As just about everyone kows, the weather in Buffalo can be pretty nasty at times. Today, the winds are whipping up and some schools are closing. If you are going to be out of the house, or even out of town, be sure that you pay attention to the forecast and have some safeguards in place to protect your property. My neighbor is an example of someone who is well preparted. His family is taking a trip out of town and he took all precautions to protect his property.

1. Provide a friend/neighbor with a key to your home and any alarm codes needed. If there is trouble, they can enter the home and reduce any possible damage.
2. Provide emergency contact numbers. In this case cell phone numbers and a relatives number who lives across town.
3. If you have an alarm, especially one that will alert you of water in your basement, provide your alarm company with the phone number of that friend/neighbor so that the nearest person can be alerted of any problem. Doing this could allow them to immediately protect your property from damage.

Your home is a big investment. Take precautions to protect it if you are not around.

Some of us will lose power today with the high winds we are experiencing. Here are a couple of phone numbers that could help.

New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG): 1-800-572-1131
National Grid: 1-800-867-5222

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Here is the City of Buffalo web site. There are some services that can be accomplished online with the Buffalo web site. You can navigate directly to the City of Buffalo services page to find out what can be accomplished without making a trip to city hall.

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Some people would refer to this as a bullnose. I am working through a tile countertop from the great how to article found here: granite tile countertop.

I am using the MK 370 tile saw. I made the jig found in the article and cut my bevels on the back side of the tile so that I can mitre the edge and create a nice detail. Things went very smoothly. I cut the tile and as long as I went at a steady pace, the cuts turned out very nice. There were some tiles that chipped out at the ends, but I think that is due to the nature of the granite that I am using. I am still able to use the chipped pieces on the back side of the countertop. The chipped edge will be covered by the backsplash.

I don’t think that I will be using the 1/8″ grout line in my layout. I am going to butt the tiles right up next to each other to give it more of a solid look. From just a few feet away, the countertop looks like it is a solid slab.

I’ll post updates as the project progresses.

Updated with photos:

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If you are looking for buying and selling tools, the HomeFinderExtra site is a nice place to start. Buffalo.com - HomeFinderExtra.com. It is operated by Buffalo.com (The Buffalo News).

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Have you ever tried to find some cool old photos from your favorite Buffalo landmark? Here is a cool site that has a couple hundred historic photos from the Buffalo area. There are some real classics in here.

They are from the Western New York Heritage Press.

There is even a picture of a tug boat from 1940 that is named “Martha Stewart”.

Enjoy.

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There is a great new web site dedicated to all things about real estate valuations and sales. Zillow.com is a nice new site (Feb 2006) that was launched by the people who founded Expedia.com. They are a well funded outfit ($32 million in funding) that offers tools that should assist anyone who is buying or selling a home. To top it off, it is just fun to use.

If you are in WNY, like me, you will notice that the values are not up to date. The WNY area uses tax assessment data instead of the home valuation Zestimate^TM. I expect that to change in the future.

Zillow offers:

• Value changes for each home, charted over the past year, five years or 10 years.
• Historical value changes for each home as compared to its surrounding zip code, city, state or the entire U.S.
• All comparable home sales in an area.
• Satellite, aerial and parcel views of many homes.
• Individual home data, such as number of bedrooms/bathrooms, square footage, lot size, stories and year built.

It is cool since much of this is based on a graphical map of your neighborhood. They employ some nice technology (like Google Maps) so that you can drag the map, and view the satellite imagery with a simple click. Explore the site, there is some great information that will help anyone who is buying or selling real estate.

With the people behind the company, I would expect many more tools in the future. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are under new ownership at this time next year. This would be a terrific addition for a major online player (Are you listening Yahoo-YHOO, Google-GOOG, IAC/InterActiveCorp-IACI, or News Corp-NWS?)

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