Flooring for 2 recently purchased properties

[Roy Gutierrez]

Need to make a few decisions and I still don't have my big boy pants to make them! Bought 2 houses in the city of Oak Park here in Michigan, not a high end area but definitely a nice quiet/affordable city with very good neighbors watching for one another (at least in the better part, don't know to much about the less desirable part).

House 1:

House renting in the better area of the city, closer to high end areas, just got agreement to rent for $1,700/month (on condition of putting new cabinets and granite counters in the kitchen). First floor is all hardwoods, second floor has 2 HUGE bedrooms (prospective renters love them!), I tore out the stained carpets but now I need to decide what type of flooring to put in there considering that I'm getting decent rent AND 90% of the prospective renters have pets!

What type of flooring would you recommend for the second floor bedrooms?

House 2:

House renting in the less desirable part of the city but still decent area, I got advice here to use trafficmaster allure (which I did buy, a little concerned about having a crawlspace and maybe that affecting the flooring), the house totally redone almost all new, the living room and kitchen have an open floor plan, and I really want to keep the same flooring for both so it looks and flows with the open floor plan BUT my friend which used to be a contractor is trying to convince me to go with tile in the kitchen, I like tile in a kitchen just feel this will break up the openess that the place has but maybe I'm thinking to much with my heart and not with my head, maybe tile is better under the circumstances.

Last questions, if any michigan people know of an affordable, quality floor installer let me know.

Thank you!