New to renting - please help. Renting my house.

[J Strokosky]

Hello,

I am going to rent out my house in Illinois and need advice/knowledge.

I am the owner and have lived in the house for 2 years. I haven't had to do any repairs besides initially getting things to work (central air/heating, dishwasher, laundry all now work). It is mainly an owner occupied area, however some owners/investors rent their property out. There is never a problem quickly finding tenants. I would, however, like tenants that would treat the property as their own, and hopefully stay long term (wouldn't every landlord?). A similar property as mine (same model) was just purchased by investors and rented out within weeks.

The house is in move in condition except for 2 electrical outlets don't work. I have a handyman that can fix them. I would like to be the property manager and contract a handyman for anything I can't fix on my own.

I like the advice of telling tenants I am not the owner but rather the property manager, and I will have to ask the owner about requests (from http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/04/how-to-rent-your-house). My name is on the tax bill, could that be an issue?

To find tenants, I plan on putting an add on craigslist and/or sign in the front yard. Another option is to have a real estate agent find tenants for the price of one months rent.

I want to protect myself from litigation, would you recommend using my name on the lease? What are my options (form LLC, use a property management company for a fee)?

Is it necessary to have a real estate lawyer? I would think yes, to help me with the lease and perhaps other things i am unaware of. Perhaps it is not necessary though If I use a property management company.

I'm ready to find tenants, I just have a few decisions to make and need to be as prepared as possible. I don't mind putting in the hard work of finding tenants and dealing with repairs (would prefer it actually), however I don't mind paying professionals to do the work since this is my first time.

Any comments and suggestions are appreciated on how to go about renting my property are greatly appreciated. The decision to rent has been made - this property only. Thanks!

[Jon Holdman]

We all want tenants to treat our properties as we would treat them. They will not. This can be a big mental hurdle to overcome. If you expect to get the property back in the same condition you handed it over, you area going to be dismayed. This is what you're singing up for when you become a landlord.

There are no guarantees against a lawsuit. Get liability insurance on your properties. Good idea to have an umbrella policy.

I would do your own advertising and find your own tenant. Do your own screening. This is the toughest part of the process, but a very important one.

Yes, you want a lawyer who specializes in landlord/tenant law, preferable from the landlord side. You want them to look over your lease. Discuss any concerns and have them brief you on what to do or not do. Before I bought my first rental, I took a class put on by a local PM on how this process worked and what to do and not do. Ultimately, his goal was to scare the students into hiring him. But it was still a very useful class for getting started. Get hooked into local REIAs and make contact with other landlords in your area.