Contractors aren't Property Managers and don't have the expertise typically to get the property into rental mode. 

Lastly, I don't know what your long term plans are, but having a house to return to in the States if your international adventures don't work as planned can be a good safety net for you!

I would also say that markets like Manhattan are not super representative of most markets in the US - a lot of foreign investment I'd imagine in NYC, Miami etc - I'd guess a lot of these cash purchases are more about exchanging unstable or risky foreign assets/currencies for perceived stability/safety of US top metro residential real estateI think in a lot of other markets where this isn't relevant - I think most are cash offers being "king" as not having appraisal or other contingencies that might sabotage the sale after 30 days or so and make people re-list (sellers will take less to avoid this risk and downside)

It also took me down the rabbit hole of the safety of escrow deposits which seems quite frightening.

So, I don't understand what the business model is here, but I'm getting tired of wasting MY time, trying to respond to THEIR solicitation.  

Families want safety and a big house, so they are willing to pay top dollar. 

The primary benefit of a smaller  renovation is you'll have a larger safety net if the renovation gets out of hand, the property won't sell, or if it takes longer than expected to rent.

I'm only seeing one rule (safety). 

I remember the reports of the first cases coming out from Wuhan in December of 2019 ,and obviously since everyone knows there are only 4 comprehensive bio safety level four laboratories on the planet, Moscow, Paris, Fort Detrick-Maryland and of course Wuhan Institute of Virology, and given that there are over 100,000 small town with wet meat markets throughout China, one doesn't even have to ask the question "what are the odds?"

That is a safety issue.