I understand that any RE earnings would have to stay in the account until I retire.  

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with zero or negative relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560, little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

To be clear, I’m not against financing, but since I don’t know too much about what I’m doing I feel like it’d be easier to own a property outright and get some experience with landlording to determine how much financing I’d be comfortable with after maybe a year’s worth of rental income.

I am not familiar with San Diego, but I would believe market value and rental income are appreciating at a steady clip?

Despite the Interest rate and Housing Crises, there are many people who are realizing the importance of Cash flow and Passive Income, and with current Interest rates, is it Realistic to seek a Cash Flow Positive rental investment, considering that you have bare minimum equity in the Property?

so, for each individual person, it's more or less doable.if it's going to take you years to save up a down payment, can you increase your income and/or cut your expenses?

The trick will be to find one that has enough rental income to offset the taxes so you can make some money.

Did they receive any profits from the net income, sale, loan, etc ?  

I read that rate as paying an extra month and half worth of your annual rent collection to buy income insurance for the year.

With prices as high as they are and income not keeping up I think more and more families will buy property together.