Is it better to purchase a home with cash or take out a mortgage?

If you have the cash, it would seem best to do it that way. You would not have to pay any interest or finance fees. As long as you can show where the cash came from... Sometimes, drug dealers try to spend their profits on large things like that... so the government wants to see a trail of where the cash has been.

I always wondered what would happen if someone dug up their grandfathers coffee can full of cash and tried to use it?

It would also depend what your purpose would be for taking a loan. Some people wish to do so to establish more credit history.

Sometimes, cash transactions also get a better bargain from the seller. They know they won't have to wait for the buyer to work through the banking system. Therefore, the seller is sometimes willing to accept a lower price.

We are buying a home for less than what house around us are listed for. Can we get a second mortgage the same time as closing so we can cover our costs and do some improvements?