You have to know your state landlord-tenant laws; they are on the internet:"In New Jersey, a landlord may need to give a 30-day notice to pay rent before eviction if the tenant has a history of late payments and the landlord accepts them.

I am just looking for insight from local MA realtors, attorneys or landlords regarding what my typical monthly expenses (if any) will likely be (I don’t mean one-off expenses like roof repairs). 

I personally think being a landlord in Chicago is easy and I have never had an eviction. 

@Earl White rent control and relocation costs equals NOT landlord friendly in my opinion.

If you need help with landlord laws, house backing strategies, or traditional MTR investing specific to New Jersey happy to help.

Do you check Landlord references?

I'm scratching my head because I feel like the program, least locally here in San Antonio, TX, tells all the landlords to put our listings there, but the tenants don't look there.

The Democratic bill proposed seems to offer funding to landlords while the Republican bills offers landlords nothing. 

The tenant understands that the property of the Tenant is not insured by the landlord for damage or loss of any kind (action of third party, fire, water, theft, vandalism, storm, heat or cold, electrical damage, pests, mold, accident, etc.), and the Landlord assumes no liability for such loss.

For example, below are three sections from the BP landlord forms lease.