It is possible to wholesale a short sale and has been done frequently, but the banks are less forgiving now and it is tougher to get material discounts. 

I have a strong suspection your partner is going to be less enthusiastic about your terms, gathered unilaterally via Internet census, than you think

If he needs some large draw up front,  I would buy the materials from Home Depot and work with the contractor to have it delivered to the house.  

To me, minimal means I'm going to clean some carpet, put less than $500 in new/replace material into it and then paint a couple rooms.What you want to do here is turn "minimal" into a number.  1.

Bathroom and Floor tiles (Plus Materials) are all on site.This week we will begin to primer and Paint, begin to install the Kitchen, Bath, and Floor Tiles, and start to install the new wood floors.We originally were going to refinish all of the wood floors, however after starting to work on the floors we realized that some of the floors don't have enough wood on the broads in order for us to sand down and refinish.

Since I am new to the business, can anyone recommend any good books or materials to look over as I start my real estate journey?

We basically only need to pay for the property including taxes etc. and the building materials needed, since we can plan and build by ourselves. 

We basically only need to pay for the property including taxes etc. and the building materials needed, since we can plan and build by ourselves. 

You've found the best place on the internet to learn all things real estate.

I was on the internet tonight, playing around and seeing what I can get into and other ways to market and came across this site.