I personally like the porcelain marble look tile floors for a bathroom. Very luxurious. And there are some very good look a likes. I have wood look tile in my whole downstairs and while I love it and it is beautiful, it is more rustic than I’d like in a bathroom.

Installing hardwood in Florida takes extra effort. The first part of that effort is having EXCELLENT humidity control in the home. In hot, humid climates that means the A/C might not be enough. It might require an additional whole-home dehumidifier. It can also rule out an 'open window' type of home. Again, it depends on the location and the humidity levels. Hardwoods must be kept in a 'happy humidity' range between 45% - 60%. At all times. Every minute of every day. For ever and ever. And ever and ever. That means you will spend more on your HVAC system to have that type of 'push button' control (whole home humidifier/dehumidifier). And then the type of build also dictates the best practice for installation of hardwoods. A concrete slab takes extra effort to glue down wood. A high-end adhesives must be used and those add $2-$3/sf...just for the glue. The hardwood and labour are on top of that. In Florida, the most appropriate floors are stone, tile, terrazzo or concrete. All of which are hard and cold. Of course a cool floor in a hot climate is a BENEFIT...not a drawback. Part of the cold flooring is it helps keep the house feeling cool. Vinyl is then the next option. The difference between the 'wood look' or the stone/tile look is simply aesthetics. If you LIKE the look of wood, then go for it. If you LIKE the look of stone/tile, then go for it. With vinyl you will require very good UV block on your windows. Ask your builder what level you have on your windows right now. You will want to find something with UV block ABOVE 50%. I prefer to see 70% - 75%. That keeps the vinyl and the house cool. But it also makes growing indoor plants a difficulty. Plants struggle with UV blocking windows at 70% or higher.

Thanks so much for the detailed advice, @SJ McCarthy! I do have 3 extra boxes and then some, and so far pulling them up isn't seeming too difficult to do but I'm sure we'll run into some issues :-) The condo rules aren't very specific: 80% of floors must be carpet or area rugs - we have carpet in the bedrooms and someone on the board told me that LVP with an underlay is fine; this one has a pre-attached pad. But thanks for brining it up - I do want to run it by them once more to be sure before we totally finalize things. When you say "a little grinding PLUS a little leveling compound" are you referring to self leveling compound? It does seem to me that SL would be the best way to easily get a good level. We've worked with some patching material (Henry 345) on a few spots, and it has the appeal of potentially being simpler than SL up front (doesn't have to be mixed and doesn't require primer), but it's more expensive for covering a given area, and doesn't level itself. I'm still trying to figure out if we can reasonably apply self leveler to just a portion of the room, and I'm thinking mainly that will require that there is indeed a consistent "low" spot / sink so that the SL doesn't run out into the areas we don't want to repair. That does seem to be the case, but I need to really spend the time with a level to fully map it out. Thanks again!

I'm in S. Florida with a similar situation except we plan to move probably 5-6yrs. When we bought our house 10 yrs ago it was carpeted except the living/dining room had engineered wood. It was very pretty looking but we knew the carpet had to go and it would be expensive because it involved 3 bedrooms and family room. I have allergies and will not live in a house with carpet. Plus heat and humidity can cause mold. In our previous house of 40 yrs we had wood floors throughout except kitchen and baths. I decided to use tile. Its easier to clean and I didn't have to worry about water from the kitchen. We put tile in all the bedrooms and bathrooms. The Family Room we went with a wood looking tile. I made sure the installer made the grout lines as close as possible to mimic wood. Most people think its wood. Its so easy to clean, mop. The engineered wood has held up over 10 yrs but a section has buckled (have no idea why) and I find spots are hard to remove, unlike real wood. If I were you, I'd go with insurance pays and put in wood looking tile at least in the living areas. It really looks good. Jane