It may sound nice to pay a 6% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no additional fees.

We completed the work 2 weeks before our baby was born so we took a 4 week hiatus to rest and have the baby.Then I dove into the design, planning, and permitting for the basement.I visited the local Permit office in Alexandria and basically said, "Hi, I'm a new homeowner and I'm an idiot when it comes to permitting.

(I couldn’t find if that was a nice gradual increase or mostly done in 1-2 years.)

I make sure to be there when the appraiser is visiting the home and print out data on appreciation rates and comps and give him/her a personal opinion on where we believe the home should be appraised at.

As the owner, you should also be more flexible about how nice the basement is - saving you rehab costs. 

Quote from @Kaven Li: Is it reasonable to ask the PM to at least make a visit next time to brief the service provider on what the issue is, or is this technically outside of the scope of a usual PM's services?

@Cassidy Burns runs a great one which is a nice blend of education and networking.

The other side of the line would be someone looking for a nice place to live and just subsidize their housing costs with adjoining unit(s) rents.

It does need maintenance at least once a year with Leather Food or the like to keep it nice.

Also, a 2 minute video walk through can be nice to have for anyone wanting a more in depth tour.