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A reader asks: “I just sold my house on a short sale instead of let the bank take it in foreclosure. I don’t know who bought it, and I don’t care; we’re just glad to be rid of it. My agent says the home must be “broom swept.” What does that mean? Am I demanded to sterilize it up later moving out? How clean am I supposed to provide the home for the new home buyers?”

Answer: That’s a great question. Stop for a moment to consider the status of many bank-owned homes. Grease, filth and mold are often the least of buyers’ worries when they find all the appliances are pulled out, the water heater has been stolen and the front door is boarded up.

Some banks don’t clean anything, and they assert that home is sold in “as is” condition. Homes in a seller’s possession that are released over to a new purchaser are different. It doesn’t matter if that home is a short sale or a regular sale, sellers may have obligations to clean the house.

Legal Responsibilities for Cleaning a Home After a Sale In some states, real estate purchase contracts stipulate that the home is to be “broom clean,” meaning the seller should at least sweep the floor, the walls and ceiling. The language in some of these contracts is ambiguous.

Regular contracts don’t deal with the shape of the house apart from telling that the home should be left in essentially the same shape as it was when the offer was received. The Residential Purchase Agreement says the property is sold in its present physical condition as of the date of acceptance, and the seller is to remove all personal property and debris.

To determine the extent of cleaning that you are contractually held to do upon abandoning, you should learn your purchase agreement.

Conventional Means to Leave a Property After Moving In the absence of a binding requirement to clean the house before moving out, most sellers take special measures on their own to present the home in an suitable condition to buyers. It’s understandable that after moving all day, sellers may be too spent to spend a lot of time cleaning.

Hiring a cleaning service can be an super answer. Sometimes, listing agents will pay to have the house professionally cleaned.

When purchasers bought a Boise home in a solid neighborhood, the listing broker inspected the house upon closing. He decided the carpet wasn’t good enough, so he employed carpet cleaners to shampoo the carpet before the purchasers moved in. He paid for the housecleaning as a courtesy, not because he was bound.

While most purchasers will clean the home to their own measures before moving in, regardless of a sellers’ efforts, following is a list of matters a seller can do to leave a home pretty clean and create goodwill:

Cleaning Inside the House Before Moving Out * Get Rid Of all individual property. * Vacuum the carpets. * Clean kitchen appliances, inside the icebox and oven, and wipe down counters. * Scrub sinks and tubs. * Rub down interior cabinets and shelves. * Wash tile and vinyl / linoleum flooring.

Cleanup the Garage * Move Out personal belongings. * Throw out scrap. * Decently dispose of toxic chemical substances. * Sweep the flooring. * Stack items pertaining to the house such as paint pots, roofing stuffs or surplus flooring.

In sum, leave the home in the condition that you would like to find your new home. Recollect, the new home owners might obtain some of your mail by fault or packages over the holidays. It’s a great idea to stay on nice terms with the new buyers. And it’s also the right thing to do.