About to be a landlord - do I need a lawyer?

[Adam K.]

I am working towards being a new landlord and am wondering if I need to have a lawyer. I have never hired a lawyer before and don't even know what questions to ask them or what a typical client/lawyer relationship is. I don't currently have any needs that I know of for a lawyer and I don't know if it is typical to have one "on call" or wait until I have some kind of tenant dispute (such as getting sued, etc) to contact hire one.

I found a lawyer who specializes in tenant/landlord law, but I don't even know what types of questions to ask them over the phone.

I would say that my goal is to have some kind of relationship with a lawyer who I could call if I had trouble, but obviously I don't want to spend money needlessly. For example I don't know if people typically pay some kind of retainer up front or only pay when they have questions. I don't even know what the market rates are for a typical real estate lawyer. $150/hr? I'm in NH for what its worth.

I have a lease to use that a property manager friend gave to me that I was going to edit to fit my rental. Is that something that I should have a lawyer review as well? How much would one typically pay for a lease review?