If you they are going to go the rental route, they need to get a professional property manager. The rental business is not for the weak of heart. I have been a slumlord for years and I have seen novices rent their homes and get totally screwed in the deal. Damage to the property and not getting rents on time or at all. Tenants need to be heavily screened and held accountable. There are tenants that just go from place to place looking for weak landlords. Trash the place and don't pay rent. They then move on to the next place when the sheriff shows up for eviction. I don't care how clean the people look when you meet them, they will screw you.
The average professional manager gets 10%, but you make that up in the speed in which the place is rented and maintenance costs. I don't know what the requirement for PM are in AL but a chat with a local Real Estate agent can help screen to find an honest one.
I hear ya. My wife owned some rental property years ago before we met. She has warned of this headache. Never again is her feelings and we have friends at church who are in the same boat renting out some house now.
Our new tenant is a breath of fresh air!
NO NO NO
use property management to run credit checks on prospective tenants VITAL) and hire a lawyer to draft a legal lease
BUT a friend or relative will do 1000% better in managing a property than professional manager who will charge $150 every time they have to go unclog the toilet or change a lightbulb or furnace filter or mow the grass
The last professional manager we had kept all the rent and declared bankruptcy
Just make sure Pop goes to the courthouse and reads up on landlord-tenant code for your county and knows how to process an eviction by the book, step by step, if needed