First Rental Checklist

[Jacob Phillips]

Good evening, BP. This Sunday I'm hoping to look at a pair of houses neighboring each other that were brought to me off market. My hope is to be able to BRRRR them, and they would be my first real estate purchases.

My question revolves around the rental side of things. I'd like to know what would be your checklist for a first time landlord who is hopefully a couple months away (after rehab) from acquiring tenants? 

I'd like to know your go-to tenant screening resources, for instance.  I'd also like to know if anyone has Missouri real estate attorney recommendations. I've gone through the landlord forms provided by BP, but I'd still like to hear your suggestions, if you have them. I'm reading and listening and doing all the research I can, but as we all know at some point I just have to act, so here we are.  I intend to self manage to begin with in order to learn and familiarize myself with the processes, but I will be contacting property managers in the area to glean what information I can from them, as well.

In a nutshell, if you were talking to your younger, less experienced self, what things do you wish you'd had more established whenever you began acquiring your first tenants?

[Joseph Copella]

@Jacob Phillips  As far as tenant screening resources go, I would recommend checking out the landlord resources tab on BiggerPockets as they have recommended screening services on there as well as some other information you may find helpful for screening potential tenants.  You can also access the landlord resources area by hovering over tools and selecting landlord resources under services.