Why would you tell your banker, unless there would be some advantage/benefit doing so. 

the % could be the attorney for the estate, could be the executor or personal representative or a relative.   

A little back story, my boss started a very successful non financial related company in China 16 years ago.

Depends on their motivation.If you get a relative to sell you an extra home they no longer want, they might be up for zero down.

for a long term hold the tax benefits seem to be very attractive.

These are young professionals who probably dropped 200k on an MIT education and you think they are suddenly going to destroy their credit and ability to rent in the area where all of the jobs in their related field are because they can't come up with rent?

I agree that the best lending team may not have the best rate but provide a lot of other benefits. 

Appliances are relatively cheap on Offerup or Craigslist so it shouldn't be much an issue. 

I am sure there are benefits to the HELOC; the obvious being the *potentially* lower monthly payment.

-Ask what needs repaired (related to pain points - the seller will likely minimize the issues but he/she will internalize all the issues)I typically make an offer first.