Auf Wiedersehen?

Or "so long, it's been good to know you". A couple of real estate firms in town have been pushing their "international connections", hinting (or promising) that they had a steady flow of European and other foreign buyers eager and willing to buy Greenwich properties. I was always dubious about those claims because, year after year, the average buyer in town was already in town and just moving up or down the food chain. But customers loved to believe it: "sure, my house may be a little over-priced for a Greenwich buyer, but what's that to someone paying in Euros or pounds? One of them will come by and pull my fat from the fire - just wait." Well, they waited and they lost. I don't have any statistics yet but it seems to me that, with European banks in a free fall, Russia's stock exchange shut down and the Middle East suffering from a huge decline in oil prices and the usual corruption that the merry-go-round may soon stop if it hasn't stopped already. Who will these firms promote as the next batch of unsophisticated buyers willing to pay more than a house is worth?