@Pannell Catherine - You'll report the income and all of your associated expenses (mileage, telephone, internet, office supplies) on a Schedule C.Good luck!

just fyi:A TD is the Mortgage on a specific property, Secured by a Note and is filed in the County.The NOTE is a commercial paper that has a specific rate and period associated with it, can be created, bought and sold independently of the TD;  Universal Commercial Code.

I have friends and business associates who invest in real estate, and as I'm sure you can imagine, everyone would like me to invest capital and let them do the dirty in return for a small percentage of the profits.

You also always want to include a home inspection contingency so that you minimize risk associated with unknowns that could come up and back out of the deal if anything huge comes back in the report.

A really old school way that I've never done but my grandpa used to employ is after signing the 1 year lease, have the tenant write out 12 checks for rents for the year, each one dated the first of every month so that they could not be cashed in ahead of time, and in the lease state that tenant is responsible for banking fees associated with bounced checks ... like I said, old school.

You can generally find these types of forms online and from your state's association of realtors or sites like 'First Tuesday' (CA docs). 

check your state landlord tenant laws so you know what's required..Does your county have a landlord association that you could belong to .. they usually have forms for leases that are current and you could buy one that would work..and offer classes and help to landlords for advise.google residential lease for North Carolina.. and see what comes up.. 

—In all criminal cases, contempt cases, and other cases filed pursuant to this chapter, if a party has sold, leased, or let real estate, the title to which was not in the party when it was offered for sale, lease, or letting, or such party has maintained an office bearing signs that real estate is for sale, lease, or rental thereat, or has advertised real estate for sale, lease, or rental, generally, or describing property, the title to which was not in such party at the time, it shall be a presumption that such party was acting or attempting to act as a real estate broker, and the burden of proof shall be upon him or her to show that he or she was not acting or attempting to act as a broker or sales associate.

@Gavin Hirsch - How about joining your local REIA or landlord association and asking investors who are active in the market what their experience is?

It is not a big infomercial, they teach you soooo much about things you didn't even know was associated with Real Estate investing.