Quality of schools, crime rate, median household income, tax rate for property, tax rate for tenant's income, ratio of rent vs purchase price, proximity to employment, proximity to shopping, proximity to public transit - that's just a partial list, and in some areas some of those are less relevant. 

Your friend needs to see a lender to know for sure that he can't get financing, you or he won't really know for sure, there are all kinds out there, so shop.

Check out a few shops - you should have no problem finding something you like in your price range, just keep searching.White cabinets are great for everything, and I will second the purchase from HD or even Lowes.

Shop around if necessary. 

Electricians, small maintenance shops, etc that have outgrown their basements.  

Too Big to Fail turns into Too Big to follow Law.http://vegasinc.com/business/real-estate/2015/jun/...http://www.babc-financialservicesperspectives.com/...When one court rules against another courts ruling, which involve the defendants from that case, which is in another jurisdiction, what we find is court shopping as a way to abuse the process and go around state law.

For online shops, this can be a sign that the site has some risk (Emphasis mine -RR)Source: http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/moneytolo...

I am independent and every day I am able to shop rates with several competitive companies.

We were using Evernote as our project management type app to share checklists, shopping lists, budgets etc. 

Home Depots stuff is lesser quality then your plumbing shop will stock.