All Forum Posts by: Judy Martinez

Hello,

If you are in need of dependable cleaners that provides high quality results, please reach out to Shining Spaces. 

We are experienced and insured. 

Thank you

Judy

[email protected]

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Quite a few tenants are rough on homes, but so are some home owners.  You can't charge for your time.  If you want to deduct money for cleaning, hire a cleaning company (which I know you said you don't want to do).  Mr Clean eraser does wonders to scuff marks on walls.  Try that before you think about having to paint.

take photos of everything before and after.

 Hi. 

I hope you do not mind, but I wanted to chime in the Magic Eraser. 

I own a cleaning company. I have researched, bought, and used all sorts of products to test effectiveness. Most of the products I order are to sanitize, but eco-friendly, not only for the environment, but I do not care to burn my lungs with chemicals or get cancer. 

However, there are there are three items I always have: Dawn, vinegar,  and Mr Clean Magic Erasers.  Depending on how bad the walls are, you are absolutely right, magic erasers vab perform miracles.

Quote from @Catherine Ding:

Hi BP! I’m a new investor, looking at a potential duplex of 2601 sqft total (3 bed/1 bath each unit). The downstairs tenant has been there for about 10 years and is a smoker. Does anyone have any insights of how much it typically costs to turn over a unit like that to get it odorless and rent ready again? Thank you!!

 Hi

I hope you do not mind me providing some insight. I own a small cleaning company, plus we do small make-readys.

The below is going from cheapest to most expensive.

As you probably know, smoke will cover everything in a sticky, yellowish, thick tar. The very cheapest way to go is for you to wash the interior of the house. 

1) Washing from the celing to the floor, including everything ( such as lighting fixture covers, the surface area above the cabinets, etc) is extremely time consuming and not easy. It is not just a wipe clean job. 

:)

You will need a degreaser, Dawn and hot water is excellent, gloves, a bucket, cleaning cloths, and a lot of elbow grease. Be prepared to change the water often. 

2) You can paint the home. You will need to use a good paint that covers well. You can buy paint with a primer in it, or you can buy the primer and paint seperate. You will still need to clean all areas that are not painted, such as light fixture covers and fans. 

3) You can hire a cleaner to clean top to bottom. I am uncertain the cost for a professional cleaner in your area. Most likely they will charge x amount per sq ft. Please note this is not just the area, but of walls too. 

4) You can hire a painter to paint everything you want painted, and you clean all non painted areas. Most painters charge per sq ft of walls. 

5) You can hire someone, like my company that will paint and clean. I can only say this about my company. If you were to hire us to do both, I would provide a discount. So perhaps, the companies like ours will do the same in your area. 

6) You can hire a painter and then hire a cleaner to clean before or after the paint job. 

I have cleaned homes where smokers lived for years.  When the person moved out, you could see lighter colored rectangles, circles, and squares on the walls where puctures hung for years too. 

Tar is a very sticky substance and coats everything. That is why light covers and the top of cabinets need to be washed to free the home of the stench. 

The above works for animal dander too, which is also sticky and coats everything. Especially if the owners of the animal do not clean properly and so not clean or brush the animal on a regular basis. 

I have walked into properties that were the equivalent of crawling into a dog house. 

Yes...that bad. 

Quote from @Sonny Dong:

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

You can put a ring doorbell on your unit (ie where you live) and monitor it.

If you are renting the other unit by the room, include utilities in the price of the rent because there is no way you are going to get one of the tenants to be in charge of it when renting by the room.  I would also include a weekly cleaning service of the common areas (again included in the rent, so paid for by tenants indirectly).  This will give you someone in the unit itself on a weekly basis.  Tenants would still have to tidy up after themselves and do their dishes and such. If a room has their own bathroom, obviously that would not be part of the cleaner's responsibility as they would not be entering any of the private spaces.

Renting by the room will get you more money, but will also require more work on your part as there will be personality clashes (do not get involved in those).

Thank you Theresa! Any red flags or recommendations when looking for a cleaner? Do I give the cleaner a key usually? Should I make sure my tenants have proof of rental insurance? I am house hacking my 1st SFH rn and none of them have rental insurance but I do manage the utilities because I live with them so I ask them for their part of the bills/utilities...I will probably take my name off the utilities once I move out and make the primary tenant get the water/electric in their name...

Hello,

I hope you do not mind me posting. I own a cleaning business and thought I would comment. 

Please note that I do not provide reoccurring maid or housekeeping service. However, after witnessing and being called in to redo others work, I have formed an opinion of what I would want if hiring a reoccuring service. 

1) Do not hire fly-by-night. Too many people buy a mop and bucket and then call themselves cleaners. You will end up with bad quality and unreliable service. THEN, you are looking for a new cleaner. 
2) Do not hire a company that has a high turnover rate. If turnover rate is high there will be the following problems. This is a mixture of my cleaning experience and HR experience. 
*different people always entering your home
* the people are poorly trained-poor quality
* new people translates to different unreliable cleaning. 
* the company does not care about their employees and pays poorly. 
* all the above means the company does not care about you 
3) If you hire an individual or a small business, make sure they are seasoned. Experience pays off. Read reviews. With reviews find the most common thing said about the cleaner that provides insight to the personality of you are hiring. 
4) Same with a larger company. Make sure they do not have a high turnover rate.
5) Cleaner is bonded and insured
6) Yes, it is safe to give a cleaner a key. I would not provide a key if you hire someone that has not proven themselves in the industry. 
7) If you hire the cheapest, you will most likely get what you pay for.  Like everyone else in the world, cleaners exchange their time for money. 

That does not mean you have to hire the most expensive. Because, like all other people in the world, work ethic pays an important role in quality. 

You and your cleaner should form a type of business relationship that will last long-term, which benefits the both of you. They provide you a great, reliable service (where services are not skipped or halfway completed) for a good price that is fair to the both of you. 

Regardless of the service, I tend to follow those steps. 

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

Quote from @Judy Martinez:

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

I have a larger portfolio (65+/-) units varying in size from 300sqft - 7,000 sqft and that affords me some leverage on our cleaning vendors.  However, annually we have them bid all properties that they are interested in, to keep prices as low as possible before we sign another 1 year contract with them.

That said, they are paid per clean, not dependent on length of stay.  If there is a 1 night stay where they may be in and out in 1 hour or if they are there 6 hours, it does not matter.  If a property is thoroughly trashed, they can take pics and make a request for extra compensation. 

As you mentioned, they do not call you when the place is barely touched to tell you to pay less, they should take the good with the bad.  It likely would be more good than bad for them.

 Hello,

I hope you do not mind me replying. 

That is like comparing apples to oranges. You compare bids from companies for your complex to a cleaner and an STR.

The disgusting to being not so bad will usually average out for big contracts. 

This is a cleaner for a STR. They are not close to being the same type of business.

Charging for an individual is not the same as bidding for a complex.

If she is a good reliable cleaner, who provides him quality, he should consider himself lucky to find someone who cares about her work. It is because of her that he receives great reviews. 

Too many people carry around a mop and bucket and call themselves cleaners. They think the job is easy, quote too low, find out it is not, and produce low quality to make up the time it takes to actually clean properly. 

Cleaning companies have high turnover because they hire whoever and pay too low to find quality people. 

Bidding on contracts:

Some companies/people quote low to gain the contract, then they start to skip services or produce lower quality to maintain their profit margin. 

And what happens,  most of the time, the company is stuck with them for the year. The time and cost of breaking the contract is not worth it.  If you do not hire them again, they do not care, because someone else will. 

As in every job, career, service, etc. high quality requires time. Time is exchanged for money. 

Not all people care. Not all people have high standards, or the skills, or the knowledge. 

If you find someone who actually cares and takes pride in their work or finished product, then you are very lucky to have found them. 

From accountants to psychologists, from a little shack to a mansion, quality costs money. 

Thank you

I understand what you are saying but if I have a 5 mile drive to work daily I do not need to have a ferrari.  That said I do not want a 1986 Toyota either.  Quality costs money but there is overkill.  We use 4 vendors that have been with us for a long time and we do get quality. Using the bidding system it forces competition which is the essence of a free market and keeps pricing down.

 Hello,

I was not disagreeing with you. My main point is that the two are not the same. 

You have a large portfolio and require bids. She is a single cleaner, perhaps small business, and he has a smaller portfolio based on his mention of a STR.

The amount of units you have will probably average out. When I bid, it is as a whole, good and bad, it averages. I provide high quality results, regardless of time in that scenario. I bid based on the average time it will take to clean that unit. It is not the least amount of time and it is not the most amount of time. 

That does not work on individuals with smaller projects. 

Based on the information that was provided, his cleaner most likely provided him a quote with a span of time that it takes to clean after a guest that only stays a day or two, let's say 1 to 2 hours because some guests are cleaner than others. 

So, it is not the question that the cleaning took an hour instead of two (as an example) so she should charge less. It is that the estimate included a span of time. Once in awhile the property took an hour, another time it took 1.5 hours, that time it took 2 hours. 

When guests stay longer, it requires more time to clean after them and more product, especially if they are filthy. 

If it takes more time then whatever her span of time in her original estimate which was for a guest who stays a night or two, then she should be paid appropriately for the increase of her time and hard work to properly prepare the property for the next guest. 

Most people get paid per hour, an average of 8 hours a day. If your boss gives you a project that takes more time to complete in that day or week, should you just take the good with the bad and be grateful? Or do you get paid for the extra time?

As for your company getting quality, I was not remarking on. Perhaps you do. 

I was remarking on the cleaning companies/ cleaners quality diminishing.  It is the biggest complaint I hear.  

And it is because they estimate too low to gain the contract, the time to actually clean the property properly takes time, and to keep their profit margin, something has too give, and that is the service. 

This by no means mean that all companies do this. 

However, on average, you get what you pay for. I do not care the profession, from doctors to lawyers, if the professional produces quality results,  they get to charge more as they should. 

Hard work, having a great work ethic, having high-standards, producing quality results should be paid more than mediocrity. 

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

I have a larger portfolio (65+/-) units varying in size from 300sqft - 7,000 sqft and that affords me some leverage on our cleaning vendors.  However, annually we have them bid all properties that they are interested in, to keep prices as low as possible before we sign another 1 year contract with them.

That said, they are paid per clean, not dependent on length of stay.  If there is a 1 night stay where they may be in and out in 1 hour or if they are there 6 hours, it does not matter.  If a property is thoroughly trashed, they can take pics and make a request for extra compensation. 

As you mentioned, they do not call you when the place is barely touched to tell you to pay less, they should take the good with the bad.  It likely would be more good than bad for them.

 Hello,

I hope you do not mind me replying. 

That is like comparing apples to oranges. You compare bids from companies for your complex to a cleaner and an STR.

The disgusting to being not so bad will usually average out for big contracts. 

This is a cleaner for a STR. They are not close to being the same type of business.

Charging for an individual is not the same as bidding for a complex.

If she is a good reliable cleaner, who provides him quality, he should consider himself lucky to find someone who cares about her work. It is because of her that he receives great reviews. 

Too many people carry around a mop and bucket and call themselves cleaners. They think the job is easy, quote too low, find out it is not, and produce low quality to make up the time it takes to actually clean properly. 

Cleaning companies have high turnover because they hire whoever and pay too low to find quality people. 

Bidding on contracts:

Some companies/people quote low to gain the contract, then they start to skip services or produce lower quality to maintain their profit margin. 

And what happens,  most of the time, the company is stuck with them for the year. The time and cost of breaking the contract is not worth it.  If you do not hire them again, they do not care, because someone else will. 

As in every job, career, service, etc. high quality requires time. Time is exchanged for money. 

Not all people care. Not all people have high standards, or the skills, or the knowledge. 

If you find someone who actually cares and takes pride in their work or finished product, then you are very lucky to have found them. 

From accountants to psychologists, from a little shack to a mansion, quality costs money. 

Thank you

Quote from @Ben T.:

Hello - I am targeting to get the rental property in the Frisco, TX, area next spring (assuming it is the hottest time to sell?). I've been renting it out since 2017. 1 story, 4 bed 2 bath in Frisco ISD (very good school district). 2012 old and generally in good shape. 

Questions:

1) What items should I focus on renovating if I need to INCREASE the house value?

2) Does old carpet bring the house value down? Currently, it is 12 years old and dusty. Will steam cleaning do to sell?

3) What items should I definitely disregard, i.e., which one does not bring much house value at sale?

4) Any tips to MAXIMIZE house value at sale will be appreciated

Thank you.

 Hello,

I hope you do not mind if I pipe in here. I work with property management and real estate agents. 

All the advice here is great. A realator is very important. Their experience and knowledge is invaluable. 

I would like to pipe in about the importance of cleaning. 

Think of your home like a car. When people want to sell their car, they usually have it detailed. A clean car increases the value. 

The same is true when it comes to selling your home. You need your home detailed clean, or as I like to call it, "Out with the old."

Whenever a person is ready to sell, a thorough cleaning that gets in the nook and crannies is needed. It is the type of clean that people can feel when they tour your home. 

When no presence of the old people is sensed. it helps the potential buyers to imagine themselves living in the home. 

Other tips:

When people step inside the home, one of the first things they will definitely notice is filthy baseboards and dirty walls. Freshly painted walls and either clean or painted baseboards are a must. 

Another thing people notice are pantries and cupboards. For some reason, which I have yet to figure out, is a lot of owners tend to skip over this step  Having clean interior cabinets and pantries is another must have. 

When people open the doors, they are envisioning how to store their cookware, etc. The last thing they want to see is scuffs and stains of other people's spilled syrup and cans. 

Remember, the kitchen is the heart of a home.

Please note, that if the stains are soaked into the shelving, no amount of cleaning will help, it is better to paint them. 

If you allowed pets, which I hope you didn't, ridding the home of the smell could pose a problem, especially if the pet relieved itself in the same spot. Cats are the worse. 

The urine will soak into the padding. If it continuously happens, it soaked into the concrete, which causes a whole new set of problems. The only way to rid the home of the scent of urine is to rip up the flooring and, if soaked into concrete, treat or replace the concrete area.  

Animal dander sticks to the walls, fans, fixtures, etc. All of these should be cleaned, if not painted, which will get rid of the smell that is not animal waste. 

I hope something I contributed helps. 

Good luck

Quote from @Nicholas Lilly:

Breaking or terminating a lease agreement early can be a headache to the landlord. Regardless of the reasons, generally, the lease holds the tenant liable for the remaining rent until the lease agreement expires. This is called the blanket rule. In some cases, Texas Tenant/Landlord Law may legally allow tenants, or even the landlord, to break a lease early without penalties.

The following are the instances when tenant may be able to legally move out from the property without any liability or landlord may legally remove tenant from the property:

The lease agreement specifies early termination clause

Since a lease is a contract, both parties may negotiate on the terms and conditions that allow a tenant to terminate their lease early. However, landlords may subject the tenant to a minimal penalty which usually amounts to two-month rent.

Both parties mutually agree to break lease agreement early.

Either the landlord or tenant may ask the other party to break the lease early. And when such a request is accepted, the tenant may be able to move out without paying penalties. It is important that said agreement is entered voluntarily and freely by both parties. To protect their both interests, it must be reduced into writing and affixed by parties’ signatures.

Tenant suffers damage due to flood for failure by landlord to inform him that the property is in 100-year floodplain

A 100-year floodplain refers to any area of the land designated as a flood hazard with 1% or greater chance of flooding each year by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Landlords are required to disclose that the property is located in flood prone area and/or the property is known to have been damaged at least once during the 5-year period before the lease. Landlords are not required to disclose it if the property is elevated. If the landlord fails to inform the tenant and the latter suffers substantial loss or damage to his/her personal property as a result of flooding, the tenant may terminate the lease by giving a 30-day notice to the landlord.

The tenant is a survivor of family violence.

This ground is allowed to be raised when one member of the household commits physical harm or reasonably places another in fear of imminent physical harm. In this case, the victim of family violence has the right to break the lease and leave early after providing the landlord proof of circumstances. Tenants’ have the right to file a policy report, seek emergency assistance because of family violence. Landlords cannot evict tenants or threaten to evict victim tenants for domestic violence, abuse, or sexual assault. Tenants who are victims of such offenses may terminate the lease without obligations for future rent or termination fees. This tenant must provide a protective order or temporary injunction signed by the judge against the aggressor (co-tenant) of the property in order to terminate the lease without future liability of rent payments. Lease agreement should contain your right as a tenant to early termination for domestic violence. Tenants are responsible for rent before the lease terminates. If a landlord does not let tenant terminate the lease under these conditions, she/he may be liable to tenant for one month’s rent, plus $500 and attorney’s fees

The tenant or parent thereof is a victim of sexual abuse or stalking

A survivor or the parent or guardian of the victim of a sexual abuse of a minor or stalking which happened within the past 6 months on the premises or at any dwelling on the premises can legally end a lease early. He/she just needs to provide the landlord with documentation of the abuse from licensed health care services and licensed mental health services who examined or evaluated the victim and/or law enforcement incident report, or protective order signed by the judge.

The tenant dies.

When the tenant who lives alone in the rented property dies, the representative of his/her estate can terminate the lease agreement early. The representative must provide a 30-day notice to the landlord. Keep in mind that a tenant's death does not absolve him/her or the estate of the delinquent, unpaid rent and damages to the leased property not caused by normal conditions.

The tenant is deployed or permanently reassigned for military service.

When a tenant is deployed or permanently reassigned for military service, he/she has the right to end the lease. Under Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), the following are considered “uniformed members:”

• Armed services
• Activated National Guard
• Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service
• Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

To terminate the lease agreement, the tenant must meet the following conditions:

• Tenant joins the military after signing the lease agreement or signed the lease agreement while in the military then ordered to permanently change location or deploy for more than 90 days;
• Tenant provides landlord written notice; and
• Tenant provides landlord copy of the military ordering him/her for a permanent change of station or deployment for a period of 90 days or more.

Landlord fails to perform its duties

1. Failure to do repairs

Texas law mandates residential landlords to make a diligent effort in repairing property problems that materially affect the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant. Common problems are sewage backups, mold, infestations of rats, and other pests, faulty wiring, roof leaks and it violates the city’s building, health and fire code poses health and safety risk.

In this case, the tenant must notify the landlord of the problem and give the landlord reasonable time to fix it. It is important that the problem must not be caused by the tenant or one of their friends, family or guests and the tenant must have diligently paid the rent. The general rule is that if a tenant has breached the contract or is in default of payment, the landlord is not obligated to remedy.

If an incident occurred not caused by the tenant and the property is as practical matter totally unusable for residential purposes, the tenant may terminate the lease by giving notice to the landlord before repairs are completed.

1. Failure to install, inspect or repair smoke alarm

Texas law requires the landlord to install, inspect and repair smoke alarms prior to or at the beginning of the tenant’s lease. If no smoke alarm has been installed, the tenant can notify the landlord with a written notice to do so. Failure to act on the said request and if the landlord will not provide funds for such repayment, one of the remedies provided to the tenant is to legally end the lease early.

1. Failure to disclose management information

A tenant has a right to know who owns and manages the property. When such information is not available, he/she can request in writing of the said information.

Other grounds

• Landlord violates tenant’s privacy rights;
• Landlord wrongfully cuts off water, wastewater, gas or electric service; and
• Landlord wrongfully changes the locks or prevents tenant from being in the rental property.

In all of these cases, it is important to read your lease agreement and negotiate any terms and conditions accordingly. Breaking the lease without the legal justification may subject the tenant to payment of the remaining rental fees, damages and cleaning fee and other costs indicated in the lease agreement. Nonetheless, breaking a lease agreement before its expiry is an issue that needs to be handled properly so as to avoid any liability and inconvenience.

Very good information. 

Thank you

Quote from @Brett Deas:

I would consider it if the stays were a week or longer, but in my experience the difficulty of cleaning does not drastically go up after a few days, it is still the same work. I would pay them the same amount for anything shorter than a week. 

Hello,

I apologize, but I will have to disagree based upon my experience. 

The longer a guest stays positively impacts the amount of time it takes to clean. Especially if the guests are not the cleanest people to begin with Then it even takes more time.

Perhaps instead of trying to save money on the hard work of others, people should pay per hour.

Reviews are tightly tied in with cleanliness. Sometimes people complain about the cost of cleaning. However, no one complains about the reviews, which increases the nights booked, which help to pad your pocketbook. 

There is a outrageous cleaning deposit charged to your guests. However, I doubt that you pay your cleaner the full cleaning deposit. 

Just like guest, you should want to pay for quality results expect quality, and then enjoy the increased bookings. 

Cleaning is not an easy trade to do prooerly. It requires time, elbow grease, and believe it or not, skill. 

Quote from @Jory Wilder:

I have an STR and usually book it out for shorter stays like 1-2 nights at a time mostly. My cleaner recently mentioned she would like to get paid more for longer stays that are like 4-5 days. Should I pay her more $ for longer stays like this or just pay her the same fee? My thinking is when there is a one night booking and the guest barley uses anything its not like she calls me and tells me to pay her less because it wasn't messy at all and there was barley anything to clean. I can see maybe if someone booked for a monthly stay. Just curious what was working for other investors? She does a great job and I want to keep her happy, at the same time I don't want to get taken advantage of since she gets paid per cleaning, she makes more $ when there are multiple stays within the week.

 Hello,

I hope you do not mind me providing my insite because I own a cleaning company. 

Please note, I do not know your cleaner or the quality of work. 

Regardless if your customers only stay one night or not does not make the argument for skipped services . I hope that your cleaner thoroughly cleans the bathroom, kitchen, bed, all furniture, vacuums, and mops. 

You said that based on your thinking that she doesn't request less money for the hard work of creating a sterile environment for your guests when it takes less time.

My thinking is that what you are already paying her is the lowest amount it should cost for her time it takes to clean up after a guest that stays a night or two, so why should she charge you less if that is what you are already paying. 

When guests stay longer, it takes longer to clean. Like all other professions in the world, cleaners exhange time, work ethic, and knowledge for money. 

I am not saying you specifically, however, people tend to think that it is "just cleaning, " and therefore cleaners should get paid nothing, because anyone can do it. That all is needed is a mop and bucket. No skill is required. 

I will repeat what I said in a previous post. That is the equivalent of me purchasing a hammer and tape measure and calling myself a contractor. 

Cleaning is hard work, it takes skill to clean properly, it is not cheap to buy quality products, and gas is definitely not cheap. 

If it takes longer than average to thoroughly clean and disinfect your prooerty, then yes, you should pay her more. 

I had a couple of AirBnB that I stopped doing because all they wanted was to pay a flat rate regardless if it took me an hour or three hours. 

Needless to say, I no longer have either if them as clients and will no longer accept AirBnB or others like them as clients. 

I, myself, provide consistant, reliable quality results. I am knowledgeable. I purchase top quality product that is ordered and not over-the-counter products. My cleaning style takes time.

Just like there are quality contractors. There are quality cleaners. You get what you paid for.

I should add here that I only provide detailed cleaning services that properly prepares properties for the owners or next tenants, post-construction/rehab, and for commercial/ offices. Except for offices, I do not provide reoccuring maid or housekeeping services. My insite is based upon the type of high quality service I provide. 

I hope that anything I said provided some insite to increase time should increase amount you should be charged for her services. 

Thank you