To hedge my bet, I want to switch from a year long lease to a monthly lease.

You can read through The Ultimate Beginner's Guide if you want to know the most popular strategies.

Rentometer.com is a popular (and therefore presumably accurate) website for rents in your area.

You might have to remodel it to fit in with today's designs that are popular or make the house more open.To find out what is the most popular as far as design goes.  

You can be on a street that is all +$400k homes and one street over there are burned out shells selling for $20-40k.Your best bet might be to reach out to some Philly investors and let them have a piece of the pie in exchange for helping you get what you want in an investment. 

@Russell BrazilIf it's not a requirement of your company I wouldn't see it to be an issue.I doubt the PM asked for it,, I bet the owner mentioned it and now is regretting they did.Yes the rental license is something to be provided, that gives proof of inspection by city and that it's licensed for rent.. the other is rather a owner option disclosure for point of sale at closing.

In the south smoking is still a lot more popular than in other places around the country.

Plus with the surrounding cities being so popular (Prairie Village, Fairway, Westwood, OP) and the shortage of inventory on the market these 2 areas are getting a lot of the spillover for renters and home buyers.I can't speak too much on the Missouri side as I mostly focus on Johnson County, KS, but I hope that helps.Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions!

In a state that does specifically address them, such as Texas, they are a safer bet then in ones that don't.

Florida is real popular for lots of Canadians in your area.