TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) - It was a big day for Amanda Bishop of Baldwyn as she, her realtor and a local attorney gathered to close on her new house in Pratts.

Bishop explained why she's buying now.

"Just making a change. Found a good deal, a very good deal." she said.

Apparently, there are a lot of good deals available in our area right now as Bishop's attorney says he's seen more house closings lately.

"Compared to last year, I would say the purchase business is up about 10 to 15 percent," said attorney Taylor Goodman. "With interest rates as low as they are now, a lot of people are out now taking advantage of them and buying a lot of houses."

The National Association of Realtors reports home sales increased more than four percent last month and have gone up for three of the past four months. 

One local realtor shared with us there's been an 11 percent increase in home sales in North Mississippi from January 2011 to January 2012.

"We are cautiously optimistic but nevertheless optimistic because this last month for us at Crye-Leike has been a great improvement," said realtor Norma Cother.

Cother says her company's listing inventory is shrinking as well which means more people are purchasing those homes in Lee County.

However, there's cautious optimism as one local non-profit organization is still seeing plenty of people needing help to avoid foreclosures and to make good home purchasing decisions.

"A lot of clients are still in that situation in spite of everything that's going on," siad Patricia Ross of Covenant Outreach Ministries. "On the other side, you've got a lot of clients that have reached a certain age, and they are still being laid off."

Meanwhile, Cother says that the opening of Toyota had a great effect on the attitude of buyers in the market as they are more confident in the future.