If you rent find a local Realtor to handle it for you. They deal with all the headaches and you just collect the rent. They fuck it up and they are either responsible for running down the tennent or you can just sue them and typically they will pay rather then ruin their reputation. My in laws manage tons of house locally like that and make more doing that then renting out their houses or selling houses. Plus if you work the deal right the Realtor covers the months when it's not rented.