I had many tenants move out in the middle of leases in the 40 years doing rentals, for a variety of reasons, such as death in the family, job relocation, buying a house etc. and I found it best to work with the tenants.If the bank find out you  rented out a property with a owner occupied mortgage, they can revoke the mortgage and demand payment in full.

Perhaps BP can create some sort of index taking into population growth, variety of employers, poverty rate, etc and allow you to easily search cities / towns based on this index.

I have a spreadsheet somewhere using used car prices for a variety of models and years and cash flows using Turo's carculator which I'm happy to share. 

Situated on a large double lot where you can swing under gorgeous old live oak trees or just enjoy this bird watcher's paradise among many flowering trees and shrubs.

Situated on a large double lot where you can swing under gorgeous old live oak trees or just enjoy this bird watcher's paradise among many flowering trees and shrubs.

Situated on a large double lot where you can swing under gorgeous old live oak trees or just enjoy this bird watcher's paradise among many flowering trees and shrubs.

Best to consult with your CPA but our investors do it in a variety of types.

You are looking in two counties that will vary greatly with demand/pricing so that might be a big reason why you are getting such a variety of responses when asking what the market is like. 

Philadelphia (in certain gentrifying areas) might have the largest potential for ROI in appreciation, but you can get steady cash flow in a variety of locations depending on how much you want to spend and what cap you are looking for and if you want to do a little value add, a lot, or none.

This year in advance rent is not uncommon and there's a variety of reasons for it.