All Forum Posts by: Lieren Schuette

I have been using Marcus by Goldman Sachs for a couple of years now and have been happy with it, but have recently started to wonder if other online banks offer better rates. When I originally put my savings into Marcus, it offered the best APY rate at 0.5%. It has increased steadily over the past couple of years and is now at 3.90%.

I did a little bit of digging, and it looks like CiTBank has one of the best APY rates at 4.75%. I also saw that CFG Bank is offering 5.02% for their online money market account.

Any recommendations from the BP Community?

1 Vote

Quote from @Brandon Caynor:

LVP is nice. That is what I normally put down. If you are installing yourself do yourself a favor and get the planks that are wider and longer compared to others. You'll be able to put it down a lot faster than several rows of thinner boards. I've used a few different brands but the LifeProof ones seem to work well and click much easier than some of the others ones I've used from Lowes even though it costs a little more. For color don't overthink it. Go for a light or dark brown. Gray was in, but now it's out. I don't think any natural wood color you can go wrong with.

Thank you for that tip! I've heard about LifeProof from several people now and believe that is the brand we are going to go with.

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Quote from @Ke Nan Wang:

Luxury Vinyl Plank and light oak color all day every day.

I've used a darker wood flooring color back in a 2019 reno job and now it looks super outdated.

The lighter tone color seems to be more timeless in my opinion.

That's what I'm leaning toward now, as well. Thank you for your advice!

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Quote from @Justin Sullivan:

I would say look into your area. View some of the rentals that are currently on the market and stay consistent with that or slightly above. You don't want to install a luxury vinyl flooring in a lower area and also don't want to install a mid grade floor in a higher end area.

As for color I don't think that really matters. I really doubt someone will pay more or deny a rental based off light or darker floors. I would say gray was popular in the recent past years darker prior to that and lighter in very popular now. If you want to be safe just stay with a mid-light brown floor. The white oak is great I have that in my personal home!

As for vinyl vs. laminate, I have stopped using laminate even the luxury ones. Vinyl is fully water proof. Laminate has a thin layer on top of an mdf base. So during install the laminate will chip in corners and is water sits it can sink into the grooves and swell up the flooring. Trust me I know from experience. Just go with whatever vinyl looks nice and doesn't break the bank. They have much cheaper options of vinyl now. I would stay away from laminate for all projects if at all possible, In my opinion!

This is such great advice! You've convinced me about the vinyl. Thank you for your tip about looking at other rentals to get a better idea of what is normal in an area; that seems obvious now but I hadn't considered it!

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Quote from @Scott E.:

Quote from @Lieren Schuette:

Quote from @Alan Asriants:

I would go with vinyl and a lighter color. Darker colors will show wear faster. go for 100% waterproof, lay down a pad underneath so the surface is even and your floor lasts longer. try to get a thicker size. Costco has good flooring options btw

When you say lighter color, do you mean something like a white oak color? Or just a lighter brown?

White oak is a nice look. It won't show dust, footprints, or scratches as much as a darker color would.

I'm also a big fan of large format porcelain tile. It's cheap, pretty indestructible, and if you pick the right color it can be timeless.

I love that idea! Do you typically use the porcelain tile in just bathrooms? Or other parts of the house?

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I'm with you on the carpet! It's disgusting. Thank you so much for your feedback!

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Quote from @Alan Asriants:

When you say lighter color, do you mean something like a white oak color? Or just a lighter brown?

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Hey all!

My fiance and I recently purchased our first property (primary residence), but our ultimate goal is to rent it out after we put in a little rehab. The house was built in 1977 and has not been updated since, so we are just trying to modernize it. We are leaning toward a water-resistant laminate flooring in a dark oak color. Here are our questions:

1. What colors are most popular for long-term rentals?

2. Are there upsides/downsides to certain colors?

3. Is luxury vinyl flooring (waterproof) more beneficial in the long run instead of the water-resistant laminate flooring we picked out?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

1 Vote

Hi Jordan! My fiance and I signed up for the Rookie Bootcamp last year and completed it in April. You definitely get as much value out of it as you put into it. You will likely receive a lot files that you can either print or save to a digital folder. We received homework almost weekly, and the homework varied in difficulty. I'm not sure which one you are thinking about taking, but ours utilized Slack as the platform for communication. They also recommended that you join a group of people who are also taking the bootcamp so that you can chat weekly about your homework/progress. The weekly meetings can either be on something like Zoom or in person.

I think they are worth the money if you put the time into and actually do what they tell you to do! Some weeks did seem a bit overwhelming, especially since we both work a full-time job. But, overall, we got a lot of value out of it!

1 Vote

All Forum Posts by: Lieren Schuette

Lieren Schuette has started 8 posts and replied 46 times.

Post: Best High-Yield Online Savings Accounts?

Post: Best High-Yield Online Savings Accounts?

Post: Best Flooring Options For LTR?

Post: Best Flooring Options For LTR?

Post: Best Flooring Options For LTR?

Post: Best Flooring Options For LTR?

Post: Best Flooring Options For LTR?

Post: Best Flooring Options For LTR?

Post: Best Flooring Options For LTR?

Post: Signing Up for a Bootcamp