Why would a seller do that since it should be minimal mgmt?

Very minimal rehab and time of ownership, sell as-is with great margins.How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I would think this would be highly dependent by location (both neighborhood and city), for example, if you are in a city being able to provide off-street parking may provide a huge return if the costs are minimal (thinking just a curb cut to provide access to a yard), on the other hand, having a car (and the parking) in some neighborhoods isn't important to the potential buyers.   

While no one is suggestingthat a buyer will be comfortable buying a home they have only seen during a Zoom visit, theycan minimize the number of homes they physically visit by pre-screening these homes aheadof time through virtual tours.There are a few vital pieces of the transaction that require in-person visits, however.

Unfortunately, that solution takes a highly competent hardwood flooring guy to do well, and there aren't that many of them left in a trade that more and more relies on minimally-skilled subs these days.So the usual solution these days is to chop out the offending section, put in a simple patch of 3/4 inch plywood, and lay carpet/laminate/vinyl flooring over the whole hardwood floor.

There are even DTI overlays right now, so working with a lender with minimal overlays will give you the best chance at making the numbers work. 

I seen some of the benefits of putting less down in a shaky market to minimize any risk of depreciation.

I think your cousin's strategy is very wise to minimize risk and stay invested.

Examples of master lease agreement tenants include: storage rentals, short term vacation rentals, and stand alone retail stores( Walgreens,CVS,Dollar General,etc).You should be able to achieve a 10% net return before leverage with short term vacation rentals.Find a manager that is building new properties to minimize exterior maintenance for next 20 years.

That's a question that others have alluded to - how to minimize your perceived profit for tax purposes and still generate growth.If you're talking about income from a sale of that property then the way to defer the tax on profit and depreciation recapture is through a 1031 exchange as @Randall Alan said.