It's a far less expensive market than Seattle but it isn't cheap either.

I'm a cheapskate and buy anything that's cheap at Half Price Books.

The last thing you need is tile popping and cracking due to cheap one out by a few dollars on installation.

I agree, that is cheap, and could either lead to him regretting his decision, or milking hours along, as being paid hourly isn't a big incentive to finish fast.

I've had great luck with sandless refinishing, and painting hardwood if it's the cheap thin kind in rough shape. 

I'm also not taking on a crap-ton of risk being over-leveraged on cheap properties, which I'm also fine with.

You'll lose your shares in a rising tide, lose your asset value in a falling one.Oil stocks, while historically cheap, haven't been stagnant have they?

Repairing plaster is easy and cheap. 

I will say our facilities are relatively cheap compared to the "big city" (pop. 100,000) that is about 15 miles away and that seems to have a certain draw.  

No doubt $100 or even $500 for a solid lead is friendlier to a flipper's margins than $3000 or $5000 or $10,000 wholesale fee.To answer your question, if you were up and running right now I'd buy a few cheap leads today!