As CT home prices spike, buyers move fast with offers - and still fall short Alexander Soule FacebookTwitterEmail Housing Development Fund CEO Joan Carty in December 2020. The nonprofit assists first-time home buyers, many of whom are confronted with rocketing prices that are putting out of reach houses they could have afforded before the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed a stampede of city dwellers for the suburbs.Frank Franklin II / Associated Press It was a new one for Coldwell Banker agent Judy Michaelis: don't bother viewing this house without a building inspector. Michaelis' clients, who wanted to look at a home in Westport, shelled out $1,500 to bring one along and — if they liked it — to stamp his approval on the spot.