Not seeing any real gentrification because of that, IMO.On the positive side, we do finally have a new Mayor that is actually from the City, but so far he seems to be playing the same games as his predecessors.

As someone who has read Harry Potter, it seems the best way to get the attention of the landlord is to send a scary looking giant to their home residence with a kindly worded letter.More seriously, I was on the other side of the coin previously where my wife put the ads up under her accounts instead of mine, so I couldn't check them without getting on her phone and I was inundated with people looking to see the property (probably 50 over a 5 day period) and was trying to send semi-personalized notes to each one--and it all ended up being too much to handle and I ended up ghosting or not replying to many people after I found an applicant. 

Finding some middle ground that is beneficial for both sides is so important and can make or break a deal. 

A safe baseline is 5%–10% for vacancy, with C class properties often leaning toward the higher end due to more transient tenant populations.As for maintenance, the percentages they’re quoting—2% for B class and 7.5% for C class—are on the optimistic side, especially for long-term projections.

I breakdown my budgets by Category (Roofing, Siding, Painting, Electrical, etc.) 

This is speaking blindly cause your details & information are void.

@Mohammed Rahman Queens and Brooklyn would be the absolute best because I work on the upper east side of Manhattan but I haven't seen any properties there that are affordable and in decent neighborhoods!

You need to have some experienced help on your side to manage the issues.Listen to @Drew Sygit. 

I have two properties in the inner ring suburb of Cleveland's east side, and they are going very nicely. 

What I've seen before is the only time rules are enforced are when neighbors get pissed (ie STR neighbors).I would side with caution on this, especially if it is a newer built community where the rules are fresh with people.