It simply means that you agree to let them perform a 1031 exchange which starts with the sale - not that you have to help them finish. 

It forces me to get real familiar with my business and how my properties are performing.

The influx of foreign investments explains in large part why countries like Spain and Portugal are now economically performing better than the likes of Germany and France.

However, that's only a rule of thumb because it isn't accurate!

This increased demand is in areas that all ready have limited supply.Since the rates started to rise, my appreciation forecast has been conservative (as I have indicated in numerous posts) for my San Diego market (I have been underwriting at zero appreciation near term) and fortunately for me the market out performed my forecast.  

I tend to believe that could be a reasonable stat for the experienced investors, however, I don't know where you even get enough accurate data to formulate anything.

But if you were not a real estate professional and you have a W-2 income and a dividend and interest income, you would be taxed 37% on the combine of both the W-2 income and the dividend and interest income ($600K).It's still good to get accurate information from more experience professional to get more points of views and figure out what you can do in your situation.I hope you can find this very helpful in making your investing decisions. 

I would say it depends on how well the chunk of cash in your 401k is performing compared to the asset you are acquiring.

Are you better performance wise?

The most accurate way is to network with other investors in your market.