Which would be best, pay cash for 5 houses, or put 20% down and finance he rest?

[Nik Nikkila]

I'm getting a buy out from my company and would like to invest it in real estate. The area we are looking at moving to has nice neighborhoods and lower property prices than what we are accustomed to. Would it make more sense to pay cash for the houses and then just use the cash flow each month to buy more when we have enough to do it all cash as well, or is there a benefit to financing everything?