Who can give me advice on being a landlord?

Http://www.legalshield.com is a prepaid legal plan. The lawyer is the one that you will need for legal advice. They can see if there is anything written in your home owners association that would prevent you from doing this. You can go to the library or http://www.landlord.com/ for leases. You can go to

http://www.newurbanlandlord.com/ to manage your property. If you are moving out of state then setup an escrow account and have the tenant put the checks in there. From my understanding as long as the tenant moves in the same year the HVAC is repaired, whether before or after you should be able to deduct. Double check that with accountant.

the real estate agencies usually work with renting houses. They may take some percent of first income or take some smaller percent of every month income. Then can tell you how much you can get from renting your house and they can made contract between you and the family who will live in your house.

You should make a contract and be sure that all bills will be paid on time. So, if the new family has plans to use your house for several years, you should make the bills on their name so if they do not pay the bills, they will be legally responsible for such debts.

Usually, depending on state where you live, you will have to pay some tax for such income. The most legal way is when money are paid using credit card to your account directly. Some US states do not allow paying in cash because in such way they will not be able to tax you.

First, get the property out of your individual name if possible. There are protections you would want by having a buffer entity between you and your tenants.

Hire a property management company to handle this for you. They will certainly take a fee, but you wont have to deal with the property.