Maintenance and potential repairs will also require a long-term financial plan and setting aside a contingency fund for such expenses.The steady cash flow, appreciation over time, and tax benefits can make a meaningful difference to your wealth in the long term, especially with the principal paydown on the mortgage.However, if managing the property from a distance feels too burdensome, or if you’d prefer the certainty and flexibility that comes with having less debt (especially given the high mortgage rates), selling and using the $100,000 in equity to reduce your loan for your next home may be the smarter move.

It is my understanding that the new owner will have the house at the cost basis of my purchase price, for calculating capital gains taxes or depreciation.For gift tax purposes for you - FMV.For capital gain tax purposes for the recipient - your original basis/purchase price 

Personally speaking, from an investment broker and investor standpoint, I feel single family investing is the riskiest in some investment ways in comparison to larger investments due to the fact that it only takes 1 repair or tax/insurance hike to put you under or lose all income.

Taxes: Be aware of potential transfer or capital gains taxes, depending on your state.4.

Since the trust is a disregarded entity, the benefit is bypassing  probate, not tax issues or liability concerns. 

Focus on absentee owners and start with the ones who live the farthest away and only own one property in the area since they have the least use for the property.You can also drive for dollars, looking for anomalies of disrepair and then look them up in the tax records and use a site like Spokeo to do cheap skip tracing.

They will handle the collection and distribution of payments, amortization, escrow accounts, and any tax documentation. 

Will the title company put this property under our LLC name, and won’t be required to legally inform HUD/tax authorities. - will it influence property taxes once we move to conventional loan in 3 yrs? 

Make sure to factor in insurance (slight change as rental), property tax (in our market is 2x a primary res), vacancy (3-5% in most markets), capex (old roof?)

Post Dodd Frank sellers have continued the same bad practice of selling houses to occupants with financing at selling prices that are way high, can't be justified via any type of 3rd party valuation (appraisal, zestimate, tax value, even recent sales in the same area).