Don't eat the paint chips.

Too high of a debt load could put you at risk when the chips are down.

(We were originally going to do carpet in only the upstairs bedrooms and have almost 100 yr oak wood floors downstairs, including the master downstairs.)I have purchased light fixtures for about half of the house (3,000 sf), but have yet to purchase the other light fixtures and bathroom vanity mirrors. 

And he has a source for solid oak cabinets, that are cheaper than Home depots stock cabinets, that we can finish with any paint or stain we want.  

To add to Sam's point, I would look into Point Breeze, Cobbs Creek, and West Oak Lane as these are also big-time flip markets.

Small things that chip away at the budget that always come up. 

These are the light oak, probably mass produced 15 or so years ago, installed in the tract homes in my subdivision, and probably thousands of others.

My prop mgr is telling me that they should be poly'd, or else they'll peel or chip, and will fail Section 8 inspections down the road.

Our houses that we work on are not restoration projects, but more of a bringing the original flavor back to life with some updated points.For an example, last year we worked on an amazing home with a smaller footprint (720 sq ft) but had three stories.The Craftsmanship of the word work was outstanding; just a little rough at places and 90% of it was painted.If this was our own home, we might have stripped the paint, revealed the oak, and refinished all the woodwork, making it drop dead gorgeous (We love natural wood).

The problem comes when it starts to deteriorate and chip and fall apart then the dust gets into the air and it needs to be taken care of.