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If you're getting ready to sell your home, finding a listing agent should be at the top of your to-do list. But just what is a listing agent? You might have a vague mental image of someone who plants a "For Sale" sign on your front lawn and shows potential buyers around your place, but there's plenty more to it. Here's a primer on what a listing agent does, how the agent makes or breaks your sale, and how to find a real estate agent in your area. How listing agents help you price your home How much is your home worth ? That's a hard question to answer. You can get an estimated value by entering your address on Realtor.com® , but from there you'll want to do some fine-tuning—and that's where a good listing agent can help. And the stakes are high: Price your home too low, and you could lose out on a lot of money. Price it too high, however, and the picture isn't pretty either. While it may be tempting to work with an agent who says they can fetch a fortune for your home, overpricing may mean your home languishes on the market for months or even years,making buyers wonder if something's wrong with your home and lowball you anyway. "Listing agents have many duties and responsibilities, but at the top of the list is to properly price your home," says Janine Acquafredda , a real estate with House-n-Key Realty. To do this, a listing agent will analyze the sales prices of comparable homes, or "comps," in your area to see where yours should fit in, and advise you accordingly. How listing agents help you sell your home After you determine an asking price, a listing agent should provide you with a comprehensive marketing plan detailing how she'll get your property sold. This plan should include the following: Recommendations for home improvements or home staging, if necessary. Yes, these alterations will cost you time and money, but they will improve your chances of a faster sale and higher asking price. Taking photos or hiring a photographer who will be able to highlight your home's best features. Adding your home to the multiple listing service , where home buyers and their agents can view your property and decide if they'd like to come visit for a closer look. Advertising and holding open houses. Coordinating showings with prospective buyers. How listings agents negotiate with buyers Once you get an offer on your home, it's the listing agent's job to present it to you and advise if any haggling needs to be done. For instance, if you get an offer way below asking price, your knee-jerk reaction may be to refuse in a huff. But a listing agent might be able to negotiate with the buyers and bring that price up to a decent level—or, if the buyers truly can't budge much, find other ways to sweeten the deal like a faster closing date or waived contingencies . These compromises can actually save you tens of thousands of dollars. How to choose a listing agent If you're looking for a listing agent, you can find ones in your area at realtor.com/agentconnection , where you'll find such details as their years of experience, number of homes sold, clients' reviews, and more. Don't just move forward with the first agent you meet—ask them some important questions to assess whether they're right for you. Here are some questions to ask a prospective listing agent: How many homes have you sold in this area, and how long did it take? In what price range do you sell most of your homes? Do you have advice for me about the condition of my home, and what could be improved to glean a higher sales price? What is your marketing plan? Can you recommend contractors, photographers, moving companies, etc.? Are you a member of the National Association of Realtors®? (Realtors must abide by the group's code of ethics .) Is this your full-time job? (A part-time agent is not a problem, but you will want to gauge her availability during off-hours.) How often will you touch base with me? Are you planning any vacations, and if so, who will back you up? Remember, your real estate agent works for you and will do all they can to make sure you get the best deal, either when buying or selling. (Getty Images) How much listing agents get paid Commissions are negotiable between real estate agents and their clients. Traditionally, home sellers paid the commission for both their own listing agent and the buyer’s agent. However, under the 2024 NAR settlement, that has changed: Buyers are now responsible for compensating their own agent—unless otherwise negotiated. That said, sellers can still choose to offer compensation to the buyer’s agent, and this has become one strategy sellers have used to lure in prospective buyers in a tough market. The exact percentage of the real estate agent’s payment or commission should be spelled out in the agent’s contract. This ensures that the agent gets paid if the property sells. Michele Lerner contributed to this report. #AdamsCameron #Since1963

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Existing-home sales perked up last month, with sales rising to the highest level in five months.

Sold sign in front of home

Improving affordability is bringing more home buyers back into the market, giving home sales a solid boost in May.

Existing-home sales—which includes single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops—rose 3.2% last month compared to April’s mostly stagnant sales, the National Association of REALTORS® reported on Tuesday. Annually, home sales also posted a 3.2% increase, offering real estate pros more closed deals this spring. As sales rose, so did home prices: Existing-home prices reached a record high for the month of May, with home sellers still standing to benefit from relatively low competition.

“More Americans are on the move, with home sales rising to the highest level since December,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “This is great news for the housing market and the economy. Improving affordability is helping drive this momentum.”

Mortgage rates over recent weeks have been at the mid-6% levels (with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.44% for the month of May). Rates are up compared to earlier in the year, but they remain lower than a year ago (rates averaged 6.82% in May 2025). Also, income gains have been slightly outpacing home-price growth lately in most areas of the country, Yun says. Housing affordability has seen the biggest improvement over the past year in the West, even as the region continues to have some of the highest home prices in the country.

As affordability improves, more first-time home buyers are stepping back into the market. They comprised 35% of existing-home sales in May, up from 30% a year ago, NAR’s data shows.

Lean Choices Keep Home Prices Strong

Nationally, the number of For Sale signs was up 3.3% in May compared to April, but that’s only a 0.6% increase from a year ago, a much slower pace of growth than in recent months. While the number of homes on the market continues to increase, supply remains tight and still falls short of demand. That is keeping pressure on home prices.

The median existing-home price for all housing types in May climbed to $429,300, the highest ever recorded for the month of May, according to NAR. That represents a 1.3% increase in home prices compared to last year.

“The new record-high May home price reflects solid fundamentals for homeowners and ongoing supply constraints,” Yun says. “Only 1% of all home sales involved foreclosure or an underwater situation in which the sale price could not cover the outstanding mortgage balance. This shows homeowners are on solid financial footing.”

Earlier this spring, NAR’s data showed that price growth has helped the typical homeowner accumulate about $128,000 in housing wealth over the past six years alone. It’s helping more homeowners leverage the proceeds from a home sale to use for their next home purchase. About a quarter of buyers—which includes second-home and investor purchasers—paid all-cash for their home purchase in May, remaining at elevated levels.

Plus, as housing supply remains limited in many markets, about a quarter of homes last month sold above list price, according to the May 2026 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey. Multiple offers are still common, with homes listed receiving an average of 2.3 offers in May. Homes are selling faster, with the median time spent on the market at 29 days in May, a quicker pace than a median 32 days in April.

Regional Breakdown: Sales Surge in the Midwest

The Midwest saw the largest jump in existing-home sales of the four major regions last month, continuing to offer some of the nation’s most affordable home prices.

Here’s a closer look at how existing-home sales fared across the country in May, according to NAR’s latest report:

Northeast: Sales rose 2.2% in May compared to April, reaching an annual rate of 460,000. Sales, however, are down 8% from a year ago. Median price: $534,900, up 4.2% from a year earlier.Midwest: Sales jumped 6.4% in May month-over-month, the highest sales increase of all four regions. Sales, up 2% annually, reached an annual rate of 1 million last month. Median price: $336,300, up 2.8% from May 2025.South: Existing-home sales rose 3.2% in May compared to April, settling in at an annual rate of 1.96 million. Sales are up 5.9% compared to a year ago. Median price: $373,100, up 1.1% from May 2025.West: Sales stayed mostly stagnant in May at an annual rate of 750,000. Existing-home sales, however, were up 5.6% compared to last year. Median price: $625,900, down 0.7% from May 2025. #AdamsCameron #Since1963

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Gen Z is officially moving differently. Known for their pragmatic approach to tackling a set of inherited challenges (“not an affordability crisis and limited inventory”), Gen Z is redefining what homeownership looks like and who it’s for. According to the 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, Gen Z buyers (ages 18 to 26) accounted for just 4% of home buyers in the past year, yet their impact is already worth attention. First big difference: Gen Z isn’t waiting around for life’s traditional milestones. Marriage, kids, and white picket fences are not prerequisites. In fact, 53% of Gen Z buyers purchased homes solo, and 35% were single women—the highest share of single female buyers across all generations. Another 17% were unmarried couples, also the highest of any generation. Most Gen Z buyers (81%) didn’t have children under 18 living at home, underscoring how early (and independently) they’re entering homeownership.

All BuyersGen Z50%50%25%25%11%11%10%10%4%4%26%26%35%35%18%18%17%17%3%3%

So why buy now? Despite the hurdles, Gen Z’s top motivation is refreshingly simple: 39% said they bought a home because they wanted one of their own. No elaborate motivations, just main-character energy and a desire to build equity. Seventy-one percent of Gen Z buyers consider their home a good financial investment, with 30% saying it’s better than stocks.

0%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%Good financial investmentBetter than stocksAbout as good as stocksNot as good as stocksNot a good financial investmentDon't know79%79%35%35%30%30%14%14%5%5%16%16%71%71%30%30%28%28%13%13%6%6%22%22%

Of course, the financial realities are real. Gen Z buyers are just getting started in their careers, entering the market with the lowest median household income at $76,000. That pragmatism shows up in the homes they choose. Gen Z buyers were more likely than any other generation to purchase a townhome or rowhouse (10%), often opting for more attainable options. Their typical home measured at 1,600 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’s giving practical; it’s giving… starter home.

Bottom line? Gen Z may be a small share of buyers today, but they’re already changing the narrative around who buys a home, when they buy, and why. Less tradition, more intention—and honestly, that’s a vibe.

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Credit: Philippe Gerber / Getty Images In a large, raised bed, organic fillers are not only economical, but they also improve the soil over time.Decomposing logs, branches, and wood chips will break down slowly, adding nutrients to the soil.Straw, leaf mold, and compost improve aeration and add beneficial microorganisms to the soil.

The deeper a raised bed, the easier it is on your back and the more flexibility you have about the crops you can grow, including those with deep roots. The snag is that filling up a raised bed 24 to 36 inches tall with topsoil can get really expensive really fast.

Luckily, there is no need to use only high-grade topsoil; there are several other alternative fillers that are not only economical but also improve the soil over time. Here are six organic materials you can use to fill up raised garden beds.

Credit: Deborah and Jason DeSalvo, Cold Brook Farm

When filling raised garden beds, it's important to be creative. Consider the organic material you have at your disposal, and see if it could possibly be a good fit for filling your beds.

“Filling the eight 3-foot-tall cedar beds in our homestead required creativity,” says Deborah DeSalvo, owner of Cold Brook Farm.

Taking advantage of materials right from her own property, she filled the bottom 24 inches of the raised beds with 2-3-foot sections of logs cut from downed trees.

“Any woods with sprouting potential, such as willow and sycamore, must be completely dead before using. And beds may absorb more water with newer logs,” DeSalvo points out.

As the logs decompose, they add nutrients to the soil, meaning bountiful harvests and lower maintenance over time. Just note that as this happens, the soil level sinks slowly and more topsoil needs to be added at the beginning of each growing season.

Trees with high resin content (like allelopathic black walnut; pine, spruce, yew, juniper, and cedar) do not make good candidates for garden beds.

Branches

Another excellent and no-cost organic filler material for the bottom of a raised bed is branches from suitable trees (the same exceptions for logs apply).

The advantage of branches is that they decompose faster than logs, but branches need to be cut into smaller pieces to become more manageable to put in place. Branches add nutrients to the soil as they decompose because they don’t stack tightly, making them good for aeration, too.

Keep an Eye on Nitrogen Levels

As soil microbes break down any organic materials, they use nitrogen, which makes it temporarily unavailable to the crops you are growing. To counter this, DeSalvo recommends planting an overwintering cover crop as nitrogen-fixing plants, such as clover.

Wood Chips Credit: Lucy Ryan / Getty Images

If you can get your hands on arborist wood chips from a reputable local tree service, snap them up to fill your raised beds. Arborist wood chips are ground-up branches, twigs, and leaves; they are a type of mulch, but coarser and more irregularly sized than shredded mulch and wood chip mulch; as a result they break down slower.

Arborist wood chips add nutrients to the soil over time, retain moisture, provide aeration, and moderate soil temperature. When obtaining arborist wood chips, inquire about the type of trees in the batch to avoid unsuitable ones.

Straw

Straw bales work well as an inexpensive voluminous filler for the bottom of raised beds. The only caveat is that they decompose completely within a year, which is much faster than logs. Straw adds soil nutrients, improves aeration, and has good water-holding capacity; it also supports the activity of beneficial microorganisms.

Leaf Mold Credit: Janine Lamontagne / Getty Images

Decaying leaves, also known as leaf mold, are another suitable filler for a raised bed before adding topsoil. Leaf mold is packed with microorganisms and worms that break down other organic materials. As they decompose, they add nutrients to the soil.

Simply collect leaves in the fall from any yard, provided no synthetic chemicals have been used, and let them sit over the winter so they begin to decompose. Add them to your raised bed in the spring.

Compost

Compost is not used by itself but rather worked into the topsoil of a raised bed after the lower portion has been filled with other organic materials such as the ones listed above. Compost adds nutrients and improves soil structure, aeration, and water retention, and supports beneficial soil organisms, including earthworms and microbes.

Ideally, the topsoil layer should be 12 inches deep. DeSalvo used 6 inches of topsoil that was saved from when building their home, mostly clay, and added 6 inches of organic compost.

Compost, combined with topsoil, needs to be added at the start of each growing season to make up for the sinking soil level due to the decomposing materials at the bottom of the raised bed. But four years after starting her raised beds, the amount needed to top up the beds has diminished significantly, according to DeSalvo.

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Credit: Getty Images

Some tasks are simply easier to tackle than others, but the hard ones—the ones you delay time and again—are often the most satisfying to check off the old to-do list. More than that, they give you back part of your life—an entryway closet that functions again, a garage that’s a joy to walk into, a kitchen drawer that no longer elicits dread. We asked pro organizers about what areas we should prioritize this spring for a happier, more functional home in the months ahead.

Rhea Becker, professional organizer and founder of The Clutter Queen in Boston, MassachusettsDiane Lowy, a professional organizer based in New York CityOlivia Parks, professional organizer and owner of Nola Organizers Your Linen Closet

Spring’s when you swap out heavy flannel sheets and bulky comforters for breezy, lightweight fabrics. Which means you might as well go the full mile and organize the whole linen closet.

“Many people become utterly paralyzed when it comes to linen closets. So much fabric, so many sizes, so many colors, so many pillowcases, and so many mismatched or incomplete sets,” says professional organizer Rhea Becker. “Pull everything out and set aside the sets you are done with.”

For sets you’re keeping, she says to make sure you have two pillowcases, a top sheet, and a fitted sheet. Store linens on one or two shelves, and towels on a different shelf. And if you have holiday-themed or other "special" bed linens, store those on a top or bottom shelf (out of the way until needed).

The Freezer

You’re about to unearth some stuff you might not have thought about in a few years, but the time has come. Diane Lowy, a professional organizer based in New York City, says the freezer rarely gets the organizational love it deserves, and that springtime is a great time for a reboot.

“In winter, we tend to stockpile servings of intensive meals like chili. But let's be honest, they are more likely to get forgotten in the freezer than the fridge,” Lowy says. “Now that it's warmer out, it's the perfect time to clean out the ice maker and use up items before they get frostbite.”

Don't forget to reward yourself by stocking up on your favorite sorbet and ice cream.

Pantry

The pantry is one of the most frequented spaces in any home, which means dealing with disorganization every day if it’s not tidy. It can affect many of your routines, like making lunches, cooking dinner, meal prepping, and beyond.

“Spring is a good time to clear out expired food, take stock of what you actually use, make room for what’s coming in, and get everything organized,” says Olivia Parks, professional organizer and owner of Nola Organizers. “Start by pulling everything out of your pantry and checking expiration dates. Then, group similar items together so you can see what you have.”

Use clear bins or baskets to keep categories contained, and avoid overbuying by keeping items in one designated spot. It doesn't have to be perfect, Parks says. It just has to make sense for how you and your family actually use the space.

Mudroom / Entryway

The entryway is arguably one of the most overwhelming places to organize, but the lightness you’ll feel after a top-to-bottom refresh is your sweet reward. They’re dumping grounds for anything and everything.

“With the change of seasons, it’s time to turn your mudroom inside out and de-winterize it," Becker says. "Remove the gloves, scarves, and other winter apparel; treat this as an opportunity to ditch the gloves that have no match, or the items the kids have outgrown.”

Store all your winter items out of the way, and bring spring and summer essentials out. If the wall hooks are overflowing with baseball caps, bags, and jackets, Becker recommends putting less popular items in a cloth bin. Keep the number of bins to a minimum—one per family member is ideal—and one or two bins for general use.

Primary Closet

Your closet affects how every day starts. If it’s cluttered or overstuffed, getting dressed becomes stressful and time-consuming. That said, now is the time to rotate seasonal items and reassess what you’re actually wearing.

“Take everything out and sort by category. Be honest about what you wear regularly and set aside anything that doesn’t fit, isn’t worn, or doesn’t feel like you anymore,” Parks advises. “Keep everyday items at eye level, and group clothing by type or color so it’s easy to find what you need quickly.”

For some momentum and to prevent overcrowding, she says to adopt a simple “one in, one out” rule moving forward. Every time you bring an item home, one’s gotta go.

Medicine Cabinets

Organizing your medicine cabinet is arguably easier to do in the spring since you likely have a better idea of what’s recently been used (such as winter cold meds and cold-weather balms). If you had salves, lip balms, or medicines you rarely touched all winter, then it may be time to say goodbye.

“That bathroom real estate is super valuable. If you're anything like me, you have your daily hero products, and then there are all the things you try out because of a review from a friend,” Lowy says. “Sometimes you use them up, and other times, they just get in the way of the things you are actually using.”

As the seasons change, it's a good time to take stock of the products you're using daily and edit everything else pretty aggressively. In addition, she suggests using small bins to wrangle small, similar items.

Laundry Room

Whether you do weekly laundry cycles or throw in a load of wash every single day, this chore is a constant. A disorganized space creates mental and physical friction, turning this necessary chore into more of a headache than necessary.

“A clean, functional laundry room makes the entire laundry process go faster,” Parks says. “Clear off surfaces and go through cabinets or shelves to remove anything you don’t use. Keep only the essentials nearby and group supplies together.”

She says to use bins or containers to separate items like detergents, cleaning products, and extras so everything has a place. To keep it tidy, put things back where they belong after each use and do a quick reset at the end of laundry day.

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