To be clear, the tax benefits are in offsetting your income, not in a tax rebate/refund per se.  

From reading most of the forum posts here, all of the markets I am considering (mainly SE) are so competitive, it would hard to participate in a bidding war as a non-cash buyer. 

Because oftentimes (Bank of America comes to mind) they have specific regulations barring them from selling to employees, contractors, or family members of the Bank.Your hysteria about their rationale has very little to do with "assignments" per se, inasmuch as it becomes a paperwork nightmare at the end of the transaction.  

Since we can’t meet in person (per se) perhaps something on the virtual side?

So, if you didn't win out despite a higher offer, it does not per se mean that your agent did anything wrong.  

-when you get an application require multiple  years details  ( i require 5 yr) on residence/employment - Always require copy of government  issued  photo ID to get full legal name & DOB with full application-Reverse phone number search, address  search, name  search  (fastpeoplesearch.com  gives a decent amount of info free & sponsored  paid background  checks,  not all info  is reliable,  but can show aliases,  previous addreses,phone #s, etc enough to se red flags  or inconsistencies  to require  deeper  investigation or confirmation.)- civil court records with applicant names as plaintiff/defendant ( shows history of slow/no-pay or evictions that never show on zillow screening),  -check civil/criminal public records every city /county/state listed on credit report previous addresses ( veriy race/gender/dob to insure same person)-verify business name/address phone, (paystubs created by applicant), - In my experience,  any local move with urgency is a red flag for someone  in eviction  process. 

The ferry will let you visit SE and plan segments to hit Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Skagway.

For more reading and sources:https://www.census.gov/quickfa...https://worldpopulationreview....https://censusreporter.org/pro...https://datausa.io/profile/geo...https://datausa.io/profile/uni...https://www.neighborhoodscout....https://livingcost.org/cost/un...https://www.forbes.com/advisor...https://fred.stlouisfed.org/se...https://www.realtor.com/reales...https://www.redfin.com/city/71...https://www.growpittcountync.c...https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/...https://greenvillencconplan.co...https://www.greenvillenc.gov/https://www.greenvillenc.gov/g...https://www.greenvillenc.gov/h...https://patch.com/north-caroli...https://www.encalliance.com/ne...

RE rentals don't deal with sales tax or SE.  

I se Quicken home and business and make each property a project.