JunkBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Working With Realtors: Turning One Listing Cleanout Into a Repeat Junk Removal Account

An agent who lists homes regularly runs into the same problem over and over: a house that cannot go on the market until somebody empties it. If you solve that problem once and solve it well, you are no longer a hauler they found online. You are part of how they get houses listed.

After the First Cleanout

The mechanics of the job itself are in Pre-Listing Cleanouts for Realtors: Getting the House Empty Before the Photographer Comes. This article is about what happens after it, when the agent decides whether to call you again.

Agents judge vendors on a short list of things: did they show up when they said, did they answer texts, did the house look right for photos, and was the bill what they expected. Hit those four and you will hear from them again.

Set the Agent Up as a Client

If the agent paid for the first cleanout, or plans to send you more, set them up as their own client. Each listing becomes an address under the agent. In JunkBossPro that means:

• The agent's phone and email on the client, so texts and invoices go to the right person.
• Each listing as an address, placed on the map, with its own access notes and photos.
• A tag such as “Realtor,” so you can pull up every agent you work with in one filter.
• The brokerage name in a custom field if the agent wants it on the paperwork.

Six months later, the agent's client record holds every house you have cleared for them, with dates, loads and photos. That history is useful for both of you.

When the seller pays instead, the seller is the client for that job. Note the agent on the address so you know where the referral came from.

Be Fast With Estimates

Agents often need a price the same day they ask. The faster you can answer, the more often you get the job. Keep estimate templates ready for the jobs you see most:

• Garage cleanout, by the truck load
• Whole-house cleanout, 2 or 3 loads
• Single items left after the move, like a sofa or an old fridge
• Shed teardown and haul-away

Start from the template, adjust the load, and send. When the agent approves online, the estimate becomes the scheduled job. If they forget to look, estimate follow-up emails go out on their own.

Keep the Agent in the Loop

Agents juggle sellers, buyers, inspectors and stagers. They do not want to chase you. A few texts through two-way texting from the office cover it:

• The day before: “Crew is set for the Maple St house tomorrow at 9.”
• When the crew is on the way, the automatic on-the-way alert does the work if the agent has alerts on.
• When done: “House is empty, photos on file. Left the dining table as the seller asked.”

Replies come back to the office, not to a crew member's personal phone, so nothing gets lost when the crew is on the next job.

Bill the Way They Work

An agent who sends one house every few months can pay per job, with an invoice when the crew taps Complete and a card on file or online payment in the customer app. An agent or team that sends several houses a month may prefer to be set to Monthly. Then they get one statement each month covering every listing, with each line labeled by address. That is easy for their office to match to their own files.

Some agents pass the cost to the seller at closing. How they do that is between them and their clients. Your job is to make the invoice clear enough that they can.

Stay in Touch Between Listings

Real estate comes in waves. An agent might send three houses in spring and nothing all summer. Keep the account warm:

• Filter clients by the Realtor tag a couple of times a year and send a short note.
• When you finish a job near one of their past listings, mention you are in the area.
• Ask happy agents to refer you to others in their office.

None of this needs to be pushy. A friendly text that says you have openings next week is often all it takes.

Agents Lead to Other Work

A good agent knows property managers, investors who buy and fix houses, and families dealing with estates. Each of those is another kind of account. Estate work in particular often starts with an agent, and is covered in Estate Cleanouts for Attorneys and Executors: Keeping the Paper Trail Clear. Investors with fix-and-flip houses tend to look a lot like contractors, with debris at every stage of the job.

For the full set of tools for realtors and other commercial clients, visit the JunkBossPro commercial junk removal software page.