I have not seen as many good deals in the Utah County area in the last 6 months compared to Salt Lake, Davis, and Tooele counties. 

You need to look at comparable properties and what they sold for in the area.

And I know exactly what you mean about the REI game here in So Cal, prices are pretty crazy, especially compared to places like Chicago, Detroit, etc.  

The Gross operating income is without any debt service (P or I).What's funny is the duplex numbers are better than the comparable SFH numbers I have in columns D and E, for which I'm using the 1% rule, which I've heard is a tough number to achieve.

I live in a very rural area north of Asheville, NC which does not have much going on as far as real estate movement so I’m looking at other areas.Asheville is hot right now and has set record sales/prices for 2015.This has put the little inventory that is available out of my price range.Asheville would be my long term goal.According to Zillow (which I’m not sure how accurate it is) market health index for Asheville is 9.4/10.Other areas I’m considering are Greenville, SC (market health index 7.8/10 ) and Johnson City, TN (index of 5.9/10), both with more inventory in my price range.Asheville is 35 minutes from my house, Greenville 2 hours, and Johnson City 1 hour.I have made contact with a realtor in the Greenville area and that area really looks like it has potential.I am a Nurse and my wife is a Physical Therapist so we have W2 income and would not need to live off flipping.I also have 3 days off a week to manage rehabs, plus downtime at work for research/studying markets.

It's also a relatively inexpensive area to live, especially compared to CA.

How does the ARV compare to the comps?

The top end contributions are the same as the SEP, but you can get there on less earned income due to the combination of employer profit sharing and employee contributions.A Solo 401k is also not subject to taxation on debt-financed investments which an IRA is.The structure that provides you checkbook control in the 401k is more direct and therefore generally less expensive than the comparable IRA owned LLC.For the most part, if you qualify for the Solo 401k, it is the best overall solution.

Compare to PITI - P&I, 30 yr fixed.

I actually think it's ignorant to believe one is truly better than the other.It is inaccurate to simply compare purely numbers for ROI.