If you figure out how much you can comfortably save every month, (let's say 1k hypothetically) you take that cash right out of your paycheck and right into your savings routinely.

@Timothy LivingstonWish I had a great answer for you, but what helps me is simple routine.

While it would have been a substantial cost up-front, it would have made a considerable amount of money in the long term, simply in terms of routine maintenance and return in higher rents.

I've had social workers working for agencies who routinely defend their client's behavior, as if violent, argumentative behavior, domestic violence, illegal drug use, violation of lease terms, and of course, always combined with non-payment of rent, were just a "cultural" difference. 

A better-paid position than I ever thought I'd hold, and most certainly doing a lot less work than I was routinely called upon to do as a teacher, but still a job, with significant availability demands.

I'm routinely seeing .5 or .6 - haven't seen 1% for about 6 years.

Odds are you will get a no - but you can follow up with routine direct mail every fews months afterwards to keep your name in their head for if they do need to sell.

I fix 3-5 problems like that every week, and it's routine for me.If they pass the above simple questions, it's time for the advanced questions. 

2% estimate for routine maintenance seems really low...even for a new property. 

If it is routine maintenance then it would fall to you but depends on the lease- When the tenant leaves and demands security deposit back, how do you handle this?