If you've purchased a house and have decided to use it as a rental property, then you have to make sure you have all of the contacts necessary to keep it running smoothly. You don't want to end up with a bad tenant or have to keep running over to the house to fix leaky pipes or shovel the driveway. If you want to be a landlord, then you need to treat it as a business and make sure you're responsible. The three types of contacts listed below are necessary for renting a house and making sure you don't run into headaches and financial problems.  

Real Estate Lawyer

You never want to rent your home out to someone without a properly drawn up lease. You might end up with tenants who decide to not pay and still don't leave. This will require you to evict them. Not only is a proper lease required to show that they agreed to pay and were not told they could stay rent free, but you also will need a lawyer to help you navigate the legal process. While it's possible to deal with the housing court yourself, it is time consuming, and if you have a full time job, it makes sense to have a real estate attorney on hand.

Tenant Screening Service

Before you decided to rent to someone, you should have them checked out. You want to know their credit score, but you also want to see if they have been arrested. It's also important to know if they have been evicted before from multiple properties. This will save you from ending up with a tenant that has a history of selling drugs, or causing disturbances in the neighborhood.

Property Maintenance Company

Perhaps the most important thing you need to do is contact a property maintenance company. These companies can essentially take care of everything for you and let relax. They will be the number that the tenants call when there is a problem. If there is a leak, or the toilets won't flush, then your property maintenance can deal with it. This way you won't have to deal with that phone call late at night about no running water. 

Not only will the property maintenance firm deal with repairs, but you can have them deal with normal upkeep such as mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, and shoveling the snow. The company can manage snow plow contractors, plumbers, plasters, and all other tradesman, If you have to deal with this on your own, you would have to establish relationships with many different tradesmen. The learning curve when dealing with contractors is sort of steep, so in order to not be ripped off, you would have to do quite a bit of research. A property maintenance will already be familiar with all of these issues, and they will already have trusted relationships set up. Visit websites like http://www.getthehammer.com to learn more.