Definatly not drywall or brick layer.

The floor may have had several layers on it already and would have been a trip hazard to add another ?

This usually doesn't happen here any more with banks since there is such competition here at this time (but we found extensive damage that was hidden such as the roof having three layers of roofing, the bottom which was cedar shake with ZERO sheeting at all).Pre-purchase: 2bed/1bath 800 sqft finished living space with an unfinished 720sqft basementAfter Rehab: 3bed/2bath 1520 sqft finished living spaceRehab consisted of: demo, re-wire entire house, move electrical panel and update, roof, siding, hardwoods installed, build new bath in basement, add master bedroom in basement, add washer dryer closet in basement, remove upstairs wall and add beams, remove addition in back and rebuild deck, fencing, landscaping, EVERYTHING, you get the idea.This house did take a full month longer for rehab then anticipated, but it all worked out in the end.The Bad: Budgeted 75k for rehab, ended up 88k, anticipated 60day rehab, took 90days, termites, no HVAC where we thought, Water heater was leased so it got removed after buying it (didn't know that), had to fire a contractor and have others fix his bad work, bath tubs were lain incorrectly and was not discovered until we were ready for tile...The Good: House turned out WAY better than thought, the additional time for rehab gave time for neighborhood market to increase as well, low inventory at time of listing, sold in 4 days.Numbers:  Purchase: $165k (CASH)Rehab: $88kHolding costs: roughly $2500All selling/closing/realtor/staging/misc: $35kSelling Price: $369,000 with no concessionsNet Profit roughly:  $82,556

It's a smooth surface (made to varying heights) that you lay before these thin resilient flooring styles that was most likely laid to raise that level of flooring up to the same height as your living room floor... you'll probably have better luck removing that layer with the linoleum intact on top. 

This is just removing the old and installing new fire brick - it's a non-structural interior layer usually set with very little mortar. 

I've very rarely seen scratches that actually penetrate the wear layer of laminate.

Okay, so as we peel back the layers on the onion of this transaction, it is becoming more of a stinker! 

I am by no means an expert and certainly take my advice with a grain of salt, but I think its vitally important to have a clean financial house before you start looking at others.You have debt, you might have IRS issues, and your credit score is in the garbage bin.

When you layer that with more demand than supply you see the price explosion  we have had for the past 3-4 years.

As a surveyor these are the maps we use to make flood zone determinations.If the structure itself is not in the flood zone, but other parts of the property are, you should not be required to have flood insurance.Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and I will try to help you out - I am in Florida.Here is the link:FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer (Official)