Looking at renting out house and have a lot of questions

[Geoff V.]

Hello,

As you can probably tell, I just joined the site. I found it while searching for ideas and insight on my current situation, and found it to be a great resource.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind some further insight and suggestions.

Due to job issues, and wanting to take advantage of the current market, I just bought a second house to move into. The original house is underwater too much to want to sell, but I feel it has decent potential to come back up in the next five years or so. This leaves me trying to rent it out. (Which is a good start I guess, I've been wanting to get into real estate investing anyway.)

The property:
A 3/2.5 with a great room, living room, rec room, and office. 2400 sq. ft. in a great family neighborhood. Seems we are in one of the best school districts around. House is about 8 years old.
All the hallways, great room, and rec room are tiled. The bedrooms, office and living room are carpeted.
Looking around, and talking with my real estate agent, it looks like I can reasonably expect to see $1400-$1600 a month, which likely means I need to make sure what stuff I do add is of decent quality.

I have a ton of questions, and looking for general insight as well. I'll just put a few questions to start.

1)Property Manager?
I've been advised that for one house that is pretty well built that I should just do everything myself. Thoughts on this? I haven't done this before, but am interested in learning, so I'm leaning towards giving it a go myself to start and falling back on a manager if it becomes too time consuming or annoying.

2) Common fixes
Is there anything I should fix, or make more resilient before renting? What are the most common calls? Would you recommend a Home Warranty of some sort?

3) Flooring
I need to replace the carpet in the master bedroom, the living room, and likely the office. I was considering putting in some kind of hard floor, tile or wood in the office and living room. Thoughts on this?
I was considering investing a bit more on the non-carpeted flooring with the idea that it'll likely be there when i try to sell in several years.

SO yea, any advice or things I may be forgetting to consider would be greatly appreciated.

-Geoff