I assume California clawback (1031 out of CA) when the replacement property is sold follows the gains computed by federal tax forms?

Using a GC you will have less headaches as you'll have one point of contact and they will coordinate schedules between the various trades. 

If i was starting from scratch, i'd probably start by developing a job skill, probably in the trades like electrician or plumber.

The 1031 exchange is designed to give you a loophole: You are not considered to be selling and buying, you are simply trading your property for a different one or ones.

Don’t let your imagination run wild Compute failure.

What do you use for skip trading and how accurate is it?

If I knew that I wouldn't be here, I'd day-trade on that information (stock ticker $MBB, for example, it's an ETF, so it functions as a stock, you can short it, or buy puts, etc) and be a billionaire well prior to Q1 2025!

At $377K/door, this building's costs will be nearly 2X what a similar building would trade for in this location.  

My thought is is use the Rent Ready feature of reporting his payment history to the credit bureau so it can work in his favor as a trade line, but I'm wondering if this is an unnecessary added step since he can already pull transactions on his bank side. 

I would NEVER trade that experience for anything, despite the hassles.