Getting a trashed unit cleaned and prepped for new guests
Hello BP Community, I bought my first multi-family property for STR's two weeks ago and already had to evict a guest from one of my units. The place is trashed. They had two pit bulls, possibly doing drugs, and domestic abuse so they had to go. They left some clothes and junk behind, moved and damaged furniture, trash everywhere, and even a tire in the family room. My regular cleaner says they don't handle these situations. They focus on just turning over the unit for the next guest. I've changed the access codes to the unit and informed the other guests (who filed complaints). Any suggestions on who I can bring in to help prep the unit (remove debris, deep cleaning, etc.)? Anything I should be sure to do or think through before renting to the next guest? Any referrals?
Thank you.
1-800-GOT-JUNK will take the junk out. Then you can handle the repairs (painting, flooring, etc.) and bring in your cleaner at the end.
Wow, so sorry this happened @Frank Calderaro. :(
Hi @Frank Calderaro! Hate that you went through this situation, but I guess that is the risk we take at times! I asked around to cleaners in my contacts if they would be willing to do what you're asking and all of them said they wouldn't haul away stuff. Unless you find the one in a million person who would be willing to do that, it does sound like you would have to hire a junk removal service and then bring in a cleaner after as @Dan Travieso mentioned above.
I bought a small mobile home park 5 years ago and I've done numerous repairs, moving people's stuff out into the grass with the sheriff standing by, repairing broken water pipes at 1:00 in the morning and on and on. I am moving out of that phase and starting to hire more help. But, my point is, since this is your first property, don't forget about the most obvious option which is to do it yourself. If you don't have a trailer or truck you can rent one. You could even consider buying a heavy item or two from Home Depot or Lowe's and renting their pickup truck. Then do a little trash hauling while you have the truck.....shhhh. If you do it yourself, you could ask a high school for recommendations of high schoolers to help for $12 an hour (in this case you could just supervise more than work). Or ask local realtors for recommendations of a handywoman (or handyman...heh) who might be willing to help as a part of other work while they are on site.
Thank you all for the input. Normally, I would do it myself. We purchased the property using SD401k funds which prohibit us from physically doing anything to the property ourselves because it would provide a financial (cost saving) benefit. I appreciate the ideas and the effort to seek direct support. I am checking the various service boards like TurnoverBnB, Bark, Thumbtack, etc.