Once my house in Philadelphia is finished , I wanted to see if I could have any success with short term rentals, (because I would like to spend the winters there as that’s my slow time) if not I would place a full time tenant.

I can make the obvious assumption that many of them have seen the guru ads who make it sound like shooting fish in a barrel and believe it will be an easy way to become an investor without money.As illustrated many times before from a wide range of experienced investors the path to a successful wholesale business requires a good amount of capital to spend on marketing which most newbies do not account for. 

Don't spend the money on an entity until you have something to protect.

That means that you can bring $12k to the table and buy a duplex for 40k, then spend 20k on rehab, and it'll appraise around 75k.

Spending money for 4 months use is a waste of money.Tell them that according to the lease you are not going to replace the washer and you have no intention to repair.

You don't need to spend a lot of money getting a lawyer involved at this point, because there are steps you can take right now without needing one.If you are concerned about your tenant's physical well-being, you can have the local sheriff do a wellness check. 

If you are willing to spend the money, CoStar is a great resource.

This is giving me the opportunity to  attend graduate school as well as have more time to spend with my 1 Yo.

If I spend 5-10k on a back yard could I expect to see a return?

A word of caution though—I’ve seen clients spend a crazy amount of money on marketing with very little results.