[DETRoadster]

Hey all, my wife and I are in a position to purchase a new home and keep our existing one as a rental to generate some income. We've never been landlords before and I know a few of you have rental properties. Hoping you folks can chime in with some advice, in particular any hard learned "I wish I had known that going in" sort of things.

In particular, I'm interested in ways to protect the rental property and our personal finances. I dont want the house destroyed and I dont want to put us at risk. So what can we do to protect those things?

Examples of what I'm afraid of:

1) The rental house down the street is housing at least 4 adults and about 17,000 kids. There's a recycling bin 8 feet up in a tree that's been there for a year. The blinds in literally every window are torn up and hanging at about 45 degree angles. The front lawn has garbage strewn across it at all times.

2) Freak accidents: Renter slips and falls on the stairs and sues me. The circuit I wired in for my wife's electric car (without a permit) catches fire and the house burns down along with the renter's newborn baby. Renters destroy the inside of the house causing 100s of thousands in damage. etc.

Sheesh, maybe I'm not cut out to be a landlord...