Clean Out a Foreclosed Home in Oakland, CA With a Dumpster Rental Near Me

Before you can start working on cleaning up a foreclosed property, you need to evaluate its condition. If you are buying a foreclosed property in an attempt to flip it—whether to sell it and make a profit or live in it—you should consider doing this before you buy it.

You never know what a property will look like, and you don’t want to face any surprises. Even if the house looks okay on the outside, make sure you have an inspection done so you can discover any hidden issues. These include dangerous waste, mold, deceased animals, and broken items that may pose a danger to you and your health.

Before you go to evaluate the property, make sure you prepare yourself. Wear gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, goggles, and a mask when you’re in the house and investigating its condition. Before you know the state of the house, always make sure you’re safe.

Once you know what to expect, create a plan so that you can start determining what you’ll need to do and what repairs you’ll need to make. You can create this plan while you’re buying the home.

Find a Dumpster Rental

You will need to find a dumpster rental in Oakland, CA, before you can start getting to work on your foreclosed home. This is especially important if you know your cleaning will require plenty of renovation.

If it is a long project, you should rent a dumpster to have it for an extended time. Make sure you do your research by searching for a “Dumpster rental near me” so that you find the best dumpster rental company in Alameda County for this project such as contacting 1-877-DUMP-PRO. Make sure to ask for the cost to rent a dumpster to see what is in your price range.

Remove the Junk

Now that you have your rental dumpster ready, you need to start removing the junk from the home. How long this stage will take will vary based on how much work you need to do on the inside and outside of the property. If the home wasn’t lived in when you acquired it, you will have less trash to clean up than if it was destroyed with old food, mold, and broken items. 

Again, make sure you wear the proper equipment when you’re removing the garbage. Wear gloves, a mask, goggles, and protective clothing to make sure you don’t come into contact with any toxins. If the home contains mold or asbestos, this is especially important. Never handle dangerous waste or broken items without wearing your protective gear.

Clean the House

Once you remove all the trash, you are ready to start deep cleaning your Alameda County home. Deep clean the carpets if the home has them or tear them up and clean the floors underneath.

Also, make sure you scrub the walls. Give everything a good clean with the proper cleaning supplies. If there is mold growth on the walls, spray them down with a bleach cleaner and scrub them clean. This is one of the most important steps that you need to take. 

If the mold and dirt are too much for you to handle, consider finding a professional cleaning company for your Oakland, CA, house. That way, you will know any mold is gone for good.

Make Repairs

Now that you finished deep cleaning the house, you can evaluate the repairs you need to make. Some issues may have presented themselves during the cleaning up phase, so make sure you address everything that needs repairs. How extensively you need to repair the house will depend on what you plan on doing with it.

If you want to flip it and sell it for a profit, you may need to make major repairs; however, if you plan on living in the house, you may only want to make the repairs necessary to make the home safe.

The most important repairs you need to make will revolve around the features that will not function the way that they are. For example, this includes holes in the wall, broken fixtures, damaged gas lines, water pipes, and more. This is also where you will paint the walls, replace countertops or cabinets, install carpeting or hardwood flooring, and any other aesthetic renovations you would like to make.

Clean the Property

Now that you have spent so long on the inside of the house, you can’t ignore the outside. If the inside of your Alameda County foreclosed house looked rough, the outside is probably neglected and overgrown. Take the time to pull weeds, mow the lawn, treat and water the grass, and plant flowers.

Make the outside look as good as the inside now does. If there is a lot of debris outside, you can find a dumpster rental, so you don’t have to make several trips to the dump as you try to rid your yard of waste.