Are there any tips, tricks, or guides for turning on utilities after close of escrow and possession?

To maximize cash flow, find suitable properties, analyze numbers, and focus on student-friendly amenities.

Whatever you do, please make sure that you get something signed saying that are completely gone and have no claim to any possessions they left behind. 

I've also used college students for this. 

I have no clue what the heck your going on about with "syndicator boot camps", Nobody I know does anything even remotely close to such, nor would they, there not going to hand away there "secret sauce" and vs what they make as an active syndicator, they'd have to charge minimum $40k per student to make it remotely worth there time. 

Whenever I speak to a group of students interested in real estate, I always stress the importance of networking and simply asking people to coffee.

Friends of friends look good, anxious to take possession asap, even tell me openly they will be on the street by dd/mm/yy.We have to treat them just like every other applicant, even though we didn't sign up to be a Social Service for the County. 

Once we got possession turned out her brother had deconstructed some old chevy and then put kind of back together in the basement and we had to get a backhoe to lift it out..

I am an international student still in the education phase.

Also, in a 1031 the seller cannot take possession of the funds so you giving him the downpayment to do repairs would be challenging.