Hey everyone, newcomer finding myself going down this route

[Sean Repanshek]

Hello!

I own a townhouse which was newly built in 2017/18 and am the first owner of it. Due to life paths and goals changing as well as opportunities arising, I find myself somewhat unexpectedly going down the rental income path. We listed our property for sale just about 3 months ago but after numerous price cuts, tons of showings, and no offers decided to switch from selling it to renting it. Good time to be in the market...

I found this site by way of some great colleagues I work with who have a wide variety of experience in doing this and have started asking for their suggestions and advice but also figured I'd ask here, never hurts to have too much info.

Onto the specifics!

Our townhouse was built as a 2 bed 2 bath with an unfinished basement (that is tiny, around 300sqft but divided into utility room, small walk in closet, and oddly long and narrow main room) and 2 car garage. We finished the basement as detailed so we could list the property as a 3 bed.
We are in an HOA. There is a rental cap and after being on the waitlist all year, I was able to make an exception to rent by showing that my primary job is relocating us.
My mortgage is $1350/monthly and the HOA fee is $160, though works out to be $165/month after the "processing fee". Internet is included, but electricity, gas, water, other utilities are additional.
I'm unsure whether there is a way to see what other comparable units in my community are currently renting for, but there are two comps awaiting tenants asking for 2100-2200. I'm considering undercutting them a couple hundred as we originally planned to have sold and moved a month ago and time is quickly running out. I don't particularly expect to/care to make much money from this, the goal currently is to rent it and cover my mortgage until the market calms down and we can realistically hope to sell again.

I am meeting with a local property management company this afternoon and have a growing list of questions for them including:
How do they handle emergencies?
How do I get ahold of them if the tenant can't?
Do they have a maintenance ticketing system?
How do I know when maintenance activities are complete?
Do I get an itemized list of things performed/completed?
Do they do interior inspections?
How do they handle move-in/out inspections?

Other questions I have that aren't specific to property management is:
How do most people handle HOA fees? Do you include it in the monthly lease price or have the tenant pay it? I'm considering paying it to be more enticing as we expect to be out soon and can't afford it to be vacant long.
Should I start an LLC? Sounds like most people do, but not all. The legal protection from my personal assets is my main draw to forming one but i'm curious how useful/needed it is generally.

I should also like to point out that my new residence will be about 3,000 miles from this one.

Thanks in advance!