1031 Funds and Branching out From So. Cal. MidWest? Mid Atlantic?

[JJ P.]

I've been stalking the forums for insight.  I'm finally starting my own thread to ask point blank-- What would you suggest?

We are long term investors currently with Class A SFH in Southern California. We're selling one and will need to 1031 the funds. The goal is to buy 2 moderately priced ($130-175K) duplexes or well positioned SFH (75-150) in an area with job stability (military, government, medical, Amazon, higher education, etc). We'd like to stay in decent neighborhoods and cash flow is more important than appreciation.

 The idea of duplexes (or triplexes) is appealing because it mitigates the vacancy factor.    I've looked hard in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. They are not off the list, but haven't found anything compelling enough to go and see, and the winters are harsh.   Current areas of high interest are the Mid West, SouthEast and Mid Atlantic states, and we're trending towards the Carolina's, Virginia and Indiana near employment centers.    Of particular interest are areas adjacent to Military Bases, colleges and medical facilities, all at once!  

I have a lot of feelers out and would love some input before heading out to scout the world within the next couple of weeks. Where ever I buy that first plane ticket is likely to be the top contender, so I'm trying to narrow the field and not set out to research more than a couple of key areas that are hopefully driving distance from each other. We are seeing some duplexes and even SFH that cash flow over 1%, and that's obviously very sweet. It doesn't have to be turn key, but no big projects with a boatload of deferred maintenance. Since we're out of state, we're not looking for a huge headache or any kind of Flip.