I bought my 3 buy and hold properties cash, the benefit is speed of closing, which often means a better price and beating out competition.

If you would like to get together and talk things over I would be happy to give you benefits of my experiences.

I say do it without them included cause it might not meet appraisal, then u can purchase it after the fact and get the benefits of the new Trump tax stuff ... 

What would be the benefit?

If you have proper systems and practices in place and do a reasonable job at tenant screening, the risks can easily be mitigated and there are actually several benefits.

Then you make some adjustments for square footage and amenities, etc and you discover that for the same product they are getting $1,000 per month. 

The agent told me it is a pain to move a post office and no benefit for them to sign up for the extra work involved. 

I'm not going to give him that much benefit of the doubt. 

If you still have US real estate assets when you pass away your heirs will still benefit from the stepped up basis regardless of their residence so that shouldn't really factor into the equation.  

Husband has good job with good benefits but gets laid off.