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Prefinished or finish in place hardwood, how to pick?
Does anyone know how the prices compare to pre-finished hardwood vs. finish in place?
I think I would like the smooth surface better on the finish in place...and then we could have an extra coat of poly put on and we have will have lots of other wood that will need to be stained to match the floor. I haven't totally picked the floors yet, but we might end up with 2500sf of hardwood plus 3 flights of stairs/railings, cubbies and 1 bath that will have lots to stain the same color.
What are some more advantages and disadvantages of one over the other?
And what kind of wood would be the hardest yet produce the most even look with limited graining and limited color variance between boards.....all while still being affordable. 
Tall order I know!
Re: Prefinished or finish in place hardwood, how to pick?
When we were shopping around, the price of unfinished hardwoods, plus installation, and finishing was significantly cheaper than pre-finished. We used someone local and his prices were great, he did a really nice job too.
The only downside to this is that there is a significant amount of dust and the vapors from the finishing were very strong - I would not want to be in the house for at least 2-3 days after it's been done. After that it was fine.
The dust was also not an issue for us because we had not moved in yet and didn't have to worry about covering everything up. We had painted before the floors went in, but we just vaccuumed and wiped down the walls and trim afterwards.
You might want to read this post from a couple of days ago: http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/65634211.aspx
FoxinFiji had some great info on unfinished floors.
We talked about this yesterday here.
A fairly tough low grain wood that won't be super pricey is maple. It can be stained any color you like and has a low grain pattern. There are others but they will be harder to find and even harder to find unfinished. It is very difficult to find exotics unfinished partially because they are so hard they are very difficult to work with (ie. sanding down a whole floor would take weeks).
Another option would be pecan which is the same hardness as hickory only without the big color change between the heart and sapwood. It is much harder to find though as it doesn't grow around here. If you're staining the floor darker you can get away with wood with more grain because you won't be able to see it but if you go with a light or medium stain you'll see the grain.
Since your local I'd check to see if you have a Blake Stevens nearby. That is where we're ordering our unfinished hickory from this manufacturer. That manufacturer makes some really great stuff! Blake Stevens usually only sells to flooring contractors but give them a call to check. Our local one said that he could only sell me unfinished HW which is exactly what we wanted. With unfinished you can also buy flooring straight from the mill around here if it's a common wood. I wasn't able to find any mills that had enough hickory for me at the time I called around.
Prefinished have a harder finish coat to them but the have a small groove where the tounge and groove meet.
A good floor refinisher should have a dustless sander. We just had a rental unit done and the amount of dust compared to when we redid ours is remarkable. I was expecting some dust, but there was none. The down side to it is the smell. They put the final coat on last Thursday and I can still smell it in our unit next door. The smell is the worst in the dryer. All my clothes reaked of poly. After cleaning the dryer vent, airing out the house and running the clothes on no heat for 10 mins after they are dry, the smell is almost , but it has taken a week to get there.