My Mind is all a Swirl

I have so much flying through my mind right now! I was sick last week and the kids were under the weather this week; so I am totally thrown off. I am late/behind on sending out my Christmas cards. My shopping is behind and I totally need to go to the grocery! I have tonight and Sunday night to get stuff done, no pressure. I don't think I have ever been this behind. I did manage to buy some things online last week. I am hoping they make it on time....

On top of that, I have been seriously considering renting my house out. We have tossed the idea around for many years. We have recently met many people who have 1 or more rentals. A good friend of mine recently acquired her second rental property. Her realtor told her not to sell any of them right now,because of the market, and that renting was the way to go with this crappy market. I have read that the sell of homes are down 6.7% from this time last year. Due to the huge amount of foreclosures and the mortgage industries tightening of standards, there are more people out there renting than purchasing. So, I don't know.....We are both going to pray about it. Renting out your house can be a big deal. So the other half and I are going to pray about it ALOT and have dinner with my good friend K and her Hubs and hear how they have gone about having 3 mortgages and 2 sets of tenants. I have always wanted to have a rental property, weird I know. But they can afford you some financial security when you are older. The properties could also be sold at a later date and pay for C or G's college or any extra expenses we may incur due to G's delays. It's alot to think about. So we are praying about it. We also seem to be running into quit a few acquaintances that have a property or two and have been more than happy to share their experiences with me, which is lovely of them to do.
So my question to any of you is, have you ever had a rental property? If so what was your experience with that, tenants, lawyers, and realtors?

Thanks!