I will stay persistent.

.- They claim that their verbal termination doesn't count and that they can stay until the end of September because I haven't received a written notice to terminate.How should I handle this?

Any more might be too much, but that could be a personal preference.If your house is a 3/2 one-story ranch with no basement, than ALL your comps should be a 3/2 one-story ranches with no basement.Regarding age of home, I really like to stay under 9-10 years at most if possible. 

Also what's your market look like by the time this comes online, will rents stay the same or drop because of excess new inventory?

I look forward to crossing paths (maybe at one of the meet ups mentioned above).I’d love to stay in touch and share our experiences as we both learn and grow in real estate investing.

Or, if you're happy to stay living there, but want as much immediately accessible cash in your pocket as a Lender would approve, you'd need to make sure your newly acquired investor mindset was in full bargain hunting / return-on-investment mode, because, your monthly repayments will increase significantly once you withdraw the maximum against a HELOC!

But I left the farm and worked in industry, where I earned money from my labor (time --> money) to buy the 2,000 calories a day.I knew that if I saved a portion of my income and invested it in income-producing assets (money --> money), the day would come when the income from those investments would be enough to buy the 2,000 calories a day I need to stay alive (my parents were struggling farmers in what is today the Rust Belt and were always looking for innovative ways to survive financially).

Tenants do not tend to pay once they have fallen behind and stay behind without a little "help". 

While I wouldn't give a tenant a discount for stating they will stay longer than one year I wouldn't entertain renting to another tenant who is guaranteed to be a short term tenant for a nominal increase like this one.

But as mentioned above, stay away from any company charging more than a simple credit check fee up front.