The other benefit of having a structural engineer look and advise on the property, is that you can then use that report as proof to a future buyer or tenant.  

It was to my benefit that I could get in early and be rent ready.

As far as benefit to the seller goes, @Matthew Paul I think you are probably right on the money and regardless of whether they would have preferred to stay in this house rather than move, it is likely providing them some excellent cash flow; and I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a deal that serves both parties better than the current situation. 

I know the tax hit isn’t ideal, but I’m wondering if the long-term cash flow benefits outweigh the opportunity cost.

Lenders tend to have different requirements.... some look for a required minimum membership interest and others look solely at direct benefit the signer receives which could be membership interest, fee etc.

Quote from @Devin James: In one of our development projects, the City staff asked us to remove 40 units from our concept plan.This wasn’t requested by the City Commission at a formal hearing, it was the opinion of the staff.Our original concept already proposed fewer units than the current zoning would have allowed.Here’s what erasing 40 units means:- 40 fewer homes for buyers- Over $1M in lost profit for our team- Fewer tax dollars and impact fees that could’ve benefited the City’s infrastructure & servicesWe gotta get betterEveryone wants more affordable housing, but not everyone wants to do what it takes to achieve it we never listen to the recommending bodies. we move for city approvals and work closely. the other thing we do is keep going back to the same groups over and over and over and over every month on the same agenda and make very small reductions like 2% or 4% and that reduces and beats them down eventually they accept what you want. it's just before beating a dead horse. we keep tabling until they give us something we all agree on then we go to vote. in our city in columbus we have to get recommendations but that's our strategy. we used to come out as aggressive as possible. we typically study developments in the area and keep it very similar in terms of density. we have a track record of very controversial projects and litigation and not taking no as an answer. after a year of that haha I can tell you it's not worth it. now we are more relationship based and buying the right kinds of plots of land. if the numbers don't work on the front end don't do the development. 

There are a number of tax strategies which you could benefit from.

The things that give a rental a value in cashflow are benefits to the tenant in the form of living amities. 

It does not benefit them in any way to save costs; it costs them money and time.  

And I feel the ideal portfolio can benefit from the diversification of both.1) Holdfolio isn't a match for me, personally (due to not enough experience, skin in the game, etc).