Our Florida Beach Condo - Clean-out!

As you read on Tuesday, we bought a beach condo last week. Woohoo!!!! Before I give you the reveal pictures, I wanted to share a little about the clean-out. My parents are experienced vacation and long-term landlords so I have learned a lot from them. I am also a very experienced vacation home renter so I know what I like when I go to a condo. The number one thing I look for is CLEANLINESS. I cannot emphasize this enough. If your property does not feel clean, renters will notice right away and many will think twice about coming back or recommending your unit to someone else. We even still have to get our carpets cleaned which I think will make a huge difference in the cleanliness.

I should have taken more pictures of the before and during pictures but here's the gist of it. There was a LOT of stuff in this condo and we had no idea how much work it would take to get it out. A 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo does not seem that big. It's barely 1000 square feet so how much stuff could there really be?! Let me tell you - A LOT.

Here are a few pictures of how the place looked when we arrived on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. I ran around and snapped some pictures with my phone so don't mind the grainy quality.

 Definitely not horrible on the surface, but just really dated. But, a few hours later, things looked like this. Definitely got a LOT worse before it got better.

  

I had my dad (and several of my parents'  friends who would drop by to say hi!) hauling stuff back and forth from our condo and to the rummage sale room all day long. The poor man!

This picture below as at a low point when things were really torn apart. I may have shed a few tears or snapped at my parents.

I really wish I had taken some pictures of the kitchen cupboards that were filled. My mom took everything out and washed the shelves. She did an initial round of clean-out and then I did a secondary round of clean-out. If I didn't know what a tool was, I tossed it. If it was rusty, chipped, broken, etc. - I tossed it. If I had 3 of the same thing, I tossed 2. We made a list of everything that needed to be replaced - most of it obvious things that get worn out quickly - cookie sheets (rental houses NEVER have good cookie sheets - no idea why!), non-stick frying pans, and knives. I decided to upgrade a few of the small appliances such as the toaster and blender. Both were old and marginally functional. Handy Hubby and I are going to use the condo in May for a long weekend so we'll get a better idea of what else might need to be replaced although I don't really plan on cooking more than a bagel!

We also cleaned out under the cabinets in the bathrooms. Wow - that was gross. I did it quickly while holding my breath. I threw out everything except the hairdryer and a few plastic organizing bins (after washing the thoroughly). We did almost no work in these rooms except clean them top to bottom which my mom did - she's awesome like that.

Guest Bath

Master Bath

These will get ripped out in a few years but all in good time. At a minimum in the short term, new mirrors and more efficient light fixtures and ceiling fans. 

I also threw out almost everything in the closets - old shoes, walking sticks, Christmas decorations, golf clubs, vases, etc. It was really out of control. This was the "owner's closet" - doesn't seem that bad but I filled several boxes with stuff. I left the bike helmets for anyone who rents bikes or us when we use our own bikes there. 

I also cleaned out the paperback books. I left some newer ones and some old classics (and favorites of my own!). I plan to bring a few more newer ones down when we go in May. The condo clubhouse has a library for guests so we donated some of the books there, and the rest will go to the condo association yard sale.

By the end of the first 7 hours, I had pulled out most of the furniture we weren't using (mostly end table and night stands). I rearranged the guest bedroom and the living room. Everything was more or less in place but I was nearly falling asleep on my feet and I still needed to do some shopping that evening for additional items we needed. In the morning, my mom and I were out of their condo by 7:30 a.m. and at Lowes by 7:50. We went to Comcast and then hit Walmart before heading back by 10:30. At that point we had 4 hours to finish everything and I was in a mild panic. But my parents came to my rescue and we got it all done. Final pictures to come!