Cash or finance benefit of buy and hold

[Lane Smith]

First time poster so I apologize if this has been answered in another post.

I have the chance to buy a sfh for cash and would never sell the property. I do have the option to purchase with financing 20% down, 4.125% but closing costs would be 5200 so the interest rate might be higher due to a cap on financing fees that would not be calculated until the process was started with the appraisal, hard credit check etc....

If purchasing with financing the property would be cash flow positive @700 per month in gross rent. 

It looks like the main benefit of leverage comes from the extra cash made upon appreciation after a sale . What am I missing?

Thank you in advance

[Will Pritchett]

@Lane Smith Leverage generally allows for higher ROI, potentially allowing you to keep more cash for investing in other deals. But if your plans are to just own this one, paying cash may be the way to go. Not enough details here to fully evaluate. Be sure to set aside money for vacancies and repairs either way when you calculate your cash flow. So much comes back to your overall strategy and plan.

Best of luck