During the boom years, wealthy financiers flocked to Greenwich, Connecticut, to build dream homes and fill them with pretty families they sometimes saw on weekends. Now, as the recession has forced many area homeowners to downsize their property holdings, others to move to better job markets, and some to trade their mansions for prison, home prices have fallen to record lows, causing sellers to become desperate. Still, like aging trophy wives, the town's homeowners are trying to keep up appearances. Instead of slashing prices to their natural market value, they're offering their luxurious mansions for rent in hopes that one day, things will get better. “In this down market you don’t really have a choice,” one developer tells Bloomberg. But renting out one's property can leave one feeling hollow and used, and in the end, it may not make much of a difference. "These houses are not going to double in price," one analyst tells the news service.

It’s really doing nothing but delaying the inevitable.”

Oh, Greenwich. Aren't we all.

Greenwich Homeowners Push $40,000 Rentals in Worst Sales Market [Bloomberg]