You can indicate a percentage will occur on renewal and agree to do less but you shouldn't make an agreement and just not enforce.

It's not really a big issue in most cases, it's just a paperwork process that the municipality has so they can keep track of what occurred and how it was eventually resolved. 

@Jason Wray  The purpose of an LLC is to protect the individual from a lawsuit generated by the investment property(i.e. an injury occurring at that property). 

I mean, let's be honest - most of the Poconos rentals occur in the summer.

Upon termination of the landlord's interest in the premises, whether by sale, assignment, death, appointment of receiver or otherwise, the landlord or the landlord's agent shall, within 60 days of termination of the interest or when the successor in interest is required to return or otherwise account for the deposit to the tenant, whichever occurs first, do one of the following acts, either of which shall relieve the landlord or agent of further liability with respect to such deposit:(1) transfer the deposit, or any remainder after any lawful deductions made under subdivision 3, with interest thereon as provided in subdivision 2, to the landlord's successor in interest and thereafter notify the tenant of the transfer and of the transferee's name and address; or(2) return the deposit, or any remainder after any lawful deductions made under subdivision 3, with interest thereon as provided in subdivision 2, to the tenant.

They may be saving the rent for the security deposit and rent for the new place.If this occurs, their security deposit can be used for owed rent plus (if anything is left over) for any damages above "normal wear and tear". 

that banks will not do short sales if the foreclosure sale occurs, even if there is a 6 month redemption period (Michigan)?

This is a regular occurring problem.  

Also all of our "closings" (nothing more than a formal lease signing) occur with an attorney, which I would recommend for anyone. 

Emergencies occur and you need to be able to pay for them, closing costs almost always have to be paid out of pocket, you can always use someone else's money but it can be hard to find someone who wants to give money to someone with no experience.I would recommend saving some money prior to purchasing a property.