For this unit, I purchased from Lowes online, used my military discount, and set up the delivery right to the property.

All of the "best places to live" lists and articles online aren't the perfect fit because they often heavily weigh the local employment market, a factor that will be of little relevance to me when I eventually make this jump.

After about a year I implemented the program tenant cloud which reduced the calls to almost zero because my tenants can now pay online, sign their lease on line and submit maintenance request online.  

I can find classified military manuals online, information about nearly any topic in a few seconds, I've been using the internet for 20 years, I'm pretty good at it.

Also talked with Quick Books online today for bookkeeping software...   

There seem to be a few resources online but it's hard to tell which are reliable.

The other listings online look pretty stylish.Does anyone with experience in Air BnB have any tips about things I should look out for?

From years of experience, not in REI, but in online forums, skype chat rooms etc. 

Just wondering if there's a quick and reliable online vendor, or should I just take my RE broker's advice (I trust her) and use her "guy" (she's never done home equity through him, to me it just sounds like another person who needs to take a cut)? 

Treat this as a normal business transaction, do not even consider this as being family.As for the interest/principal calculation's there are numerious calculators on line.