Do you turn the unit yourself between mid-term tenants or hand it to a cleaner

Of the three options, only the third survives contact with reality, and I say that after five years running a service business. Cleaners clean well and inspect badly, because inspecting isn't what they're paid for and finding damage creates work for them. Splitting it means the cleaner does the labor and you do the twenty minute walkthrough with a phone camera and a list.

Harrow, the part you're underweighting is what happens when the cleaner is booked. Standing rate is not a standing slot. If your tenant leaves Friday and the next lands Sunday, you need a written turnaround commitment, or a second cleaner you've already used once so they'll take the call.

I want the version that keeps working when I'm not paying attention, which pushes me toward the contractor even if it costs more. Anything that only works because the owner is available on a Saturday isn't a system, it's a habit that will break.

Thatch's split is probably right for two or three units. Past that the walkthrough becomes the bottleneck and you're back to doing it yourself with extra steps. Harrow, how many turns a year before you'd give up the inspection too?

My first rental hasn't even started and I'm reading this for the screening angle, because the walkthrough is where you find out whether your screening worked. A 60 day furnished tenant can do more damage to furniture than a two year unfurnished tenant does to a floor, and the deposit conversation depends on documented condition at move in and move out.

So I'd keep the inspection myself for a long time, mostly to build the photo record. Whether deposit rules let you charge for furniture wear depends on your state and that's a question for a local attorney.

I'm new to this, and what strikes me is that everyone answering has already decided the turn will happen four to six times a year. Harrow, is that the actual number, or is it what happens when the 90 day tenants are really 60 day tenants?

Because if it's six turns a year at a few hundred each, that's most of a month's rent going to cleaning, and it changes how the whole furnished premium reads. I voted for the split option because it's the one I could learn from while still paying someone.

Working out first deal costs and this thread just added a line item I didn't have. I'd budgeted one turn a year like a normal lease. Six turns at three hundred plus laundry, restocking consumables and the two broken things Harrow mentioned is a real number that has to come out of the premium before I compare it to unfurnished rent.

I voted owner does the turn, mostly because at one unit I can't justify the contract and I need to see what actually breaks. Thatch's point about the second cleaner is the thing I'll steal.