Figuring out what our ideal life to maximize happiness was HUGE.

I'm going to venture a guess that your CPA doesn't do a whole lot of returns with rental property on them.The ideal scenario is to have positive cash flow, but a tax loss, but that's not always best for every person, particularly those who don't want higher leverage on their rental properties.Generally, a property that is owned outright or is in the last third of it's mortgage life will show pretty strong profits, even after depreciation.  

Ideally, my goals to get started are long term holds with positive monthly cash-flow.

Ideally we would have started with a duplex or triplex, but we did not know about real estate investing until recently and now we have two young kids and do not want to deal with tenants right next to us.

Ideally, we intend to have as much profits go back into the business for new investments as possible, but at some point we hope to quit our day jobs and start generating our income from our investments.

How do I deal with this issue?  

Ideally, someone who's worked across all jurisdictions in the DMV.

Everything I've read, here and elsewhere, has indicated that the Southern California (especially the OC) market is not ideal for cash flow investing but more so for appreciation.  

I know my situation is not ideal but I am determined!

At that point, ideally I would like to invest in a second multiunit but that's only an idea.