That being said some of the homes have been well maintained.

Big investment firms concentrated on other real-estate sectors—apartment buildings, office towers, shopping centers and warehouses—reasoning that single-family homes were too difficult to acquire en masse and unwieldy to manage and maintain.That all began to change during the financial crisis a decade ago.

@Jim Stanley, I don't know much about solar panels, but I feel like that would be expensive to maintain? 

I was thinking that if I could find a place close enough to public transportation, I could cut down on my living expenses utilizing the aforementioned owner occupied multifamily home strategy, while maintaining low transportation costs. 

We also need the cashflow monthly to maintain our lives or build our "Property Business".  

I don't want to risk selling "junk" to an investor, even though the bank said they're very well maintained.  

If you're security conscious, which it seems you are since you're asking, I'd think in terms of concentricity and redundancy.

My tenant and I do maintain a good relationship.

I also wonder how the labor market concentrations look in each of the cities. 

and only when you understand this should you map it to a strategy that is in line with your unique skills and motivations3) You will need discipline and an execution plan - being your own boss is great but you also need to figure out how to be your own best employee4) Define a plan and set interim milestones - being an entrepreneur can be a lonely profession and success is not a straight line so plan for getting yourself some small wins and maintain a long term perspective to help get you past short term challenges.5) Understand what constraints leaving full time employment will eliminate e.g. more time to focus on real estate, and what constraints it will introduce e.g. less income and ability to get credit6) Understand that you will need a team to succeed so make sure that the people in your life on whom you depend on for support are fully behind youHere is an article that I wrote that might be of additional help - https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/11782/88425-want-success-here-are-ten-things-you-must-give-upGood luck, going on your own has got enormous upside potential but it is not pain free.