It'll be a personal preference choice. 

It's great for investors to have choices,  diversification by geography, niche and operator.Some of the most famous names you know in investment world do just that. 

I'm sure this choice has tax implications, liability implications, maybe lending implications, and definitely implications I'm not thinking about.

Cash or traditional mortgage.

One company owns everything and does nothing (this is your SLLC a/k/a “asset holding company”) and a completely separate company handles all of your operations (this is a traditional LLC a/k/a “operating company”) For the operating company which serves as your face to the world and through which you do all your business, you establish a Traditional LLC to carry out the operations of your investments.

@Chris Dittrick I think that Avenue Financial has the traditional lenders as well as hard money lenders.

There are some great choices in Rochester.Are you going to end up owning a percentage of the properties he already has? 

You'd be lucky to get to the .75% rule with most properties if you are buying in a traditional manner.

Buyers w/ good income but not great credit, unable to obtain "traditional" financing.

Talk about how easy it will be for them to sell the house to you vs the traditional realtor route.