If she goes month to month, the lease will dictate the terms.

Also this clause can dictate what is owed in case of an eviction because that is also a termination of the lease.

Send the tenant a written notice that if they do not sign the renewal, then the lease will convert to a month-to-month basis, what the rent rate will be, how they can give notice when it's time to terminate, etc.It sounds as if these tenants are pushing you around and dictating the terms.

Posters will chime in on recommended strategy but real estate is extremely localized and the fundamentals of the real estate in any given market are what should be dictating your investment strategy not arbitrarily deciding to buy single family homes vs. duplexes. 

Western methodology to law is usually dictated by what is NOT allowed...and not what IS allowed.  

I ask because that would dictate my strategy.

For starters, it fails to specify which "valuable tax breaks" would be rescinded for raising rents according to the dictates of the free market instead of ignoring it in favor of an arbitrary limitation.

The catch is, her job dictates where we land, so I'm unsure of the exact market yet.That being said, I have two main goals:Get started with my first few deals: Ideally, I'd like to invest locally (whichever US city we end up in).

On one end is the cheapo bastard that wants to try to squeeze every dime they can out of you, and on the other is the ones that think because they're paying "good money" they can dictate your life terms to you.

Do insurance company dictate this decision?