You’ve cleaned and staged your home and are ready to sell! Keep your home clean and tidy, inside and outside, to make it easier to prepare for showings. Here’s a checklist of final things to do before a showing or open house.

• Set thermostat to a comfortable temperature.
• Turn on all the lights.
• Open blinds and draw back curtains.
• Dirty dishes should be in the dishwasher, not the sink.
• Take out the kitchen trash.
• Make the beds.
• All dirty clothes should be in the hamper, out of sight
• Close toilet seat lids.
• Put fresh towels in bathrooms.
• Put children’s toys away.
• Keep your valuables in a safe place.
• Turn on soft music at a low volume. (Keep the TV off.)
• If you have a gas fireplace, then turn it on.
• Lower the volume on telephones and the answering machine.
• Keep pets out of the way or take them out of the house with you.

Selling a vacant home can be difficult. Empty rooms highlight any imperfections in the floors or walls. They can feel cold and bleak, affecting the ability of a buyer to make an emotional connection with the home. Empty rooms appear smaller than furnished rooms and can be confusing to buyers. Only 10% of buyers can mentally picture how their own furniture will fit into a room. Furnishings give the room perspective in terms of scale and proportion, helping buyers visualize where their things will fit. Sometimes it is not clear what the space can be used for and furniture can show its intended use. Empty rooms can also give the impression that the seller might be desperate to sell, possibly carrying two mortgages, which can lower the offers.

Staging a vacant house can resolve these problems. Staging a vacant home adds warmth and comfort, shows how furniture can fit into a room and suggests to buyers the purpose of each room. Ideally, the house should be fully furnished. You can hire a staging company to take care of everything or you can do it yourself by renting or borrowing furniture.

If you are on a budget, then consider vignette staging. Vignette staging uses the bare minimum amount of furniture. Just enough to remove the cold, empty feeling of a vacant house and to let buyers know the purpose of each room. You should at least focus on the entrance, living room, dining room and a master bedroom. The entrance creates the buyers’ first impression of the home, so a potted plant and painting/mirror in this area can make the space feel more inviting. A lightly staged living room could have a chair or couch, a round unfinished wood table covered with a tablecloth, a table lamp, and some large potted plants. The dining room could have a table and chairs, a painting on the wall and some potted plants. The master bedroom should have a bed, a painting on the wall above the bed, nightstands with table lamps, and maybe a dresser.

Whatever level of staging you decide, it will resolve the problem of a vacant house. You will feel confident that you are presenting your home to appeal to prospective buyers.

Looking to cut energy costs? Maybe it’s time for an energy audit. Home energy audits assess where your house might be losing energy and provide recommendations on how to make it more energy efficient. Energy auditors inspect areas in your home to determine if heat is being lost through insufficient insulation, air leaks and inefficient heating and cooling systems.

INSULATION
Insufficient insulation in the ceiling and walls can create a large amount of heat loss. Over the years, the level of recommended insulation has changed, so your current insulation might be inadequate if you have an older home. An energy auditor will measure the depth and type of insulation you have in your attic as well as how well it covers the attic floor. They will also try to determine wall insulation levels.

AIR LEAKS
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, reducing air leaks can improve energy efficiency by 5 to 30 percent per year. Energy auditors locate sources of air infiltration, especially around doors and windows.

HEATING AND COOLING EQUIPMENT
Heating and cooling equipment manufacturers usually recommend that their equipment be inspected annually to maintain its efficiency. Energy auditors will examine furnaces and air conditioner to ensure that they are well maintained and in good condition.

You can conduct a simple version of a home energy audit yourself or contact professional energy auditor for a more thorough inspection. Contact your local utility company if you need help finding a professional energy auditor. Conducting a home energy audit every couple of years can help cut your energy costs.

On Long Island you can find out more about Energy Audits and find affiliated contractors at The Oil Heat Institute of LI at http://www.ohili.org and the LIPA web site at http://www.lipower.org. LIPA also has a free program called REAP to help manage electric usage for income-eligible homeowners.