That's just it, though - the inventory is so depleted there's no way the higher prices make up for the lack of inventory.

It is so much easier for your tax professional to set you up correctly from the start then to clean up.  

Angry tenants, expensive clean up and the risk of mold. 

IE it likely wouldn't make sense to do a trash out and clean up the yard if the most likely buyer is an investor who is going to gut the place anyway (and can see past the clutter).

We are still in process of solidifying hard money financing to rehab...some minor title issues to cleanup.

After clean-up and getting the place ready to rent; I received a summons to pay for all of the stuff that was removed from the property including the deposit.  

My wife and I toured the home today, and while she agreed that it would be nice to have the laundry upstairs, leaving it in the basement was okay, as plenty of people are fine with such an arrangement.So, we've decided to leave it as is and clean up and paint the basement.We're also going to do exit interviews with all tenants in all rentals, and try to learn why potential tenants passed on a given home to be sure we aren't dropping the ball.Rob

He came to me and said it's currently occupied and would make a great clean-up and with "only some minor fix-up and a vacant home we could resell around $100k." 

Then last year I gave them ultimatum to clean up there act or I would fire them.

No cleanup costs after a renter leaves.