Other than Home Depot and Lowes can you recommend places to find reasonable prices for cabinets, flooring, and appliances?

I understand that there is a PDF version available, but Kindle is my preferred platform for organizing and consolidating my reading material.

A lot of people actually prefer VRBO, and here's some info on why: http://www.vrma.com/files/2015Annual/Materials/Third%20Party%20Channels%20How%20to%20Generate%20Millions%20of%20Dollars.pdfIf you are looking to use a channel manager, I'd be happy to refer a few companies.

I understand, for long term BnH property, the best option is to replace the pipe.Any suggestions on what type (materials) of pipes are suitable for cold weather, like Chicago?

The good guys get up and out early.And the really good guys pick-up the material they need for tomorrow's work on their way home today.And the exceptional guys have the stuff delivered.

We use them as perimeter alarms at our construction sites near our equipment too for would-be thieves trying to walk off with materials or the big yellow iron. 

However, many circa-1900 midwest houses, as an example,  originally had painted, Southern yellow pine floors -- faux and decorative floor paint techniques were not at all uncommon in lieu of more expensive materials.

Daniel E.Welcome to BP.There are tons of materials/information at the Private Lending and Conventional Mortgage Advice section.Good luck

I'm guessing you're not shy when it comes to hitting the books, so you'll find loads of material to dig through in the Learn tab up top and spread throughout the forums.

Using big box and online for materials that alone should be around 25-30.