A move-out clean is not a nicer version of your weekly tidy. It is a clean scored against a checklist by someone whose job is to find reasons to withhold part of a deposit. The good news is that the checklist barely changes between buildings, so it is possible to clean directly to it.
Inside the appliances comes first. The oven, including the racks and the door glass. The refrigerator, including the drawers, the shelves, the door seals, and underneath if it rolls. The microwave, the dishwasher filter, and the range hood filter. These are the single most common deductions we see, and they are the items a rushed self-clean almost always skips.
Inside every cabinet, drawer, and closet is second. Empty does not mean clean. Crumbs in drawer tracks, shelf liner residue, and dust in the top of a closet all get noted. The same goes for the spaces that only exist when a home is empty: behind where the couch was, under where the bed was, and the marks on the wall the furniture was covering.
Then the edges and the fixtures. Baseboards, door frames, switch plates and outlet covers, light fixtures and ceiling fan blades, vent covers, window sills and window tracks, and interior glass. Bathrooms get scrubbed and disinfected end to end, including grout, shower tracks, and mineral scale on the fixtures. Floors come last, once every bit of dust work above them is finished.
Two practical notes for Northern Virginia renters. First, schedule the clean for after the movers are out and before your walkthrough, not the same morning as both, because an empty home is the only way to reach the list above. Second, take dated photos of the finished unit. We photograph the work on every move-out job for exactly that reason, and it has settled more than one disagreement in our clients' favor.