First time, future landlord, in AACO MD looking for advice.

[Jeff N.]

Due to work,  we are planning on renting out our house.  I plan on managing everything myself, once rented out, we would be moving about an hour away,  and I will still work part time near our soon to be rental property.   Dropping by to fix stuff, or check in on things wouldn't be hard.

I run a restaurant and deal with hiring, firing, and all the other fun stuff that comes with it so I'm use to dealing with people and having my phone go off 24/7   I plan on setting high standards for tenants and sticking to my guns even if it means spending a bit more time trying to find the right person for the house.   Background checks and credit checks are a must.  Thankfully we are not in a rush to rent the house out, the sooner the better but if it takes 2-3-4 months, we are fine since we currently live in the home.

I do have a few questions for the forum.

Does anyone here have or know where I can find a Anne Arundel County lease template?   I plan on writing up my lease agreement before hiring an attorney to review it.

Does anyone recommend a real estate attorney that would know AACO leases so I can have them review and fix any issues I have with the lease I drafted?  Many websites offer free ones,  but are they legit?  They seem like a one size fits all, lease.  If you don't,  could you please give me an idea of what I should expect to pay for one?

Credit scores,  what do you use for a minimum credit score?  720+  740+?

Property management programs,  since we would only have 1 unit,  I'm thinking Cozy,  its free, and while it's basic it might fit our needs of a single unit operation.   Anyone recommend using another product, and if so, why?

Thanks for any help!

[Travis Paez]

Bigger Pockets has a lot of sample leases saved in the file section of the tools tab. You can see the best rated ones. I read as many samples as I could and then constructed my own using the parts I liked best. I then had this checked by an attorney.  Its true that your lease will never be a problem until you go to court and a judge says that its a problem, possibly negating the entire lease. The rates your guy mentioned seem similar to what I have experienced. I would get an estimate of how many hours he plans to spend on writing or reviewing a lease, then hold him to that.