My wife and I are both engineers who live in the Houston area and we are interested in beginning to invest in single family residential rentals.  

I would have a company specializing in foundation repair come look at this AND I'd have a structural engineer look at it as well. 

Both the forms cover pretty much everything - moisture issues, safety, housekeeping, appliances, light bulbs burned out, etc. 

Basically not burn this bridge.Not sure if this helped you at all.

You will scar the brick by leaving black "burn" marks on it.

If they see old, ugly, destroyed, scraped, burned, molded, whatever, they will likely get scared away to the next home.

I've spent quite a bit of time on BP in the last several weeks, and noticed far more incidences of newbies starting strong and burning out/quitting than I have successes, and I thought 90% was a pretty accurate estimate, if not conservative.

Especially now that the City has changed the process, it is longer, more expensive, engineer needs to be involved and inspect, so it's not worth it.

That way when you start accomplishing it you'll feel more of that fire burning in your belly!

Some vinyl planks also have the "click lock" mechanism and they install just like laminate or engineered wood.Even many high end condos in Manhattan are using vinyl planks now, don't let the term vinyl fool you, some brands are 3 times more expensive than hardwood floor, eg: the AMTICO brand cost about $10 per sq footThere are more affordable ones and look and feel just like natural wood floors, check out Allure vinyl planks on home depot.Something to consider....BTW, I love hardwood floor for the kitchen , so good choice :)