It's not difficult but you don't want floating floor on a stair tread; it needs to be firmly secured in some fashion to the subfloor treads.

Maybe money isn't the end game and you can address their needs in some other fashion.

Mold remediation is simple - address the source of water, remove stained and/or wet soft surfaces and treat with bleach.

The house is cigarette tar-laden, so it needs a good cleaning of walls and . . . well, all the surfaces, probably paint, new carpet, and maybe some new bathroom porcelain.

So, we got a quote from him to take it from it's present state to texturing and painting of this 1,500 SF house, interior only, and the bid is $5,620 which is $1.25/SF of surface. 

I'm thinking if I can get both of the properties I would combine them back into one as they are adjacent and re-zone so I could build a MFR quadplex. does this seem like a good idea on the surface?

For this reason, I have made and looking to make passive investments with syndicators that have shown to have a proven record in not only giving solid returns, but educating their investors throughout the process in some fashion.   

Areas like NE and Uptown are like the hot fashion trend your dad knows about (hint if your dad knows about it you missed the trend), everyone knows they are popular and they are overpriced.

Has to be on a hard surface, not the grass.  

If not any recommendations to acquire 2 multi families in this fashion with fairly no money out of pocket.