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I use http://www.landlord2landlord.com/ They're reasably priced; I can get a credit report for about $12.00, a little more to search eviction records and courthouse records. The turnaround time is just about instantaneous for online reports, and they do offer telephone verification of landlord and employment references if you're willing to pay a little more for it.

You don't legally HAVE to submit all of the applications to the screening agency. You're allowed to judge tenants on your "gut feel" to an extent. Just make sure that you have some sort of formula for how you're choosing tenants -- based on income, credit, rental history, etc. If you have more than one tenant that you like, I'd definitely submit them both to the screening agency, however. You want to have as much information available to you as possible before making your decision.

I use Craig's list and the website for a local univeristy. I set up both ads to direct traffic to a webpage that I host myself -- with a detailed description of the unit, the neighborhood (including businesses within walking distance), photos of the outside of the property and of the individual rooms within the apartment, and a floor plan. I've found that giving people a lot of information up-front gets me more qualified people calling/emailing me.

I also put a sign in the front lawn, but have found that online advertising usually gets me the most inquiries from the kind of people that I'd most like to rent to.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum and your adventure in rental property! I'm still fairly new at this game too, and have been learning by doing. I write a blog about being a landlord, and have recently written an article about what to look for in buying a duplex: http://www.iboughtaduplex.com/general-day-to-day-landlord/tips-for-buying-a-duplex.php

Good luck to you in your property search!

I find it much easier to reference old emails using gmail. I also appreciate that there isn't a quota -- so I don't have to delete anything permanently.

I have a duplex, which I occupy half of, so I'm not required to have a commercial insurance policy. However, when I shopped around, I found that State Auto gave me the best rates for homeowner's insurance.

hilarous!

I would definitely go with duplex, triplex, fourplex vs. single family -- you're spreading your risk out more with a multi-unit, AND you're targeting a slightly different class of people. In my market, most people who want to live in a single family house (and are doing ok financially) have bought one, with interest rates being what they have been in the past few years. The people have rented from me, in my duplex are 20-somethings and younger couples who are doing ok financially, but aren't quite ready for a whole house.

Because the rental market has been so poor lately, I haven't raised the rent at all, as an incentive for my tenants to stay put.

However, in the longterm, not raising the rent can be a disservice to not only the landlord, but also the TENANT. If a tenant stays in an apartment for an extended period of time, without any rent increases, when the time comes for them to move out, they may be unable to budget for a normal market rate at another rental.