I am near Irvine all the time.If you find 60%-70% of ARV in SoCal, you would be a rock star ... you are in a much more competitive market than most, and Real Estate is highly localized. 70%-80% and you should be ok for wholesaling here ... if you can get it for less, all the better, but it would be very tough. 

The market is competitive.

Depending where you go you can find competitive rent rates (1brd apt will run you 950-1300) but you can also find some properties which will increase in equity nicely and will be able to cash flow for you when you move back.  

I imagine I would ideally want to price them a bit below market average to beat out some of the competition.

I'm as busy as I want to be but spring/summer tends to get pretty competitive every year.

Currently inventory is tight so you have a lot of competition when you buy fixer uppers even.  

Generally, are these lenders as competitive as smaller LOCAL banks?

So I took initiative and joined the BiggerPocket community :) My goals here in BiggerPockets is to meet both the inexperience and experience members in all fields (realtors, brokers, lawyers, property manager, CPA, investors and lenders) to connect and share their knowledge in this competitive field. 

Welcome to BP.And your initial deposit has been earning you ~$35k per year on average ever since - despite the diversion of a global financial crisis in the middle of that!

Seattle is  a very competitive market.