What did you do/read to get started being a landlord?

[Matthew Gundersen]

Hello Bigger Pockets,

I am looking for any and all advice here. I am a complete beginner when it comes to real estate; I basically just have some additional cash that I am looking to use to help me fund my first home purchase. I have about 25k saved up and am looking to use. It's nerve wracking dealing with that kind of large (to me) money. 

My situation is to look in my market. The South Jersey area (Vineland, Hammonton, and Glassboro) is where I live and am looking in this area for foreclosures and bank owned properties that I can buy, fix up, and rent out. But I am just having some questions getting started.

First off, when I purchase my property and believe I have everything fixed and finished and ready to put up to be rented out... what do I do? Do I hire a lawyer and an inspector to make sure the property is up to code? And then if it is, do I keep a lawyer on retainer? I am kind of confused as to the whole process of actually setting up my unit to be rented out. I am 22 and I have never used a lawyer before in my life. I still have one year of college left and I've never had to have a property inspected. 

There's just a lot of questions I have from start to finish about renting a place out. I understand the people talking about strategies and what they do as a landlord to help becoming successful... but how do I start? What is the process that I am missing? From my understanding it goes something like...

Find House -> Purchase House -> Make Sure House is Up to Code -> Rent House

But I kind of need help along those points because I don't even know if they're right. If anyone has any books or articles that they found helpful please send them my way.

Any information would be great. It will help me get started in this field and I am hungry to start! Thank you.