Well, not so fast.Let throw in a curve ball and say your market appreciates at an average 5% annually like my market and history has shown that in the last 45 years. 

Is the lease paid monthly or annually?

You will have annual depreciation expense of $1,064. 

I'm wondering, with all the tax benefits to REI, what is everyone seeing as their annual tax responsibility?

State Property Assessment 189,400Arv 200,000purchase price 59kclosing 3.5total rehab  100krehab and acquisition 162.5k4 unit property, 6bd 4bth 3,232 sqftmonthly income  $2,900   annual $34,800monthly expenses $2,060 annual $24,720NOI $21,258cap rate 11.88%taxes 4,470Total operating expenses:Mortgage expenses:Vacancy:$174.00Repairs:$116.00CapEx:$29.00Electricity:$75.00Water:$50.00Insurance:$80.00Management:$232.00P&I:$932.08Property Taxes: 372.5

For my criteria the most important analysis I do is to figure out how much money I will be coming out of pocket and how much will I be getting back for that investment annually.

For sustainable financial independence you need roughly 4% of your total net worth to exceed your annual spending.  

Here is a good site to help with that. http://usurylaw.com/state/In California you can not charge more than 10% annually as a private investor, this would include points and fees, unless you have a broker involved.  

Is it really true that I can establish a Self-directed Solo 401k account with a local bank and then no need for Custodian fees (okay, maybe the bank will charge an annual fee as well), but no need to establish an LLC and pay that set-up fee and annual state tax?

For example, the first property, I just looked up has an annual rent income of $13,920 with asset management fee of $1619 or 8.83% of rent.