If you are doing maintenance yourself, it can be quite time consuming, and frustrating if you are a busy person with little handyman experience/capabilities.

How many of you actively pay for preventative maintenance for the HVAC system and or other appliances (washer/dryer/etc)?

Putting off dealing with these types of issues are deferred maintenance, and small problems can become big problems. 

But if it's just a house for you to live in, not an investment, then financially speaking you can't do better than living for free since the home you live in generally tends to be a wash or lose money when you factor in everything - maintenance, furnishing, repairs, etc. 

I have a question, has anyone ever successfully convinced a property management firm to allow the owner to retain broker rights to the subject property, control of maintenance (we own a contracting company) and also allow the property owner to be signatory to all accounts associated with the subject property.

Owners with 40+ units tend to have more expenses (maintenance, utilities, etc.) and are more likely to have tenants that pay late, so we try to wait until the majority of funds are received before paying them. 

The station had a phase II done in 2012 after they removed an old tank and has kept solid maintenance systems and records.

So I'm looking at it as 10 years until I'm mortgage free, for the cost of minor maintenance. 

I'd like to go to the local community college and brush up on plumbing, electrical,etc. so I can do that preventative maintenance when tenants are turning (that means on my watch lol). 

Yes, I agree that any needed maintenance work is just needed and expected (roof, mechanicals, etc) and not substantially change any values, so to focus on what may attract good tenants and higher rents (adding a deck or dishwasher, etc.).