Rental property mortgage

[Gene Jung]

New to real estate investing, I have a question about getting a mortgage for buying a rental property. Currently, the rate is super high, and rent-to-price is often lower than the mortgage rate, so in terms of capital cost vs. potential return from capital, it does not make sense to get a mortgage. Yet, interest payment on mortgage offsets the rental income (I don't want to pay income tax on rent), and there is a chance of refi later. That said, is having even a little % of mortgage is better than 100% cash buying?