JunkBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Pre-Listing Cleanouts for Realtors: Getting the House Empty Before the Photographer Comes

A real estate agent signs a listing. The house has twenty years of stuff in it, the sellers have already moved, and the photographer is booked for Thursday. Everything in the garage, the basement and the spare room has to go before then. Realtors run on dates, and the hauler who hits the date gets the next listing.

From Apartments to Houses

Property managers send a steady stream of units, as in Five Units at One Complex: Running a Multi-Unit Trash-Out Day. Realtors send fewer jobs, but they tend to be bigger: whole houses, full garages and basements. The same tools apply, with a little more attention to the estimate and the deadline.

Who Is the Client?

Ask this before anything else. Sometimes the agent pays and builds the cost into their own arrangement with the seller. Sometimes the seller pays and the agent just sets it up. Sometimes it comes out of the sale at closing, which means you are waiting on someone else's timeline.

In JunkBossPro, whoever pays is the client. If the agent pays, the agent is the client and each listing is an address under them, which works nicely for an agent who sends you a house every month. If the seller pays, the seller is the client, and you can note the agent's name and phone in the access notes or a custom field so the office knows who to call. Get this right up front and nobody is surprised by the invoice.

Quote It First

A pre-listing cleanout is rarely a simple single-item pickup. Quote it before scheduling:

• From photos. Many agents can send a quick walkthrough. If the job is clear, build an estimate from your service list: “Full truck load, garage and basement,” or “2 loads, whole house.”
• On site. For a big or unclear house, put an on-site estimate visit on the schedule. It is just another job, and it lands on the Waiting List map like any other request.

Send the estimate. When the agent or seller approves it online, it becomes the scheduled job. Estimate follow-up emails go out on their own if they forget to look. Estimate habits for commercial work are covered in Commercial Junk Removal Estimates: Quoting Offices, Stores and Multi-Unit Jobs for Online Approval.

Work Back From the Listing Date

Put the photographer's date in the job notes. Then schedule backwards. If the house needs cleaners and maybe a painter after you, the cleanout has to be done a day or two before the photos. Ask the agent what else is happening at the house, and leave room.

Big houses may take more than one truck or more than one day. Split the work into jobs that each make sense on their own, for example “Garage and basement” on Monday and “Upstairs bedrooms” on Tuesday, so the agent can see progress and the photos land on the right job.

What Stays and What Goes

The worst outcome on a pre-listing cleanout is hauling something the seller meant to keep. Before the crew starts, get it in writing:

• “Everything goes except the dining table and the washer and dryer.”
• “Do not touch the boxes marked KEEP in the front hall.”
• “Leave the window treatments and light fixtures.”

Put the list in the job notes, where it shows on the crew's card. If the crew finds something that seems valuable or personal, like photo albums or paperwork, they set it aside and the office texts the agent before it goes on the truck.

Some of what comes out of a house is good enough to donate. If you haul to a donation center, set it as the haul-to destination on that job and the crew's Go button navigates there. What the donation center will take is their call.

Photos for the Agent

Agents are rarely at the house when you work. Before-and-after photos of every room let them see the house is ready without driving over. The after photos also catch anything left behind before the photographer does. A quick text from the office, “House is empty, photos on file, ready for cleaners,” is what the agent wants to hear.

Vacant houses bring their own access questions, like agent lockboxes and showing schedules. Those are covered in Vacant Houses and Agent Lockboxes: Running Realtor Junk Jobs When Nobody Is Home.

One Listing, Then the Next

Agents talk to other agents, and good agents list a lot of houses. A cleanout done on time with good photos is the start of an account. The next article covers turning that first job into steady work.

For everything JunkBossPro does for realtors, property managers and contractors, visit the commercial junk removal software page.