If you do cover it I would cover it in sheet metal or something simple and cheap.

You can be sure your guests are not throwing a wild party in the back yard pissing off the neighbors.  

Knowing how cheap (or expensive) in finishes you have to go is huge.  

As a matter of fact, I'm flying to Vegas now and will throw whatever money that I would've "gator lended" on the first table I see 😂

If you are talking about just throwing offers out there and nothing is sticking, that's a whole different issue.

Their form of lead generation is to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars into marketing and see what sticks.

$3,000 is cheap for hardwood for 2 bedrooms, so I would go for it now. 

Plus they look cheap!

I would throw in the neighbors.

Bifurcating the asset and operation, putting the wealth behind an "iron curtain" and arranging the public facing side of things in a manner where it is a conveyor belt of throw-away entities with little to no value stored themself, IS a viable approach.