He apparently tripped and broke the pedestal portion in half (not sure how you break one and not the other).

Take a trip and network at these meetings to find reputable contractors.

I'm personally not very familiar with it other than a few short trips, but the area seems better than Germantown/Gaithersburg.

It is an older home built in 1942 with tons of character.

I love the character of each house and neighborhood.   

There are some serious red flags with your particular PM company based on what you've described; no signed contract and the charges you are showing make it seem like they made separate trips for each complaint, many of which are deemed frivolous. 

You are really not supposed to be able to charge your tenant just because you have to make a few extra phone calls to collect the rent and make an extra trip to the bank because it is only a part of doing business that you already get paid.I know for a fact that when you charge tenants a fee for being late they will do their best to pay when due, in the future.

The new technology allows one to bundle trips, lodging etc without talking to someone.  

I've made tons of Barnes and Noble trips, relentlessly listened to podcasts, and now I'm an avid blog skimmer.

@KE Hodges I find that most sellers believe a weird layout is something that builds character so they are very strong on their high asking price which means I can’t buy it with enough room to flip it.