Like @John Thedford said every business has Wholesalers, I used to have an online paintball supply business for three years, I ordered from my biggest competitors and had them drop ship to my customers for a 10-15% profit.

A traveling sales man can probably store boxes of toothbrushes and brushes in the garage without any unreasonable concern as he sells the inventory on a route, a bit of judgment applies, certainly he can't store lawnmowers in crates or bathroom fixtures or gas welding supplies.

Supply, meet demand!

You should be able to supply that to the escrow officer/agent as evidence to receive a credit on your closing statement.

Here in Cleveland, Ohio the supply of good investment properties is tight in the middle to high priced areas with abundant opportunity for those with more tolerance for the inner city.  

Even if you do a lot of work yourself, you still need the cash to pay for the supplies , permits, holding costs, etc.  

If your wife falls off her bike you can sue the company that supplied the road signs, you won't get very far though, but there is nothing stopping you trying.So if something bad did happen, in order of richest people involved, where do you stand?

Which in turn means the normal laws of supply and demand (which determine value) are more difficult to apply.

Decreased Housing Supply Continues to Lessen Affordability: Zillow by Jacob Passy MAR 27, 2015 4:22pm ET Housing affordability has shrunk as the issuing of new housing permits has failed to keep pace with population growth in cities across the country, according to research from Zillow.The cities that have maintained affordability the best are those that have either experienced low rates of population growth or have kept in step with that growth by building more housing units, according to the report published March 27 by Zillowmore....http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/originati...

He left the job and never returned further, he billed the owner for the lost supplies and equipment, then when that wasn't paid, he put a lien on the title.Not sure how I feel about charging for the supplies, but this goes to show, while numbers on a deal initially may make sense, not knowing the area, and having crime like this.