I agree with Adam that there's not enough information here to say who is at fault.If you are spending all your income on maintenance after three years, then I would say you are being cheated by the PM or you bought a real dump.Personally, I would suck it up and find an expensive, but reliable, contractor to visit the property with me and make an assessment of what needs to be done to fix the property and stop the bleeding.

Now the minimum standards your basement has to hit for it to be able to count as assessed sqft not estimated is a height of 7 ft, a point of egress (bilco doors) and a window usually in the rear, It's one of those things where if your going to go through the process of digging out a basement you might as well go for it and dig it deeper then 7 and closer to 8 ft so you actually stand out compared to the competition.Now the other side of this coin which I would suggest is if you're willing to spend 40-50k on a basement dig, consider adding a 3rd story addition if your a 2 story (think master suite, walk in closet, master bath) or an addition off the back and add a roof deck if your a 3 story (either master suite or just additional bedroom).

This results in me often driving to the property to assess the problem myself and paying a premium to get the work done right. 

Risks such as regulatory, legal, financial, tax, and integration must be assessed and managed to proceed with a planned deal.

@David Hersh we have at least a dozen clients from Canada, so PM us for more info:)

I've been doing this way longer than you have and I can guarantee that my first assessment is exactly what is happening.

I've seen dozens of college buddies start investment groups that stall quickly because they all bring the same thing.

For larger projects, in the many dozens of units/lots range, the builders use financial models to determine land value. 

As an investor focused buyer's broker I spend the majority of my time helping buyer(s) assess properties both before and after their offer is accepted. 

When calculating cap, and other deal analysis criteria, none of them talks about how to assess the property in terms of its appreciation based on structural quality such as brick exterior versus vinyl.