The original date of this post was 8/13/13.

It’s been an odd summer for us, with an uneven flow of activity, affected, no doubt, by a variety of factors, from the weather to the Fed. A temperate spring brought buyers to the market early, resulting in an elevated number of accepted offers in June (see previous post). A rainy June slowed things down in our office, but the end of July and beginning of August we have seen and continue to experience a substantial spike in activity.

Why? At this time of year a lot of homeowners see Labor Day looming and do not want to be holding their property through the winter, so they lower the price, thus stimulating interest. And the Fed Chairman’s comments strongly suggesting higher interest rates possibly before the end of the year is causing people who have had a casual desire to buy to be incentivized to pull the trigger now.

Certainly the hot, if not, blazing market in NYC is finally have a knock-on effect up here in the second home market, which is really what I’m discussing here. Even if they haven’t cashed in on their real estate holdings in the city, they feel the value and have the available credit.

Even while typing this I’ve had a buyer call in response to my alert about an offer coming in today on a property they’d expressed interest in, and they are hurrying through the bank pre-approval process so that can accompany the offer they plan to make.

And the calendar is being filled with showings during the week too, which for the second home buyer is not the usual. People are eager, motivated and ready to buy.