I manage vacation rental homes in Charlotte area, and I recommend you have the following:House specific cleaning checklist per home w/condition section for cleaner to fill outHouse specific house info sheetsHouse specific check out checklist per homeIf you get these three documents done well, this will cover the majority of questions that arise from guests and problems with the property that arise before and after they check out.

After closing, I had the painter start working on the exterior, while I cleaned up and was finishing the interior with the list that I had wanted done.  

Properties are clean and neat.

My client has cleaned up all the trash/crap the tenants left and is planning to clean inside and paint a little to make it more presentable.

Depending on the property, most won't come back for the belongings, but we have a separate storage space on one of our rental properties that we use for these occurrences so it doesn't cost us anything to store, but our own time spent cleaning out the property. 

(loan against my dot/note)$50,000 1st position deed of trust/note (only lien on title)Secured by $450,000+ newly remodeled property with clean titleNo interest rate, past balloon date so can be called due at any time (was placed as interest in home)Property is titled to an LLC so homestead exemption wouldn't apply in event needed to forecloseLooking for a short-term loan using the note and deed of trust as collateral. 

Stepping way outside of your expertise is how many investors got their heads taken clean off during the last recession.

This encourages them to pay the last month of rent and leave house clean so that they get their large deposit back.If they get behind or break the lease, this extra helps offset what they owe plus any damage or cleaning you have to take care of.It is a small percentage of the time that someone turns in a 30 day notice and leaves the place clean and undamaged to get their deposit back.

@Steve Vaughan  also very much depends on where in the US it is.. and what your tenant base is..some tenant bases around the country are peach's and cream and not tough on property and pay on time.and rarely does  a unit go vacant one moves out 3 to 5 days to clean and turn it another moves in.in other parts of the country tenants move a ton.. are tougher on the homes.. bigger credit risks IE don't pay and it can take more money to turn them over  and longer time finding new tenant.. so it depends.. but 50% is a good rule of thumb if your having to hire it all out that's for sure. 

PS I plan on doing all the cleaning and management on my own so I at least wouldn't be paying someone for that.Any advice is much appreciated!