I'm looking in Eckington, Brookland, Capitol Hill, Lincoln Park, Anacostia and other parts of SE DC.

The address is 12030 SE Rhone st.

If you want the 401k contribution, you'll be paying SE tax. 

Welcome Ryan, I too am in SE Michigan!

Depending on the market you are in, those amounts can buy/rehab anywhere from 1 property (CA for example) to 12 properties (SE MI for example).  

This will be ordinary income an subject to SE tax typically. 1031 only qualifies on passive investment income -IE sale of a rental. 

One of the best reasons to utilize self-rentals is when you are an S/C-Corp and you need to extract profit from the Corp to either avoid SE taxes or 15% dividend taxes.

However SE or W2 tax would have to be paid and ultimately there is no more income and possibly less with SE tax or W2.

My reason for asking is that California is a market, while I live in and own in, I don't think I can afford to invest at this time but want to get my feet wet per se in another market.  

All of these homes cashflowed with 0-5% down when fully rented:1. 201 8th Street UNIT A/B, Sultan2. 11005 Roseberg Avenue S, Seattle, WA 981683. 12209 2nd Avenue SW, Seattle4. 12260 Des Moines Memorial Drive S, Burien5. 15415 SE 179th Avenue, Monroe6. 23109 25th Avenue S, Des MoinesHope this helps - reach out to me over messages if you'd like to talk about it more, $400k isn't an easy price point to work in but with the right search criteria and team behind you, you can make it work!