I would add, make sure you have good landlord resources as you enter into the landlord domain-lease agreement fitting your situation-resources for your tenant application process -needed landlord forms and notices-education resources-management tools (e.g. software to keep all records, pictures, payment history, etc.)Best wishes.

The vast majority of tax preparers merely fill out forms you or their software tells them to fill out.

> When self-managing, are there any software or tools that are "must-haves" to make it less stressful for you? 

I would also encourage you to source leads through a software like TurboTenant which will streamline the process, in conjunction with the handouts found in Brandon's book, and likely provide a better applicant pool as your listing is automatically published to multiple rental listing sites.

Our son has a good software career that he enjoys but I hope this business will provide him the option of retiring early should he want to.

Having good PM software automates these tasks. 

Hi Chris.I'm also new and I'm also an engineer with a FT software dev job.

I don't have the capitol right now to spend a ton of money on software.

It all depends, this is why I always review potential client's books what is the best course of action.I personally do not like QBO for real estate (I make it clear in all my posts lol) I just renewed my certification just because most people can't afford the PM software with accounting such as AppFolio and Yardi.

Hi Paul,On top of softwares like AirDNA, you can check the actual listings on Airbnb!