LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Over the course of the pandemic, some realtors sold houses the same day they showed them.
Recently, they've said it can take a couple of weeks to sell a home, but they explained that the market has been heading in a better direction.
"We are not in the same place that we were a year ago. However, it's not been a drastic change," Realtor, Stacy Hamilton, said.
Hamilton also said buyers these days have more time to decide on a house before putting down an offer.
"Six months ago, they had to move so fast on it, that we actually saw a lot of buyer's remorse. And as they've gone along in the contract, sometimes they terminate because they didn't have enough time to consider it," Hamilton added.
Fewer people have gone to open houses this year compared to last year.
"It's more bearable for the buyers, they can walk through without a crowd being around them and seriously consider the home and take it in and be able to look at it better," she said.
Hamilton said higher interest rates have been slowing down the market, but she doesn't believe we're headed into a recession.
"People are going to continue to buy and sell property. We're in a good spot and for it to slow just a little bit. That's okay. As interest rates go up you will see prices start to come down to those to kind of balance each other out over time," she said.
Donnie Copeland said it's a relief to see the market slow down because he has been wanting to sell his house.
"You can sell and still have time to make a good sound decision versus six months ago where you sold and you're like, I don't know what we're going to do now. And you have limited options because the market is so hot," Copeland stated.
Real Estate Broker, Jon Underhill, said even though the market has been continually improving, there's still a shortage of homes for sale. He also explained that it's competitive for first-time home buyers.
"When a property comes on the market, you've got to make yourself available to go see it as soon as possible. Because this market is still very active," Underhill said.
He said the shortage of homes can cause buyers to pay above the listing price.
"They would have to come out of pocket for the difference between what a house appraised for and what they purchased it for," he said.
Overall, he believes the market has been changing for the better.
"It's not a buyers market or a seller's market, it's just a good stable market," he said.
Real estate broker, Susan Meador keeps track of available homes across parts of Little Rock.She explained that recently there have been about 400 houses on the market and almost half of them are under contract.