Need an opinion from people who have SOLD their homes, or from realtors!

[wallawallakids]

I always do a deep clean when I have sold our home. I hire window washers too as a courtesy. I have bought and sold way too many homes (my husband’s job has us moving a lot) and I can tell you I am an exception. I believe it should still be done. The home I live in now was gross when I bought it. I was shocked at how they left it for us. I have never had that experience before but they didn’t clean the walls or wipe down kitchen cabinets. It really slowed our moving in because I had to get carpets shampooed and wash the whole house myself. They also left garbage in the yard etc. I can’t imagine doing that to someone. My husband patched every nail hole and paints the walls before we move. But we like it to be clean and nice for others who move in.

 

[cabanafrau]

IMO presentably cleaned and ship shape is adequate. For me the reality is that, no matter how pristine it looks or smells, I'm deep cleaning it myself before moving in anyways, not to mention if we're painting, removing carpeting, etc. anyways.

 

[hertamaniac]

Regardless of how/who/level of cleaning, be sure to take pics and video documenting the condition prior to the new owner(s) moving in.

And I like the idea of asking your real estate agent to split the cost of cleaning if it must be done professionally.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We've bought four homes and sold three. We always do a deep clean/refresh before putting a home on the market. After we move out and before we close, DH and I go through the house and make sure baths and kitchen are spotless and floors are washed. We may overdo it, but our buyers last year hugged us at closing as they were so thrilled with the fact that their "new" home was perfect. That is just us.

The three homes we had built were dusty with sheetrock and needed to be thoroughly cleaned, but that is new construction. "Broom swept" was in the contracts, but none of them really were.

I think all floors should be clean, baths and kitchen clean (including appliances). Anything not part of the sale needs to go. That should do it.

Good luck!

 

[_19disnA]

Another 'deep cleaning' seems unnecessary when the OP says they already did that a few months ago to prepare for the sale. Honestly, how dirty can a house get in a few months? I think most who are trying to sell their house will tend to tidy up and make the house presentable. The general expectation is you remove all of your belongings/furniture/etc. and not abandon things in the garage/basement that you didn't bother to take with you.

Unless the house had large amounts of abandoned/hard to remove items, I doubt there will be any problem with the new owners. Typically when moving out there is likely some accumulated dust under heavy furniture/bedding that wasn't obvious. If you use a vacuum as they movers are loading, I think you will be fine.

The only time I would expect any sort of 'cleaning' clause in the contract was if the house was in a condition where the buyers were concerned about what might get left behind. In the houses we have bought/sold over the years, I can't recall any reference to cleaning being mentioned.

 

[Darcy03231]

Bought and sold several times and have never done a deep clean. Just did a normal sweep, mop, and vacuum, made sure bathrooms, counters and appliances were all clean. We did leave toilet paper in the bathrooms, along with a bottle of hand soap and a roll of paper towels.

 

[tamitru32]

Always did deep clean right before it goes on the market then try to keep it clean as possible every day for showing. Big thing I've found is make sure all refuse (trash, extra stuff) is gone day of close. Nothing annoys buyer and realtor more than having to clean stuff that the well meaning seller thought the new buyer "could use". Cuz as neat and helpful as we think some of this stuff may be.... the new owners don't want it. Broom swept will be just fine as long as it represents cleanliness at time of showings. In other words if someone tracks in a bunch of mud, that should be cleaned up while "broom sweeping".

 

[barkley]

Always did deep clean right before it goes on the market then try to keep it clean as possible every day for showing. Big thing I've found is make sure all refuse (trash, extra stuff) is gone day of close. Nothing annoys buyer and realtor more than having to clean stuff that the well meaning seller thought the new buyer "could use". Cuz as neat and helpful as we think some of this stuff may be.... the new owners don't want it. Broom swept will be just fine as long as it represents cleanliness at time of showings. In other words if someone tracks in a bunch of mud, that should be cleaned up while "broom sweeping".

i have to say that i LOVED that the seller of our current home left some odds and ends for us-spare shingles from the roofing, extra tiles from the flooring and bathroom, even a single kitchen cabinet door (not sure where it came from-none are missing). when we put a shed up we had enough shingles to perfectly match the house, when i went shopping for new counters/paint i had tile and a cabinet front to take (vs. bringing samples back and forth from store to home to store). if we were to sell i would leave all the extra lvp, tiles, custom grout mix and such we have from projects along with the partial/some near empty single paint cans in the event they were repairing/remodeling or needed to do a color match.

that said-just plain junk should be tossed for sure though the twits that bought our former home were in such a rush to close a couple days earlier than planned that when we said it would'nt give us time to do the multiple dump runs we had planned they said to 'leave it'. got them to put it in writing so they could'nt complain after the fact so while the house was clean i suspect they were NOT anticipating not being able to access the backyard due to the slab adjacent to the gate being covered with bags upon bags of trash and old broken items. all neatly piled but too much for the garbage recepticals so we had planned on doing multiple dump runs (probably did'nt anticipate that it would cost them a few hundred in fees in disposal fees as well).