Ask the people in Florida who now have sky high insurance and mandatory unplanned assessments, how much value having a paid off property is. 

Need to be sure you include the "unknown budget" and never take the optimistic approach as it is better to have money left at the end than writing more and more checks that were unplanned for.Again, if you can walk through an actual property and compare notes with someone that does it in your area (key factor), you will be way ahead of what a generic book can give you.

Additionally, you may be asked to show some availability of liquid cash/assets to weather a storm in case something unplanned happens. 

Taxes, insurance, pest control, utilities, software, etc comes out to around $13k per year each for my 2 bedroom cabins.Also unplanned capital expenses will add up.  

I have an unplanned capital gain over several decades due to a property interest I inherited.

And what is this unplanned change you're going to have to give to the workman to do. 

@Yosef Lee and @Adrian FajardoSorry I was MIA--I live in Houston and we had no power for half of last week and no internet until this past Saturday--just now getting caught back up--missed a lot in my unplanned week off the grid!

That was unplanned.

General BackgroundNewbie investorNo credit available (poor credit and repo due to major health issue).Multiple tax years of returns due (nominal to no income)Unplanned ownership from inheritance and Florida Condo Collapse.Need to do a 1031 exchange and avoid capital gains while trying to invest in my own residential property.ScenarioI have a paid off condominium property located in Florida.

If they aren’t able to show liquidity then they are higher risk if they take on a large unplanned expense in the future.