It's also nice, because there have been times when a stain needed to be professionally laundered, or we need supplies from the store, and the cleaner does it and just charges her time. 

Take one of the vanes to Home Depot, Lowes, Menards or a similar store in your area and they will help you match it.Clean vanes easily with Clorox Wipes.

Keep in mind if you do get audited, your receipts from grocery stores, local entertainment, etc could substantiate your claim.

You can usually find them at most home improvement stores, and they're fairly easy to install if you're doing it yourself.

I tried vinegar/baking soda, dollar store cleaners, and Woolite (worked, but would need way too many bottles for the house to make this cost effective).Do those $50 Home Depot carpet steam cleaners work well?

We're curious about your go-to hardware store!

My instincts say go for mixed use with a couple of stores on the bottom and apartments above.

Any tips on finding good quality material but for a reasonable price like countertops for example, would remnant stores be a better place?

The Wholefoods store was a Cadillac dealership at that time.

Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum.