Rental House Hunting-Equal Opportunity

Do you own rental property or hope to have rentals of your own someday?  Finding the perfect rental property can be tricky. 
First off, are you going to use a management company or run the property yourself?  If you run the property yourself you need to make sure when finding a tenant you are following all the fair housing laws and regulations.  You don't want to end up in a law suit before you can even start collecting rent.  Fair housing comes into play with any housing related transaction- sale of a home, renting of a home, and financing of a home.  You can NOT under any circumstances discriminate against any one based off of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.  Everyone inquiring has to have an equal right to see the property available for rent and the ability to apply for the property.
Secondly, Are you going to be able to make any repairs if problems arise or will you have to hire a professional.  A professional can be costly but might be the best choice. They tend to have warranties if the fix needs to be repaired or something else breaks due to their negligence. You will want to have several different companies you trust in the line up to call if something happens. Sometimes the professionals are scheduled up and not able to make it in a timely manor, or don't have the proper parts to make the fix.  It doesn't hurt to have a back up! If you don't use a management company you might consider purchasing a home warranty at closing.  The warranty will cover a lot of the major mechanicals in a home.  When something happens you simply call the warranty company (available 24/7) and a tech charges the original agreed upon service fee unless the items are not under warranty.
Thirdly, Are you going to be able to take calls and get back with tenants in a timely manor? If you have a hectic schedule and not able to take the tenant phone calls or don't want the calls at all hours of the day, you should highly consider a management company.  Let the management company deal with the problems and only contact you in an emergency or for approval on a costly repair.
Fourthly, What price range will you buy?  What is the return on investment to make it worth your time and money?  Gain from Investment/Cost of Investment= ROI.  There are tons of systems/calculations that landlords use to determine if the property is a good deal. 
Fifthly,What kind of investment property will you purchase- multiple unit housing, single family housing, a ranch style, 2 story, downtown, acreage etc. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION- you want to make sure you are buying a home in an area where people want to BE.  If its a desirable location there may be potential for higher rents.  Plus it will be easier to rent if the location is right.
Will you by using third party services to run credit, rental history, income, and criminal background checks?  It is extremely important to make sure they qualify financially.  You want to make sure they will be able to pay the rents owed monthly.
Contracts..... if you are going to be renting without a management company you will want to make you have contracts that set the rules for the property.  If you don't have access or want to customize a rental agreement you should probably meet with a lawyer to make sure you are not making any requirements that cant be made or interfere with local or national laws.

P.S. Make sure you have an insurance company that will work with rental housing/secondary homes before purchasing.  You may be shocked by how expensive they can be.  Its also not a bad idea to require your tenant to get rental insurance!  Then you and the tenants are covered in the event of an accident.

Happy Rental House Hunting!