I haven't carried a balance in over 4 years.If you use it in your business responsibly you  can earn discounts at home improvement stores, free flights, or cash back.It has its place.

What the anent told me last night is one of the stores that is being bought out has a contingency that they remain very close to where they currently our.

I used to work in corporate/retail real estate and would order geotech reports for every new store being built.

And of course there are deals online with the typical big-box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot but I haven't decided if I trust them entirely yet (they royally screwed up my cabinet order on the last rehab that I did, and I wound up going to a regular custom cabinet shop instead).Laminate/Engineered Flooring and Kitchen/Bath Tile is what I'm interested in hearing from you on primarily. 

If you're making a lot of income from wholesaling or fix and flipping, this might be a benefit because it can avoid SET on part of the income.The IRS views fix and flipping and wholesaling exactly the same as running a shoe store.  

The Midwest is my pick.Especially Ohio and Michigan.Still lots of value here.With the media pimping "high unemployment" and "declining population" most institutional investors are still sleeping which is good for us smaller operators as we get to pick and choose.I feel like a kid in candy store lol.Just bought one for $25,000 that needs $20,000 in work and will sell for $100,000+Happy Days :)

Several other specialty stores for everything else.  

Those look like 60s art deco type tiles and I have seen many tile stores still carry them in the back corner of the warehouses.

When at closing, are you able to just swipe your credit card(s) just as if you were completing a normal transaction at the store, or is it necessary to complete either a cash advance, withdrawal, or obtain convenience checks in order to successfully acquire a property when at closing?

I haven't dealt with big box stores.