ergo, were responsible for paying the charges even though it is an outright determined fraud on our business.

According to our long distance provider (and the companies that have billed them) It's our responsibility to pay the charges on the bill even though they know we were compromised illegally. They have offered a 10% discount on the charges, which they say, is the cost they are being billed. Gee, thanks.

Current Action Plan?

• Add ongoing telecom audit to security program.
• Change pass codes regularly.
• Keep upgrading security options on software and hardware for all systems.
• Company Policy Revision No personalization of extensions on office telecom system.
• Contact Department of Homeland Security (considering some of the call destinations)
• Contact Sheriffs department.
• Pay the bills.
• Sell Bellingham real estate.
• Move on.