Looking for the must haves when Creating Landlord policies.

[Nick Doria]

Working on creating my policies for becoming a landlord in Chicago, IL before i buy my first building because of the highly ambitious goal of having 1000 rental units by the time I'm 40 (which will be in 13 years from now) i understand the fact that i will need to have multiple systems and processes in place to be able to expand at this level.  I have been reading Brandon Turner's book on managing rental properties to help me gain some insights to what are the bread and butter things i should have in my policies. 

I have some questions that i would like to see how they would directly apply to the chicago market: 

1.) How do you deal with section 8 tenants-  If you don't accept them when they apply what's your method as a protected class i would want to avoid any possible discrimination but i also don't want any unqualified tenant that won't meet the minimum requirements set for approval. 

2.) Would $50 per screening of background and credit checks? I have seen some higher and lower charges as an leasing agent in the city but i want to be reasonable. 

3.) Accepting pets- do you charge just a deposit or do you also charge pet rent as well? what have been your experiences pros and cons of allowing pets? If you don't allow pets could you give some insight on why?

4.) Creating a lease- i will be working with a real estate attorney but what are some things that you wish you would have had in your looking back after being in the business for a while? 

5.) Things that you wish you would have known when first starting off as a landlord that would have saved you a lot of money and time? 

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and looking forward to hearing from everybody.