03/14/09 Many Employed - First Time Greenwich Homebuyers Have The Income, But They Don’t Have The Down Payment. That’s Always Been A Problem In Town

New Low Mortgage Rates Are Not Stimulating

The Greenwich Housing Market

There Is A Huge Amount Of Inventory In Greenwich

Prices Are Hitting New Lows, But Full A

20% Down Payment Is A High Hurdle To Over Come

In the Region Connecticut Door Opens for First-Time Buyers
New York Times

MARKET conditions may be tormenting homeowners, builders and investors, but for first-time buyers seeking a foothold in lower Fairfield County’s priciest communities, they are positively propitious.

Although still high compared with the rest of Connecticut, prices for entry-level single-family homes have come down considerably in many Fairfield County towns, easing the way for buyers who, a year or two ago, wouldn’t have considered them a realistic possibility......

......But price alone hasn’t been enough to entice many first-timers still waiting on the sidelines. Martha Jeffrey, a sales associate with David Ogilvy & Associates in Greenwich, has been trying to sell a two-family home in a single-family neighborhood in the Glenville section since October 2007. The current price, $550,000, is down 40 percent from the starting price, yet she still can’t find a taker.......

....Beyond that obstacle are psychological ones. “These things can look like bargains,” said Steven P. Lanza, the executive editor of The Connecticut Economy, a quarterly publication based at the University of Connecticut, “but if you’re worried about whether you’re going to have a job in a year, you’re not going to buy. Then, there’s the issue of continued price drops.”.....

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