I just wanted to get a consensus from the BP community on trash outs. When you purchase a property or are doing a changeover of tenants and there is a significant amount of trash/personal belongings left behind what do you do?

Do you rent a dumpster and clean it out yourself?

Do you hire someone to come in and clean it out?

If you hire someone to come and take it out how do you determine the cost of this type of service?

Thanks.

I put everything out on the curb the day before trash day and what I can fit on my trailer.  Depending on the amount of trash and whether you have the water turned on, the trash guy will either decide to pick up the trash or issue a warning or a fine.  If you get a warning or a fine then there are people on Craigslist that will come pick up the trash for a small fee if you send them a photo of the trash pile ($100-500).  You could post an ad under gigs and bid out the job and you could also post an ad under free stuff if there's stuff there that people might want.

I picked up a pretty large hydraulic dump trailer (14ftx6ft).  I have the handyman and cleaning person fill it, then I take it to the dump.  After I unlock the back door, I just stand back and hold the button.  It was not cheap up front but has more than paid for itself.  

If there is a large amount of junk like old broken furniture, cardboard, dirty clothes and misc. garbage I rent a roll-off construction dumpster and hire a couple people hourly through friends or, if necessary, Craigslist and work with them to haul stuff out. This also works great for demo day. You would be surprised how quickly the work goes. 

Mattresses, A/Cs and fridges will typically cost extra for disposal no matter who takes them to the dump. 

Separate out any metals, other appliances and semi-decent stuff to save dumpster space and weight and put them by the curb, snap a pic and put up a Curb Alert on Craigslist under Free Stuff. Things will vanish within hours. 

If you were to hire someone to just handle if for you, I would consider what the cost would be for the dumpster rental, labor and convenience factor.