I ended up going with a laminate on sale at HD for 49c. The hardwoods that I actually liked, generally the bumpy ones with natural texture you can dig a fingernail into, were in the $4-5 range, but in real life you really do not often caress the floor in a way you can tell the difference. I will be using carpet I got from Lowe’s 2 years ago marked down 90% for the bedrooms. The flooring manager saw me looking at the clearance products and made me a good deal if I got them all.
My only splurge so far has been a pretty $140 ceiling fan that has a higher clearance due to a thin LED light. I may also get expensive curtains to best frame and show off the ocean view windows, the old ones were yellow with tobacco stains. I noticed after removing them the windows looked a little smaller with the empty blank space around them.
I can’t rent it short term like you do, there is a HOA minimum 1 month but fees for each tenant move in run about $200. So weekly is not allowed and even one month is impractical.
I also briefly tried VRBO for my rental house and it was too distracting from my day job.
I am also not so sure the OB market can support a super high end renovation as a rental, 2200 is already the high side for a 2/2 condo, go up to $2400 and you are competing with smaller SFH rentals.
