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Generally houses are expected to be "broom clean"..that is no trash left. Most sellers will not clean thoroughly before moving. You should expect to get/(or do yourself)a thorough cleaning after you close.
I'm not one to worry about dust or even grime, as a rule. What DOES bother me is clutter. While one homeowner may go at cleaning every nook and cranny with a toothbrush, working around all the junk lying in disarray everywhere, I can't stand untidiness or disorganization and will put everything in its place by being not at all bothered by what others would see as dirt. Different strokes for different folks. Once it's YOUR house, clean it to your liking. If you want to take possession of a house that has been deep cleaned, write that contingency into your contract and make a condition of closing.
Honestly, this thread is GREAT! I was just wondering how to employ myself now that the children are all in school... and how to work around planning time off for illness, travel, and summers and school holidays. They can be home alone but leaving them home ALL summer doesn't seem right (camps are CRAZY expensive around here) and I couldn't figure out how any employer would want an employee gone all summer, every summer. (And non-teaching positions in the school district don't pay enough to be worth it.)
I know MANY realtors, whom I'm friends with, from the district. It's an "upscale" area. I'm starting an empty-house cleaning business. I talked it over with a few of them and they said to order cards right away so that they can hand them out to sellers and buyers.
Great idea, thanks! I used to do house-cleaning when the children were little - it's actually how we saved the downpayment for this house, living off of my income for non-rent expenses and saving ALL of my husband's income - but then my husband got a promotion and I didn't want to be cleaning my children's friends' houses. This is more removed and a one-time occurrence, not regular/weekly where it would seem like my availability is sporadic because of vacations, travel, and school holidays.
To whom will you be marketing your services -- buyers or sellers? THAT is the question! Good luck with your new venture.
Both! And giving evaluations on pre-listing conditions; that's something one of them said to list as a service offered. Several of my realtor friends bring me to their clients' homes before listings because I'll take (restore and re-sell) whatever furniture they leave behind... and very often, I'll move it around *in* the house and pick it up after it's under contract, saying it will help. And it does.
It's VERY easy to clean an empty house... I can't imagine hiring that out. But, in this area, people do. There's a market for it. And what a GREAT housewarming gift!
I've always cleaned every house I've purchased myself before moving in. The second home I bought was full of the previous owners stuff when I bought it - I'm talking everything down to their potty chairs and canes, because they had to be moved to nursing homes simultaneously. The wife was bedridden and husband was legally blind, and neither had cleaned in ages. I had to threaten the seller (who had bought the house from the old people's relatives) with not closing until he at least got all the stuff out. Even after that, the house was filthy. I didn't know what the kitchen floor looked like until I scrubbed it 3 times! I'm "old school", I guess. You either clean the house yourself or hire someone else, and I'm frugal.
When we viewed our current house, the owners were a doctor and his nurse-wife, with 4 boys from 2-10 years old. They'd been there only 2 years. 5bd/2ba, huge yard, tons of storage. They had two Newfoundland dogs who, they said, were kept outside and slept in the garage. I didn't care about the dogs... your house, man... I wouldn't think you'd leave your dogs outside in upstate NY. The house looked clean but I didn't open things up- it's their house still.
After closing, they had 48 hours to move out, after almost two months from offer to closing.
When we went to the house, the curb was FILLED. 100' long, 6' wide and probably 3-4' tall. The right side of the kitchen sink had a pipe with a gash in it (had the faucet going only over the left side, for the inspector.) The toilet in the smaller bathroom didn't flush (they'd filled the tank when our inspector came.) There were long, lasagna-wiggly hairs all over the house from their dogs. The 600 sq.ft garage was still packed at the back with GARBAGE. The back corner of the yard was full of faded, plastic JUNK toys... bikes, play structures, broken chairs, broken windows, etc.
And the DOG $h!t? EVERYWHERE. A third of an acre crusted over with two enormous dogs' poop. That poop was really the last straw. We called the realtor and asked if she could relay that we needed them to come grab their dogs' $h!t.
She acted like we were crazy people. She offered that many times, people don't even take their stuff with them. We should have had a better inspector. We could have demanded a clean house at closing. To take what we had, "get a good scrub in," and let it be. The sale was closed and it's ours, dog poop and all.
I just didn't think that two professionals would leave their home in such a state, especially since they were friends with the neighbors and OF COURSE we'd complain about it. They saw it all and were shocked.
Get it cleaned and move on. Are you willing to lose the house over it? Lots of people are just dirty and they don't care.
One of the most filthy house people we know is a doctor. You really just never know. We have moved many times. Recently we have bought and moved into a dog filthy house some similarity to yours. Not the first one we have bought either. There were 5 dogs living here. You couldn't have effectively cleaned the carpet and it had to be torn out right away. They disguised the smell very well for the showing that made me want to buy it.
No matter what language is in the contract the options of what to do are few. If they haven't held up their end you can try and not close and get your earnest money back or you can try to take some legal action against them. The second option is rarely worth it I think. I'm not going to take someone to court over dog poop in the yard and I wanted the house. I would be embarrassed to leave a house in such a state. Where it is cold I think people leave their dogs in the house while at work all day and the consequences are always the same.
Honestly, this thread is GREAT! I was just wondering how to employ myself now that the children are all in school... and how to work around planning time off for illness, travel, and summers and school holidays. They can be home alone but leaving them home ALL summer doesn't seem right (camps are CRAZY expensive around here) and I couldn't figure out how any employer would want an employee gone all summer, every summer. (And non-teaching positions in the school district don't pay enough to be worth it.)
I know MANY realtors, whom I'm friends with, from the district. It's an "upscale" area. I'm starting an empty-house cleaning business. I talked it over with a few of them and they said to order cards right away so that they can hand them out to sellers and buyers.
Great idea, thanks! I used to do house-cleaning when the children were little - it's actually how we saved the downpayment for this house, living off of my income for non-rent expenses and saving ALL of my husband's income - but then my husband got a promotion and I didn't want to be cleaning my children's friends' houses. This is more removed and a one-time occurrence, not regular/weekly where it would seem like my availability is sporadic because of vacations, travel, and school holidays.
Oh this is a GREAT idea if you are up to it. I would certainly consider doing this. I would go to the real estate offices with a hand out for them or get some business cards printed up, I used Vista Print online and cheep to get nice quality, to hand out at the real estate offices offering your services. WOW you have given me ideas too and since I am sure we are not working the same corner LOL I would not be horning in on your territory. I am going to share this with a group I belong to on FB that are always needing more money. I am sure there are professional cleaning services. Possibly you would need to have insurance. I would guess your rates would have to be lower at first until you built a name for yourself and reputation with the realtors. PHEW I think I might look into this myself. I know it all adds up. I paid off a 2K loan one time within a year by just doing extra house cleaning after my other job. And it was back when my pay was $10.00 for 4 hours. EEEKK I worked several houses each week and some every two weeks. I was referred by word of mouth back then and had more work than I could handle.
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