This normally takes place without notifying the lender that a deed exchange has happened and could--in theory--trigger the Due on Sale/Transfer clause that is standard in most mortgage contracts. 

I have a personal friend who was making a killing in the stock market for the past several years and he is crying right now.

I've been doing stocks for about 3 years and have done very well, but the end goal is real estate.I want to hear your opinion on how realistic these goals are and if you have any advice that would help a ton.I’m going to use the BRRR strategy to build up the base of my portfolio the money for down payments will come from money invested in the stock market.

Although I agree with many of the above in that you can certainly do it yourself if you wanted to, but I think @Kristina Bayes's goal is quite clear in that profit is not first -- am I correct to assume that to breakeven on costs or make a bit of money is enough for you in exchange for no work/no worries + a vacation home to retire to? 

Is it unwise of me to try to qualify for a real estate professional if I know nothing about real estate to offset 7 figures of capital gains from stock sales?

It's unlikely that you'll be able to collateralize your personal properties as a way to fund these deals, but you might be able to collateralize them in exchange for funds from a private lender. 

Hello, I'm in the process of buying my first flip. I work for a property management company so contractors are easy to come by. One of my employees does very good work and I want to approach him about doing the labor ...

Much of the housing stock and city infrastructure for the price range you mention is much newer the SoCal too, so property taxes should be more stable and your maintenance costs of the homes should be lower too.  

The investor wants to move up through a 1031 exchange.

In exchange for the work, the syndicator is providing him free rent where the handyman currently lives.