Some of the materials we choose and asked him to pick up (such as flooring) he replaced with low quality materials, I assume to keep more of our money for himself. 

Hi Terrence, welcome to the world of rental property investing—it’s an exciting journey, and you’ve picked a great spot to start!

if you are going to do things like include utilities, or have an off street parking spot, other amenities etc, there's no reason in my mind you couldn't "charge a premium" for a premium unit/service. 

As I suggested, if you believe your identity had been stolen, please file a police report and we can utilize that to help convince the carrier to make a full refund cancellation request.I'm very sorry you decided you didn't want the policy after all, and in fact, Obie covered some of the fees from your pro-rated cancellation so we could at least always put the customer first--even in this situation.

• Should utilities, internet, or services like snow removal/lawn care be included, or not?

Agree with others that you will probably need to lower the rent - suggest 5% every 2-4 weeks until activity picks up. 

You get to pick what you want.  

When you are ready to sell again, you just get the next broker to pick you up and activate your license again. 

We talked about opening the meetups to the general public, and not just BP members to get more people. let me know what topics you'd like to get more expertise on, and I'll line up some people to come so we can pick their brains.

This way you can utilize the leverage if you plan to scale up in the future.