I personally use US Bank [Big stable bank with Zelle capabilities], Relay [Checking and Savings 3%] and then Quickbooks [high interest rate 5%].

,My stable consists of:1982 Mercedes-Benz 300D Turbodiesel - 27mpg regularly, few repairs, 192k miles, low insurance1998 Mercury Mountaineer, 16mpg, reliable so far. 130k miles2001 Mercedes-Benz E320 21mpg, reliable, 115k miles.My personal favorite is the 82; my costs are so low and it keeps me from speeding.

folks that paid a lot of money for an owner occ house and a stable neighborhood might have an issue with the property being run as a hotel?

I recently came across an INDEXED  UNIVERSAL LIFE INSURANCE POLICY as far as i understand it, just recently became available to the general public (used to only be available for the already wealthy) that I purchased for myself through a business so its a tax write off. its Indexd meaning it goes up when the market goes up but stays even when the market goes down, (no losses in value)sure it might "only make" about 6-7% and you could potentially make more money in another investmet, but along with the Death Benefit there are also Living Benefits, for illness or injury, which is a great hedge in an event someone become incapacitated in any way their family is still taken care of financially. thats the "isnurance" part of it that pays out "incase"after I think 1-2 years of "loading it" it becomes very Liquid ..you can become your own personal Bank and borrow your investment from yourself, you`ll have to pay it back to yourself, but you again get the interest write off.at the end of your retirement when you end up taking out your money out as "loan to yourself" instead of a draw so it not Taxed as income , essentially "Tax Free" I also understand that banks when lending also count your insurance policys cash value as an asset.which could help with loans from themI was really impressed with how it was presented and was so far one of the best "off the shelf"  retirement investment vehicles (compared to say a Roth IRA) im sure i left a few things out but thats how i understand an indexed universal life insurance policyyou can also "load it" pretty heavily evey year compared something like a Roth Ira which only allows you to load a max of 6k a year?

For most, nothing was passed down but some  parents were in the position to provide stable households, first generation real estate and send the kids go college.

We currently have a house in a stable market (not extreme pricing increases currently as some markets seem to have) in am area with military bases.

In all honestly in your situation, I wouldn't put any money into real estate until securing stable employment.

My main goals are to find properties that offer good cash flow (preferably hitting the 1% rule) and have stable growth in property value.I've been considering a few cities and would love your input on them.

I keep all my real estate Investments in Kentucky. 7% or more is the norm for single family residential while in California you most likely land around 3%-3.5% cashflow, you're not even close to cover the interest rate.Definitely check out Midwest states, they offer low entry point and stable rental market.

It would be a much more stable way to get closer to covering your mortgage, for sure.