Renting out US house

Hi everyone!  Anyone renting out their house in the US?  We are leaning towards doing so for a while but I'm experiencing a little 'fear of flying' and haven't turned in the paperwork to the property management company yet.  Financially it all sounds great, but then you realize there'll be strangers living in your house!   We're renting in the UK to start with, so renting out our house here seems more sensible than selling and banking the proceeds.  Anyone care to share their experiences, good or bad?
Thanks!

I rented out my house in the US from 2001 until I sold it in 2014. A management company is a good start. I'd also suggest you need someone who knows US taxes to deal with the tax implications of owning a rental property, and I'd also save up some money both to deal with repairs that come up last minute, and long-term stuff you'll have to do every few years like painting and carpet replacement.

This would be a 1 to 3 year deal on renting, then we'd either move back or sell it to buy something in the UK.  We're in good shape from the standpoint of affording repairs etc, I'm more concerned about renters from hell who trash the place or trip on the deck and sue us!  I'm hoping somebody is going to tell me these are unrealistic concerns :-)

We rent our old house in the UK (we live less than a mile away so do not use a management company).  We checked references and have a month and a half deposit.  Our tenants are fabulous.  My parents rent a house in the US and have had the same tenant for 7 years.  There are great renters out there.  You can always buy rental insurance and you'll need a landlord policy anyways to protect both the building and liability.

We rented out our US house for 5 years, and sold it when our long term expat tenants moved out. All in all it was a good deal for us.

We did have a management company, they weren't good for anything other than taking a cut of the rent! I'd advise really looking around for a company that actually provides services, such as supervising  repairs, inspecting when they should do etc etc.

Our house showed quite a few signs of wear and tear after the 5 years. Yes we had rent and paid down our mortgage, but the renters really didn't look after the house and ruined the carpets and some kitchen appliances. They also walked off with a few of our items so didn't get any of their deposit back. As long as you have the $$ to fix what has (potentially ) been damaged when you take the house back you should be ok. We had to do new paint and carpets, and replace some kitchen appliances.

We did our own taxes as we were already familiar with rental property depreciation etc., but if you're not confident I'd recommend getting assistance. Also, ensure that your homeowners insurance is valid if you rent out the property. I asked our broker to check this out a month before the tenants moved in, I forgot to chase them up and found out the day before we moved overseas that nothing had been done. A little panic ensued before I managed to find coverage!
Hope this helps