I should mention I do communication wiring as a day job so I can do this for my time and materials.

It depends a lot on how high between your peaks and valleys if is more than say 1/2", most leveling materials are not design to fill in that much.

Other building materials prices have gone up as well. 

Yeah, if "luck" means all the money I socked away when I was working, not taking fancy vacations or buying nice stuff, buying dumps, spending all of my nights and weekends hauling trash and fixing stuff, spending all of my available disposable income paying contractors or buying materials, then working like hell to get decent renters.

Unless the landlord is really cheap and willing to sacrifice vacancy time for cheaper labor/materials cost, then a professional PM should be hiring professional crews to do the work...people where that task is their main job....not some side job that they can do when they get a chance...hell, I can do thatSo....you pay for vacancy time....or you pay for a more professional crew to do it faster...your choice.I'd be shopping for a new PM...... it may be even more important to find a new one BEFORE you go out of country since once you aren't around the current one may get even worse and then you will be trying to deal with issues or find a new one while you are gone.

If not, do a light, cosmetic rehab and place a new tenant at market rates.

My opinion is that if people want cosmetic upgrades, they find a property that has those things, or purchase their own property with those updates, or pay for the upgrades themselves.

I like vinyl planks for the floors because they’re durable (if you use good material) and waterproof.

Needs cosmetic updates to rent out.

I'd love to stay in touch and maybe we can even recommend materials to each other that we find useful while educating ourselves.