Also, be careful about zip codes because it can be block by block. 

Tim is a great resource and may be able to do some consulting to bring you up to speed, but you are still going to need a small army of vendors to get the task done.If you are set on self managing our company offers lease only services, at least that way you can get a fully screened tenant, with a lease template written by licensed attorney's and be in full compliance with renting. 

The company we use for credit/background checks will not allow our company to share that information with anyone else, not even the property owner (when we are acting as the property manager).

Feel free to reach out to me and ask me questions, we are a Veteran owned and operated mortgage company.

@Vincent L Sanchez our original lease was 6 pages at 14-point font. 20+ years later it's 26 pages at 10-point font.You live & you learn.Recommend you keep researching the leases of others, even in other states, and copy & paste what you like - after running by an experienced landlord-tenant attorney.Be careful what attorneys you use as many will charge you while they learn!

Yeah, curb appeal is often overlooked by landlords because they aren't there, but it makes tenants feel more like they are at home and not in rental which equates to better care.

We also heard that Encore requires that you hire one of their pre-approved management companies which would not work for us.

I could care less about a pool .

You'll find other things like liens and such that will have to be dealt with to clear title, but generally it's not too difficult and the title company or your title attorney will help you get title cleared.  

The out-of-state seller utilized a typical property management company which resulted in bloated expenses and a rent roll below market levels.