How much to clean house before I move out (buyers, buy, apartment)
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Thank you for all the insight and wisdom. Between my realtors advice, combined with this forum, I'm think I have decided the following:
My obligation is: broom clean
My best path forward: clean the house now (two weeks before my move) as I have time, when the movers leave, do the following:
Wipe countertops
clean toilets
sweep floors
vacuum carpets
wipe out fridge and oven
sweep garage
All totaled, they may only take an hour with two people given the house will be empty
Every time we've moved, we had a professional cleaner come in the day we were loading up the truck. They started in the bathrooms and then went through each room as it got emptied out. Well worth the expense knowing we were leaving it in good condition upon exiting.
Thank you for all the insight and wisdom. Between my realtors advice, combined with this forum, I'm think I have decided the following:
My obligation is: broom clean
My best path forward: clean the house now (two weeks before my move) as I have time, when the movers leave, do the following:
Wipe countertops
clean toilets
sweep floors
vacuum carpets
wipe out fridge and oven
sweep garage
All totaled, they may only take an hour with two people given the house will be empty
I'm glad to see that you take pride in your investment. The list seems adequate.
We removed any litter from the movers...and made sure the house was locked up and all faucets and electric were off. We left a welcome note to the new owners with a brief message of the water and electric. Some might think that was not our "place" to go to such length, yet we loved that home..memories and all. Handing it over with kindness didn't seem that far out of line...Best wishes in your transition.
What is contract states "professionally cleaned" but it was a full on disaster zone, (mold, cat urine everywhere, white powder lining all kitchen cabinets) just filthy, when you moved in. Is one obligated to get it professionally cleaned if contract states so?
I had my cleaning lady do a clean like she did for us. Kitchen, bathrooms, vacuum, and the buyer complained that I left a dozen plastic hangers in the hall closet and master bedroom. Not cheap wire, but decent plastic. I'll never go to that extent to clean again.
I leave things as spotless as possible, and leave a copy of the receipts for both the cleaning and carpet cleaning behind for the buyer/apt complex office so they know what has already been done. That might be enough to save the next people also going to the same expense/effort.
A gift certificate for a cleaning would be a godsend from a realtor.. what a great idea!
I leave things as spotless as possible, and leave a copy of the receipts for both the cleaning and carpet cleaning behind for the buyer/apt complex office so they know what has already been done. That might be enough to save the next people also going to the same expense/effort.
A gift certificate for a cleaning would be a godsend from a realtor.. what a great idea!
I am with you. I loved my house and I left it spotless for the new owners. Word got back to me that they were impressed with how clean the house was when they moved in. It is called "pride". I always got my security deposits back from apartments too.
Mae
I have always hired a move-out cleaning service. Almost any Realtor can provide you with a name or two, usually runs just under what a national chain would run. (And this is where Realtor referral means everything....bad job = bad feedback). For me it always came down to the time money equation. I could never clean a home in an hour, not to mention the time to gather cleaning materials , travel time and gathering trash. There's a value to my time.
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